At first, it seemed like a bad joke: How could COP29 be held in one of the world's most bloodthirsty dictatorships? Yet, Azerbaijan is hosting the event from November 11 to 22.

After a complete 10-month blockade cutting off food and medical supplies, Azerbaijan conducted an ethnic cleansing of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2023. Around 120,000 Armenians fled to the Republic of Armenia in dire conditions. Nevertheless, Azerbaijan's military offensive, bolstered by its long-standing ally Turkey, continues to press on, and its army now occupies several kilometers of land within Armenia's southern borders.

As part of this ethnic cleansing, political prisoners were taken hostage, including some former leaders – including three presidents – of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. It's important to remember that this was a democracy, one of the few in the region. Since then, these leaders have been languishing in Azerbaijani prisons, which are among the most inhumane in the world. In July, the Council of Europe accused Azerbaijan of their "torture and ill-treatment." It also denounced the authorities' repeated refusal to cooperate with international bodies in handling the case.

Greenwashing

Ethnic cleansing concerns not only the population but also the culture. Azerbaijan has set out to systematically erase any trace of Armenian presence in the region: Religious heritage is being destroyed and street names changed, in what was one of the cradles of this culture.

However, Azerbaijan is not content with persecuting Armenians. Dictator Ilham Aliyev also tortures his own civil society. In recent months, numerous activists, journalists and researchers have been imprisoned on the most spurious of charges, including "state betrayal." In addition to fighting this dictatorship, some had dared to assert that Armenians and Azerbaijanis could one day live peacefully together. In the run-up to COP29, when the eyes of the world will be on the country, no dissenting voices are allowed. The Azerbaijani regime hunts down dissidents even on French territory, as illustrated by the murder of Vidadi Isgandarli in Alsace in early October, with seemingly no reaction from France's political class.

Azerbaijan is a petro-dictatorship, with nearly 50% of its GDP dependent on gas and oil exploitation. It's a textbook case of greenwashing. As a result of the sanctions against Russia, the European Union (EU) has been consistently lenient toward Azerbaijan to secure its energy supplies. This stark contrast between the EU's declared values and its actual policies is illustrated here once again. Baku has announced a substantial increase in its hydrocarbon production over the next few years. Indeed, COP29 will be chaired by Mukhtar Babayev, a former head of Azerbaijan's national oil company.

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