Azerbaijani delegation causes disruption at EaP summit in Batumi

A delegation from Azerbaijan attending the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum (EaP CSF) in Georgia’s Black Sea coastal city Batumi ripped posters off the wall showing human rights violations in their country.

The group stated Azerbaijan was not the only country which had violated human rights and demanded banners reflecting similar situations in other countries also be displayed. Shortly after the incident, the Azerbaijani group left the forum.

"Such instances happen in every country. We are not against displaying posters but if there were posters featuring the situation in other countries we would not say anything,” said Salim Balaev, a representative of the Azerbaijani delegation.

Czech non-governmental organisation People in Need (PIN), who implemented humanitarian relief and long-term development projects in dozens of countries in Eastern Europe and all over the world, were responsible for displaying the posters.

The posters showed real instances of violations of human rights in Azerbaijan including lack of freedom of the media, lack of freedom of assembly and unlawful expropriation.

PIN project coordinator Ivana Slakova said her organization had been interested about the state of human rights in Azerbaijan for many years.

"It was an exhibition featuring human rights violations in Azerbaijan. When we arrived in the morning all the posters were ripped off,” she said in an interview with local media.

Meanwhile the forum is a place where an exchange of ideas and best practices brings together partners from six EaP countries - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine - and the European Union (EU) with the common goal of expanding the European integration processes towards the Eastern Neighbourhood.

A two day forum opened today. This was the first time the annual meeting was held in Georgia.