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Our research shows that the influence of the authoritarian regime on Union MPs is greater than previously assumed.
by @vice_de
Source: vice.com/de/article/qjp…

Behind this is a lobby system to which Union MPs in particular were apparently susceptible - for years.

The autocratic ruler from Azerbaijan, President Ilham Aliyev, ruler over ten million people, has an image problem.

His country ranks at the bottom when it comes to freedom of the press, human rights and dealing with members of the opposition.

Azerbaijan, the country on the Caspian Sea, has very large oil and gas reserves. And so the despot converts the valuable raw materials into money. Aliyev then partially turns the money into reputation, at least he tries.

Azerbaijan not only sponsors major sporting events such as Formula 1 for image polishing, but also smears MPs in Europe. The regime does not always behave intelligently, sometimes very clumsily.

For example, the conservative Italian member of the Council of Europe Luca Volontè, who collected around two million euros in tortuous ways to prevent a critical resolution against Azerbaijan, was blown.

He was sentenced to four years in prison by a court in Milan last year. According to experts, it is only the tip of the iceberg. Azerbaijan has been practicing "caviar diplomacy" in Europe for years to brighten up the image of the authoritarian-ruled country.

The European Stability Initiative revealed the full extent of corruption years ago.

The CDU members of the Bundestag Karin Strenz and Axel Fischer are also being investigated in Germany.

The public prosecutor's office is also currently investigating the Thuringian CDU member of the Bundestag Mark Hauptmann. On Sunday it became known that Karin Strenz died on a flight from Cuba to Germany.

Further details of her death are not yet known. The Schwerin public prosecutor initiates a death investigation.

Not every statement in the sense of the regime has to indicate political influence or even corruption.

Our research has shown that Azerbaijan's influence on the Union faction is much greater than previously assumed.
Azerbaijan has many advocates in the Bundestag, most of them from the CDU and CSU.

Positive statements by German politicians are celebrated in the Azerbaijani state media, which can be proven by simple Google research.

The Caucasus Republic urgently needs good press abroad. Azerbaijan has been at odds with its hated neighbor Armenia for decades. Last year there was a bloody war over Nagorno-Karabakh between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

As is so often the case in armed conflicts, the situation is complicated - and controversial under international law. It's rarely just one fault

The member of the Bundestag and Parliamentary State Secretary Thomas Bareiß, who has already been to Azerbaijan several times, campaigned for a delivery of ventilators to the Caucasus republic last year, at the height of the first corona wave.

The manufacturer rejected the request, because they are still waiting for ventilators in Germany.
As our research shows, the Azerbaijani side successfully influenced Thomas Bareiß. In 2018, Bareiß gave a speech at the first German-Azerbaijani economic summit.

The event was organized by the Azerbaijani embassy and the Thuringian CDU member of the Bundestag, Mark Hauptmann. Hauptmann resigned his parliamentary mandate at the beginning of March after lobbying allegations in connection with Azerbaijan.

Olva Gutting always attracts attention with very friendly words about Azerbaijan - and also with strange despot selfies. In an interview he praised the "long democratic history" of Azerbaijan. Does the opposition, who are in jail in Baku, see it that way too?

Gutting stands out not only because of his pro-regime statements, but also because of his exceptionally high additional income. In the first 22 months of the current electoral term, the lawyer earned 450,000 euros on the side.

As a lawyer, he draws a large part of his income from anonymous mandates. Olav Gutting was also successfully lobbyed by Azerbaijan, as our research shows.

With their friendly statements, the members of parliament close to the Baku regularly land in the Azerbaijani state press.

Sometimes the online media close to the regime also refer to interviews that were shown on a station that may sound like more than it is from three and a half thousand kilometers away. TV.Berlin. The capital broadcaster!

In 2013, TV.Berlin narrowly escaped bankruptcy. It went on, Turkish entrepreneurs took over the channel. If you invite Governing Mayor Müller for an interview, he'll come.

Celebrities also stop by TV.Berlin, such as the former Berlinale boss Dieter Kosslick.

The station's figurehead is Peter Brinkmann. A grizzled journalist who some say he brought down the wall.

It was he, at least according to his Wikipedia entry, who on November 9, 1989, at the legendary press conference before the fall of the Berlin Wall, is said to have made the decisive question: "When will this take effect?"

Günther Schabowski, a member of the Politburo, found himself swimming: "As far as I know, it will happen immediately, immediately." The rest is world history. A story that Peter Brinkmann likes to tell.

A good thirty years later, as a presenter at TV.Berlin, he seems to have lost faith in critical questions. Especially when it comes to the authoritarian Aliyev regime in Azerbaijan and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

A topic that the local broadcaster TV.Berlin reports on surprisingly often - and surprisingly one-sided. The media journalist Stefan Niggemeier called TV Berlin 2015 an "Azerbaijani government broadcaster".

Karin Strenz was the focus of the Azerbaijan affair until her death over the weekend. In 2014 and 2015 she received at least 15,000 euros via detours from Azerbaijan.

Your parliamentary immunity was last lifted, the public prosecutor's office in Frankfurt investigated on suspicion of bribery, bribery of elected officials and money laundering. If convicted, she would face up to five years in prison.

Despite the investigation, she remained a member of the Union parliamentary group and the German-South Caucasian parliamentary group. You cannot publicly see who is a member of this group. Only a few politicians write their membership transparently on their homepage.

At that time, Gutting, like Karin Strenz, was a member of the German-South Caucasian parliamentary group, which theoretically supports Armenia in addition to Azerbaijan and Georgia.

According to VICE research, Gutting temporarily employed an Azerbaijani intern in his Bundestag office, who for years has attracted attention on Facebook with glorification of war, cheering post for dictator Aliyev and insults from the hated neighbor - .....

.... he already calls Armenians "critters" or "dogs".

In between he posts a proud selfie from Berlin: he, the intern, with the Chancellor.

An insider who is familiar with the production processes at TV.Berlin and has spoken to VICE tells us that many of the programs were commissioned work, indirectly paid for by the Azerbaijani government.

Other sources from the TV.Berlin environment confirm this.

The client is said to have been the now dissolved lobby company "The European Azerbaijan Society" (TEAS).

She had commissioned the relevant broadcasts for the purposes of the Azerbaijani cause and accepted the content. Documents that VICE was able to see confirm this business relationship.

TEAS lobbied between 2008 and 2018 in London, Paris, Istanbul, Berlin and Brussels. The head office was in Baku. In London, TEAS hit the headlines in 2016 after a dubious book deal with the conservative politician Liam Fox.

The organization was originally set up by Nijat and Tale Heydarov, the ambitious sons of the influential Azerbaijani civil protection minister Kamaladdin Heydarov.

According to its own information, the aim of the organization was to highlight the country's economic potential and opportunities and to "raise awareness of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict".

According to the self-disclosure on the website, which has since been deleted, the company is working closely with the political parties in Germany.

nsiders describe it as attempting to master the balancing act between the greatest possible influence and the smallest possible visibility. In fact, there are almost no press reports about the work of the TEAS.

Many Union MPs attended TEAS events.

According to insiders, TEAS has mainly maintained good relationships with Union MPs

The TEAS influence was also successful on Jens Spahn, today's Federal Minister of Health. This is suggested by documents that VICE was able to inspect.

Through TEAS he had taken pro-regime positions on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Internally, the TEAS leaders also boasted that they had successfully influenced Olav Gutting and Thomas Bareiß.

In response to a VICE request, Jens Spahn announced that he had never knowingly met Shahin Namati or had any contact with TEAS. In addition, he has not yet traveled to Azerbaijan or Armenia.

Green politicians were difficult to reach for Azerbaijani lobbying. Uninteresting because inaccessible.
You understand better when you talk to Tabea Rößner. She is a green member of the Bundestag and a member of the German-South Caucasian parliamentary group.

As one of the few MPs, she writes her membership transparently on her homepage.

In 2015, Rößner traveled to Baku with a delegation from the parliamentary group, including: Karin Strenz. Before a meeting with Aliyev - the despot made the parliamentarians wait a bit - Karin Strenz urged him to moderate the conversation.

Later Aliyev stopped by the hotel again and greeted Karin Strenz, who was waiting in the lobby, with kisses, remembers Rößner.
Rößner, on the other hand, insisted that one should also meet with human rights activists.

The embassy had a hard time at first because of "scheduling difficulties". In the end, Rößner got their meeting.

It took place at the same time as an appointment with the state oil giant Socar. Roessner appeared alone for the meeting with the human rights activists, the other parliamentarians preferred the Socar meeting.

"We absolutely need more transparency so that it is understandable and recognizable when parliamentarians do lobby work for other states or governments," says Roessner today.

Experts demand that the CDU / CSU parliamentary group urgently clarify its dependence on the Azerbaijani regime.

For example, all MPs could sign a declaration of honor in which they assure that they have not earned or otherwise benefited from deals with Azerbaijan. The Union acted similarly in the mask affair.

Not every commitment to Azerbaijan is disreputable, this distinction is important. There may also be enough politicians who only care about the country, not about their personal profit.

They do not collect any money or donations for their commitment to the Caucasus republic. And who believe in change through trade, in rapprochement, and therefore keep traveling to the authoritarian ruled country.

These MPs could easily prove their independence. With a simple signature on a declaration of honor.

Then they would have their minds free again to take care of important things, such as human rights.

In mid-March, the well-known Azerbaijani blogger in exile, Mahammad Mirzali, was stabbed by six men in Nantes, France. A quarter of a million people have subscribed to his YouTube channel.

Mirzali regularly reports on the persecution of opponents and corruption in his home country Azerbaijan.

The attackers are said to have tried to cut off his tongue.

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