Baku: looking back at 2002

Twelve months after taking up his position as head of the OSCE Office in Baku, Ambassador Peter Burkhard reflects on his experiences in an interview with Alexander Nitzsche of the Press and Public Information Section of the OSCE Secretariat in Vienna. Previously, Ambassador Burkhard was the OSCE's Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine.

How do your experiences in the Baku Office compare with those of your previous position in Ukraine?

I have to say that it was a very steep learning curve for me, from the very first day on. Although both countries share to a certain extent a common heritage as former Soviet Union countries, it is difficult to compare Azerbaijan with Ukraine. The cultural and historical background as well as the geo-political situation are completely different. This very much influences the OSCE's approach in the two States.

I came to Azerbaijan with the firm intention to place my focus on projects, but one of the first things I had to learn was that the Baku Office did not have any projects of its own. This was a big change from Ukraine, where the design and implementation of projects were the very essence of my mandate.

What priorities have you set for the work of the Baku Office?

As with other OSCE field presences, the mandate of the Baku Office is rather vague, which leaves a lot of room for it to be filled with concrete content.

The key element of the mandate is to assist Azerbaijan in complying with the OSCE's standards and principles. Then there are the more operational aspects such as maintaining contacts with state authorities, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and scientific and cultural circles.

As far as concrete project work is concerned, the mandate includes "facilitating activities" but does not in fact mention projects as such. Still, the Office is very active as an implementing partner of the OSCE institutions, in particular the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), which had a portfolio of a dozen or so projects for Azerbaijan in 2002.

One of these ODIHR projects is a nine-month training programme for Azerbaijani border guards at the Training Academy of the Polish Border Guard Service.

This is organized together with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), but the fund-raising for the project was entirely done by our Office.

Another project is supporting the Ombudsman institution, which was recently established in Azerbaijan. I am convinced that the Ombudsman institution in the post-Soviet Union countries has a key function in defending the rights of the individual in a situation where the judiciary often does not sufficiently fulfil its role. The support of this institution in Azerbaijan has to be one of our priorities. In their 2003 programme, ODIHR have foreseen an Ombudsman support project for the country, and we will co-operate closely with other international organizations, NGOs and bilateral embassies to contribute to this endeavour.

An important priority area for the Office in 2003 will be the fight against trafficking. I expect that the OSCE, together with the IOM, will have the lead on this project. As this is a trans-boundary issue related to forced migration, the IOM has already an established network and contacts, but on the political level the OSCE has, of course, far better access to Parliament and the relevant political circles.

Finally, we hope to become more engaged in the OSCE's policing activities. In autumn 2002, the police unit of the OSCE Secretariat paid a visit to Azerbaijan, and we are optimistic that before long some concrete and long-term projects will emerge from this. We are talking here, for instance, about transfer of know-how and experience to the local police forces, on issues such as crowd control, conflict prevention, training, and so on.

In July 2002, your Office ran a very successful TV programme on Azerbaijan's State TV. Can you please tell us more about it?

After 22 June 2002, when the Azerbaijani President, Heydar Aliyev, announced the holding of a referendum on constitutional changes for 24 August, ODIHR and other institutions complained that there was too little time for the electorate to inform themselves about such important decisions.

In July, we agreed with the Azerbaijani authorities to hold a series of five three-hour roundtables on the proposed amendments, televised at prime time in the evening countrywide by state television. These roundtables, which I chaired, were attended by representatives of the State bodies, political parties, particularly opposition parties, and NGOs. After the first sessions we heard from various sources that the people in the regions outside of the capital were anxiously waiting for the next roundtable. We were told that this type of public TV debate had never been done before, with real opposition and government members in free discussion.

After this series of events, I realized that many people suddenly became aware of the OSCE - the waiter in the café, policemen, guards in the parking lot. But also government officials now ask me regularly to meet with them and to discuss possible co-operation. This show has significantly changed the image of the OSCE in Azerbaijan and public awareness of what we are doing.

Finally, how do you see the public image of the OSCE in Azerbaijan?

The OSCE is very well known in this country. One never has to explain to anyone what the Organization is. Everybody here knows the OSCE logo.

Less well known is what the OSCE does and how it is structured. The high profile we enjoy is obviously to a great part due to the OSCE's role in the settlement of the situation with Nagorno-Karabakh, which is part of the OSCE's Minsk Group mandate. Not everyone knows that the Baku Office is not involved in this issue.

The public debate on Nagorno-Karabakh can be very controversial, but the OSCE as such has an excellent reputation in Azerbaijan, across the board. Its image is that of an unbiased, neutral and highly esteemed Organization that is trying to find peace and defend human rights. In all my contacts with the Azerbaijani authorities I have only ever heard one criticism: that they would like to see more of us, more activities.