Skip to main content
The hidden costs of our support for Azerbaijan
BEN COWLES says EU interest in a polluting pipeline is not only bad news for the environment but also for international human rights
Bayram Mammadov is escorted away by the police [Mehman Huseynov]

WHILE representatives from the European Union and Azerbaijan were busy hashing out a new trade agreement at the 16th EU-Azerbaijan Co-operation Council last Thursday, the latter’s government spent the week jailing activists, journalists and minorities.  

The EU’s foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini told reporters at a press conference after the meeting that “inshallah” the EU and Azerbaijan will soon finalise the agreement.

“Azerbaijan is a very important partner for the European Union, whose independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity the EU fully supports,” Mogherini said, referencing the country’s ongoing and under-reported conflict with Armenia.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
IRON HEEL: Police officers storm Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) headquarters in Ankara on Sunday
Features / 26 May 2026
26 May 2026

CLAUDIA WEBBE looks at how Britain’s Nato ally has upped the stakes in its effort to silence domestic dissenting voices

President Claudia Sheinbaum looks on during her daily, morning news conference, as Mexican Security and Citizen Protection Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch delivers a briefing
Latin America / 4 March 2026
4 March 2026

DAVID RABY explains the background of the recent upheavals in Mexico

The Supreme Court is seen, January 13, 2026, in Washington
World / 20 February 2026
20 February 2026
Prominent Egyptian activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah stands in a cage during a verdict hearing for 21 people over an unauthorized street protest in 2013, in a courtroom in Cairo, Egypt, on February 23, 2015
North Africa / 22 September 2025
22 September 2025