Azerbaijan uses Swiss sport and culture ties to improve image

Azerbaijan is using sponsorships and cultural partnerships in Switzerland to improve its international image, while human rights groups accuse the country of whitewashing abuses, SRF reports.

About 200 Azerbaijani artists will perform on Monday at the Auditorium Stravinsky in Montreux as part of the Septembre Musical festival, organised with Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Culture. Joel Veldkamp of the human rights organisation Christian Solidarity International said the event was not a cultural occasion but an effort by the regime to distance itself from human rights violations. Sarkis Shahinian, co-president of the Switzerland Armenia Association, also accused Azerbaijan of trying to “wash itself clean” through the event.

The criticism focuses on Azerbaijan’s treatment of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan took control of the territory in 2023, prompting more than 100,000 people to flee to Armenia. Human rights organisations have accused Azerbaijan of serious violations, and the European Court of Human Rights has found against the country in several cases.

Calum MacKenzie, SRF’s correspondent for Russia and the South Caucasus, described Azerbaijan’s regime as highly repressive and said it had become stricter in recent years. He said Azerbaijan had a claim under international law to the disputed territory, but that this did not justify what he called the effective ethnic cleansing of its Armenian population three years ago.

MacKenzie said Azerbaijan was using sporting and cultural activities to improve its image. He added that European companies and states were continuing to work with the country because it exports oil and gas, as Europe seeks to move away from Russian energy supplies. He said the increased business links were taking place alongside stronger efforts by Azerbaijan to use sport to improve its reputation.

Veldkamp criticised the festival’s reference to celebrating “5,000 years of Azerbaijani culture”. He said the wording echoed the regime’s portrayal of history, which is used to justify the expulsion of Armenians. Azerbaijan claims that Armenians arrived in the region only about 150 years ago, while critics say they have lived there for thousands of years.

The organisers of Septembre Musical said they did not want to engage in the political dispute and were concerned only with the music, regardless of the politics of the artists’ countries of origin. The festival said it had received no payments from Baku.

Azerbaijan is also one of the main sponsors of next February’s World Ski Championships in Crans-Montana. The partnership was concluded by the International Ski and Snowboard Federation, known as the FIS, and has caused unease in Valais.

Didier Défago, head of the organising committee, said it was “not the best solution” for the FIS to choose Azerbaijan as a destination partner. The partnership could put the words “Visit Azerbaijan” on television screens during the Swiss ski championships.

Shahinian said Azerbaijan was also using sport to improve its image and wanted to “mask itself with sport”.

The FIS rejected the accusation. Secretary General Urs Lehmann said the federation had a code of ethics that also applied to partners and that it examined carefully whom it worked with. Regarding the human rights allegations, he said the FIS did not agree with all of Azerbaijan’s political actions and decisions, but that its focus was sport, tourism and business.

Shahinian said this commercial focus explained why Azerbaijan was investing heavily in sport and culture in Switzerland. “Azerbaijan has understood that Switzerland is strongly focused on money,” he said.