The European Parliament Hosts Azerbaijan: The Land of Peace Photo Exhibition

<p>This free exhibition of 100 photographs showcasing Azerbaijan's traditions, life, culture, and history opened yesterday--February 11th--at the European Parliament. The selection of images provide an overview of everyday life in this western-facing, cosmopolitan, secular country, which is renowned for its religious tolerance. <br /><br />Over 400 members of the European Parliament, European Council members, diplomats, researchers, and journalists attended the opening.<br>

The exhibition is February 11-14 and it is located at: <br />Espace Escalateur<br />Ground Floor -- ASP 0 D<br />Altiero Spinelli Building<br />60 Rue Wiertz/Wiertzstraat<br />1047 <br />Brussels, Belgium</p>

<p>Whilst no doubt this is an interesting exhibition which showcases the skills of Azerbaijani photographers, I'd be a little cautious about describing Azerbaijan as a 'land of peace' which is 'western-facing' and 'renowned for its religious tolerance', Its appalling human rights record, with documented use of torture, fraudulent elections, corruption, detention of opposition activists, media censorship and intimidation, is the focus of numerous reports by Amnesty International ( eg http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/azerbaijan) and others. Indeed the European Parliament has itself condemned the actions of the Azerbaijan government in respect of its treatment of journalists (http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P7-TA-2011-0243+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN). Cultural events involving countries with unpleasant regimes may have their uses, but I fear photography may be being used here to give a fig-leaf of respectability. </p>