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Being master of one's moods is the privilege of the larger animals, the hero of Albert Camus’s novel “The Fall” believed. The statement seems equally true and false once you get familiarized with the reaction of Azerbaijani leadership to the criticism by international community in general and the Council of Europe in particular.

On October 11, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted two critical resolutions on Azerbaijan with the first concerning the functioning of democratic institutions in the country and the second – the systemic repression of human rights defenders in light of the country’s continuous non-execution of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)

The Azerbaijani leadership fired back through comments by assistant to president Ali Hasanov, who stated that “the biased documents are based on subjective perceptions and attempts to pressure make Azerbaijan reconsider its relations with the Council of Europe.”

As Hasanov claimed, the reports were adopted with the efforts of ‘anti-Azerbaijani circles’ disapproving country’s ‘independent policy’ and ‘own path of development.’

The Hasanov’s logic reveals that everyone - the Armenians, NGOs, racists, islamophobes are guilty for the situation in the country, except Azerbaijan itself paving its way due to own mood, headed by its “big” leader without yielding to others’ considerations.

The title and the heroes of the mentioned novel by Camus come to perfectly showcase the current European policy of Azerbaijan at the formal and the lobbying domains alike. It is in downfall and gives much food for thought to both the Europeans and the Azerbaijanis.

The Absheronian country complains about as they claim the policy of double standards by Europe.  They are angry with the European Union’s reluctance to unequivocally recognize its territorial integrity, deem inadmissible the calls of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe to free political prisoners as well as disregard the PACE reports, threatening to reconsider relations with the European structures.

Europe, on its part, is in perpetual existential searches while building relations with Azerbaijan. There are geopolitical and energy interest from one hand, from the other hand, Azerbaijan appears to be out of Europe not only geographically but in terms of the value system. It could be enlisted among Asian dictatorships, rather named as an eastern neighbor to EU for strengthening political dialogue based on democracy, human rights and the rule of law. 

The recent revelations about the Azerbaijani dirty lobbying schemes clearly showed the country is unable to organize its internal life through democratic and legal mechanisms, likewise it is not shy at employing immoral and illegal schemes in international relations.
 
With all this in mind, the Azerbaijani disappointment with the European criticism seems bizarre that otherwise would be tolerated should they had gained consoling formulations from the PACE about the NK conflict. 

In its previous reports on Azerbaijani poor human rights record, democratic institutions PACE used to include certain pro-Azerbaijani formulations regarding the Karabakh conflict. However, the things have changed over the past years with Azerbaijan suffering defeats here as well, failing to maintain the balance and thus laying the grounds for its desperate appeals to withdraw the organization.

By and large, why does Azerbaijan need the Council of Europe advocating for democracy if it fails to receive desirable documents on NK conflict? No secret. Azerbaijan is completely anti-democratic state run by a family-clan regime with no signs of democratization in the visible future.  This type of ‘freefall’ at European structures compels Azerbaijan to look for other directions to break its isolation in Europe and struggle the alienation.

Instead of blaming others for own failures, at this stage Azerbaijan should confess it is in total fiasco with its European policy. Accepting a defeat with dignity is a virtue that Azerbaijan lacks as well.