Ukraine Needs Allies, Not Amnesia: Viktor Yushchenko in Azerbaijan

Former President Viktor Yushchenko’s visit Aug. 16-18 to Baku was heavily promoted as another sign of deepening ties between Kyiv and Baku. But the trip also raised uncomfortable questions.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. Yushchenko met Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and spoke warmly about a friendship he said had lasted for more than 20 years. He praised Azerbaijan’s support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and the humanitarian assistance Baku has provided since Russia launched its full-scale invasion. The former Ukrainian president described their conversation as “extremely sincere and substantive.” The images, however, carried symbolism beyond bilateral relations. Yushchenko remains one of the most recognizable faces of Ukraine’s 2004-05 Orange Revolution. He came to power after hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians protested electoral fraud and demanded that their votes be respected. Aliyev’s political trajectory was very different. He succeeded his father, Heydar Aliyev, as president in 2003 and has remained in power for more than two decades. Uncomfortable history Azerbaijani commentator Elnur Mammadli pointed out that Aliyev was not among those supporting Yushchenko during the Orange Revolution. Azerbaijan experienced its own political confrontation a year earlier. The 2003 election that brought Aliyev to power was followed by opposition protests and a forceful crackdown. Moscow has spent years portraying both the Orange Revolution and Maidan as Western-engineered coups rather than expressions of Ukrainian political agency – a narrative that has often been echoed by official Baku in its own warnings about “color revolutions.” Other Topics of Interest 2 Killed, 10 Wounded as Russia Hits Zaporizhzhia Region 1,019 Times in 24 Hours Russia struck 52 communities in Zaporizhzhia region 1,019 times in 24 hours, killing 2 people, wounding 10 and damaging homes and infrastructure. What Baku learned from the Revolution of Dignity In Azerbaijan, the years surrounding the Revolution of Dignity coincided with growing pressure on activists, independent journalists, human rights defenders and civil society groups operating outside state control. Freedom House classifies Azerbaijan as “Not Free” and describes political power as heavily concentrated around Aliyev and his family, with severe restrictions on political competition and civil liberties. Human Rights Watch has documented repeated prosecutions of journalists, activists and government critics. Reporters Without Borders has placed Azerbaijan near the bottom of its global press freedom rankings and highlighted the imprisonment of independent journalists. An open letter to Yushchenko The photographs from Baku prompted Azerbaijani activist Isa Sadigov to publish an open letter questioning how a leader associated with Ukraine’s democratic struggle could so warmly embrace a ruler accused of suppressing political freedoms. “You are a former leader of a country now fighting an existential war for its freedom. That is why your meetings carry political weight, even if you consider them personal,” Sadigov wrote. “Azerbaijan is not Aliyev,” he argued. Baku turns toward Kyiv? There is another side to the story. Yushchenko’s visit comes as Azerbaijan is visibly strengthening contacts with Ukraine. On April 25, President Volodymyr Zelensky made his first visit to Azerbaijan since the start of the full-scale invasion, meeting Aliyev in Gabala for talks on security, energy and humanitarian cooperation. Several months later, on Aug. 6, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov visited Ukraine for the first time since Russia launched its full-scale invasion. Baku has consistently recognized Ukraine’s territorial integrity and provided humanitarian assistance. As relations between Azerbaijan and Russia have deteriorated, Kyiv has also become more important to Baku politically. On Feb. 22, 2022 – just two days before Putin launched the full-scale war – Aliyev traveled to Moscow and signed a Declaration on Allied Interaction with the Russian president. Four years later, the relationship with Moscow looks markedly different. For Azerbaijan’s government, prominent Ukrainian visitors have value beyond diplomacy. They also help reinforce the image of a leadership drawing closer to Ukraine and distancing itself from Russia. Ukraine has its own interests Azerbaijani activist Zamig Mammadli cautioned against reducing Yushchenko’s visit to claims that he had become a “PR tool” for Aliyev. According to Mammadli, security priorities often outweigh concerns over a country’s democratic record. In his view, Yushchenko was representing Ukraine’s interests, not those of his host. He is right: strategic interests and political symbolism are rarely the same thing, and a nation fighting for survival needs every partner it can get. But there is a line between pragmatic diplomacy and abandoning principle. Ukraine needs allies. What it does not need is amnesia. The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.