There are political developments around the Artsakh conflict, which, at first sight, are not directly related to the political settlement of the conflict, however in both other and specific cases, the details are essential.
Particularly I am talking about the recent tense relations between Berlin and Baku. The problem is that the tension between Azerbaijan and the Federal Republic of Germany began yet in January, when the German federal authorities accused two members of the Bundestag, Eduard Lintner and Karin Strenz, of accepting bribes from Azerbaijan for carrying out lobbying for Baku. The Bundestag deprived both deputies of their parliamentary immunity, which, of course, strained the representatives of the Aliyev regime, for the simple reason that, in fact, it became clear that the German law enforcement bodies had found reinforced concrete evidence confirming the guilt of the deputies. Moreover, if in the case of Strenz is only about lobbying activities in the Bundestag, then the geography of the problem with Lintner is wider, as he is accused not only of taking bribes from Azerbaijan, but also of bribing members of the European Parliament.
One way or another, all this threatened to turn into another corruption scandal that has already become ‘ordinary’ for Baku, if the unexpected had not happened, one of the deputies accused of corruption ‘suddenly’ died. Last Sunday, Karin Strenz died suddenly in a plane flying from Cuba to Germany, which, although still unofficial, raised serious suspicions, especially considering that it is not the first case when Baku has been at the center of suspicions of being guilty of killing ‘unfavorable’ people. Particularly Maltese journalist Daphne Anne Caruana Galizia, investigating the connection between Ilham Aliyev’s offshore accounts and the Prime Minister of Malta, was killed in 2017. It is true that consequently, the Prime Minister of Malta resigned because of public pressure; however, the fact is that this case was ‘buried’ after the murder of the journalist.
Apparently, Berlin takes the death of a member of the Bundestag more seriously than the Maltese authorities do with the murder of a journalist. A few days ago, it was clearly shown to Baku. The German ambassador to Azerbaijan refused to travel to “Azerbaijani regions liberated from the Armenian occupation”, which became cause of a serious diplomatic scandal. It is already the third day that Ambassador Wolfgang Manig has been targeted by the Azerbaijani-controlled media and pocket politicians, and the case has reached the point where calls are being made to minimize relations between Azerbaijan and the Federal Republic of Germany. Particularly former Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Tofig Nadir oglu Zulfugarov insisted that since it was impossible to declare Manig persona non grata, Baku must take measures to prevent the ambassador from fully realizing the interests of the country he represents.
It is not clear yet how official Berlin will react to these Azerbaijani attacks. In any case, it is difficult to assume that Germany will leave un-responded the invectives addressed at the country and its ambassador, especially if it suddenly turns out that Karin Strenz’s death was not just an accident, but there is a human factor in it.
By Levon Sardaryan
