Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev strongly criticized the European Parliament during a meeting with participants of international conferences in Baku on September 15, 2026. Calling the European Parliament a "nest of bribe-takers," Aliyev said he was making the assessment while assuming full responsibility for it.
Aliyev's remarks came amid longstanding political disputes between Azerbaijan and European institutions and tensions surrounding the Karabakh issue. The Azerbaijani president argued that his country had been demanding political decisions on Nagorno-Karabakh in European institutions since 2001, but that these demands had not been met.
Criticism over Karabakh and double standards
Aliyev claimed that the Council of Europe imposed sanctions on Azerbaijan after it reestablished control over Karabakh in September 2023, while Armenia was not subjected to similar action. He presented this assessment as part of his allegation that European institutions take a political and biased approach toward Azerbaijan.
In his speech, the Azerbaijani president also accused European institutions of applying double standards and Western media of adopting approaches toward Azerbaijan that included criticism and Islamophobia. In Aliyev's narrative, Europe's political response to Azerbaijan's Karabakh policy was discussed alongside debates over representation and corruption in European institutions.
He cited a case involving a former official
Aliyev also cited a corruption case reportedly linked to one of the European Parliament's former vice presidents as an example supporting his statement. The Azerbaijani president claimed that no necessary action had been taken against an official who had millions of dollars at home. This episode was presented as one of the grounds for Aliyev's political accusation against the European Parliament; there is no independent verification that the person in question was definitively responsible for corruption.
Mutual criticism since 2015
On September 10, 2015, the European Parliament adopted a resolution expressing concern over human rights and corruption allegations in Azerbaijan and calling for allegations linked to the Azerbaijani government to be investigated. The position marked one of the earlier stages of political tension between Baku and European institutions.
Azerbaijan's influence and political sway in European institutions had previously also drawn attention in debates described as "caviar diplomacy." In a case in Italy, allegations that Luca Volontè, a former member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, received money to influence decisions in Azerbaijan's favor, along with his conviction in the case, became one example of corruption debates surrounding European institutions.
However, the European Parliament and the Council of Europe are not the same institution. While the Volontè case concerned the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Aliyev's latest statement directly targeted the European Parliament. This distinction is important for accurately assessing the institutional framework of the political dispute between Baku and European institutions.
