By Harut Sassounian
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
Azerbaijan\u2019s dictatorial and corrupt government is paying $4.7 million to a US PR firm in order to
whitewash its tarnished image prior to hosting the prestigious COP29 international conference in Baku
this November.
In February, Azerbaijan hired the American public relations firm, Teneo Strategy, to make \u201cthe warring
petrostate look like a Mother Teresa,\u201d according to Nick Cleveland-Stout who wrote in
ResponsibleStatecraft.org an article titled, \u201cHow Azerbaijan is ‘peacewashing’ its image ahead of
COP29; Baku is hosting the climate summit in November with some help from a high-priced PR firm.\u201d
To earn its excessive pay, Teneo contacted \u201c144 journalists in 88 different global media outlets some
500 times to promote Azerbaijan\u2019s COP29 agenda\u2026. In just one day, the PR firm \u2026 treated three
journalists to dinner at a five-star hotel restaurant in Nagorno-Karabakh during a media forum. The very
next day, one of them celebrated Azerbaijan\u2019s newly established control of the region in an article
published in Pakistan. A few weeks later, he tweeted that Azerbaijan is \u2018lucky to have such a leader\u2019 in
President Ilham Aliyev.\u201d
An Azerbaijani official announced that his country had hired Teneo to \u201cestablish the COP29’s
communications function, including narrative development, initial content development,
communications and engagement campaign planning, issues management, organizational development,
establishing media relations capability, and media training.\u201d Nick Cleveland-Stout reported that \u201cAt
least five Teneo executives are always on the ground in Baku — racking up a tab of $350,000 on airfare
and hotels to date.\u201d
Hikmat Hajiyev, Pres. Aliyev\u2019s top advisor, shamelessly announced a \u201cCOP29 Truce,\u201d meaning that
Azerbaijan is calling on all warring parties in the world to declare a ceasefire during the November
conference. Such a deceitful announcement is being made by a country whose leader has been issuing
repeated threats to invade Armenia. This reminds us of the biblical admonition: \u201cPhysician, heal
thyself!\u201d
Nick Cleveland-Stout wrote: \u201cAzerbaijan has become notorious for flaunting its oil wealth to court
foreign officials, lawmakers, and journalists with gifts, free flights, and luxury hotels, dubbed \u2018caviar
diplomacy\u2019\u2026. According to a trip itinerary obtained by RS [Responsible Statecraft] via a Freedom of
Access Act Request, state lawmakers from Maine spent nine days in Azerbaijan in May with flights,
food, and lodging paid for by the State Committee on Work with Diaspora of the Republic of
Azerbaijan, the same agency that hosted [NY Mayor Eric] Adams\u2019 aides. Part of the itinerary included
two days learning about \u2018new development after liberation from occupation\u2019 in Nagorno-Karabakh.
\u2018Guess I should locate my passport. I am very excited!\u2019 wrote State Representative Jill Duson in
response to the invitation. In June, Azerbaijan\u2019s embassy in Washington even hired former Rep. Chris
Stewart (R-Utah) in part to coordinate congressional delegation visits to Azerbaijan.\u201d
Furthermore, Nick Cleveland-Stout mentioned that Azerbaijan had hired another PR company, \u201cThe
Friedlander Group, a firm retained by Azerbaijan\u2019s foreign ministry, [which] is leading the charge on
Capitol Hill in Washington. An email obtained by RS shows that the firm sent an email on September 23
to members of Congress asking them not to sign onto a congressional letter calling for Baku to release
Armenian prisoners ahead of COP29.\u201d The firm\u2019s CEO, Ezra Friedlander, wrote to members of
Congress \u201cwe owe Azerbaijan praise, an apology and an open hand.\u201d
Returning to the PR firm, Teneo, Nick Cleveland-Stout reported that: \u201cWhen Azerbaijan flew out some
300 foreign journalists to the newly-controlled Nagorno-Karabakh region for a media forum in July,
Teneo held meetings and hosted expensive dinners — during which it discussed interviews with
Azerbaijan\u2019s COP leadership team.\u201d
The RS reporter wrote that: \u201cThree days after meeting with Teneo, the influential Indian newspaper, The
Hindu, published an article titled \u201cClimate conference in November to emphasize \u2018peace\u2019 and \u2018truce.\u2019\u201d
The firm also \u201cfacilitated a New York Times article featuring [Mukhtar] Babayev [COP\u2019s president] in
Azerbaijan that was based in part on a trip to Nagorno-Karabakh.\u201d
Teneo has assigned a 17-person team to the pro-Azeri PR task. Azerbaijan\u2019s officials are very pleased
by the propaganda Teneo is doing for their country. Babayev told Azeri TV that \u201cthe government\u2019s
media strategy to change international perceptions of Azerbaijan is a success story, including its
\u2018restoration of territorial integrity,\u2019 referring to its offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh. Without mentioning
Teneo by name, he credited a new media team \u2018consisting of serious specialists\u2019\u2026. Thanks to the work
of this professional team, there has not been a week this year when we have not provided information
and made statements to international media\u2026. Now they all understand and see the strength of our
country.\u201d
The most unfortunate issue is that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is the one who allowed Azerbaijan to
host the conference by lifting Armenia\u2019s veto in return for the release of 32 Armenian prisoners of war
in exchange for two Azeri murderers who penetrated Armenia\u2019s border in 2023 and killed an innocent
Armenian worker.
While I welcome the return of the 32 Armenian prisoners, I believe that Pashinyan should have
bargained for Azerbaijan\u2019s release of all Armenian prisoners of war and the eight Artsakh political
hostages held in Baku. Pres. Aliyev was so obsessed with hosting the prestigious UN conference in
Azerbaijan that he would have agreed to such a comprehensive deal.
If Pashinyan had made such a deal, Armenians and sympathetic non-Armenians around the world would
not have needed to work so hard to pressure Azerbaijan to release all the Armenian detainees prior to the
November conference<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"