Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev made serious accusations against the European Parliament during a meeting with participants in international conferences held in Baku on September 15, 2026. Aliyev described the parliament as a “nest of bribe-takers” and said he made the assessment while taking full responsibility for it.
Aliyev’s remarks came amid political disputes between Azerbaijan and European institutions and tensions surrounding the Karabakh issue. The Azerbaijani president argued that his country had sought political decisions on Nagorno-Karabakh in European institutions since 2001, but that its request had not received a response.
Karabakh policy and allegations of double standards
Aliyev claimed that the Council of Europe imposed sanctions on Azerbaijan after it reestablished control in Karabakh in September 2023, while Armenia was not subjected to similar action. He used this comparison to support his assessment that European institutions had acted politically and in a biased manner toward Baku.
Accusing European institutions of applying double standards, Aliyev also said that Western media displayed Islamophobic approaches in their criticism of Azerbaijan. In Aliyev’s framing, Europe’s response to Karabakh policy was discussed alongside debates over representation and corruption in European institutions.
He raised a case involving a former vice president
Aliyev also cited a corruption case reportedly linked to one of the European Parliament’s former vice presidents as an example supporting his accusations. He 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 accusations against the European Parliament. However, there is no independent verification that the person in question was definitively responsible for corruption.
The distinction between European institutions
On September 10, 2015, the European Parliament adopted a resolution expressing concern over human rights and corruption allegations in Azerbaijan. The resolution also called for allegations linked to the Azerbaijani administration to be investigated. This stance became one of the earlier stages of political tension between Baku and European institutions.
Azerbaijan’s influence and political leverage in European institutions had also previously come under scrutiny in debates referred to as “caviar diplomacy.” In a case in Italy, allegations that Luca Volontè, a former member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, had received money to influence decisions in Azerbaijan’s favor, along with the conviction in that case, emerged as one example of corruption debates surrounding European institutions.
The European Parliament and the Council of Europe are separate institutions. The Volontè case concerned the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, while Aliyev’s latest remarks directly targeted the European Parliament. This distinction is important for assessing the institutional framework of the political dispute between Baku and European institutions.
