Deterioration

The feeling among Azerbaijan watchers, from Embassy staff to aid workers in the most remote regions, is that there has been a tangible backsliding. An article in the Guardian is worth excerpting at length:

According to Idrak Abbasov of the Institute for War & Peace Reporting, organisations including the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) say Zahidov was the victim of a staged provocation, part of an assault on free speech and press freedom. The US state department agrees. This month it called on the Baku government to "comply with its stated commitments to respect the rule of law and support the development of independent media".
But overall, outside criticism has been muted - and ignored by Aliyev. Azerbaijan's importance to Washington and the EU as a producer and conduit of Caspian oil and gas, as a Nato-friendly ally bordering Iran, and as a foil to Russia overshadows human rights and democracy concerns.

The West is, indeed, sadly complicit in the backslide on democracy -- Azerbaijan seems to strategically important to push ideals upon, and that's sad.

There's much more at the link, so please do go "read the whole thing," as they say.