English om Kaviardiplomati, Nagorno-Karabach
Director of Finnish Russia Institute on Paid Trip to Azerbaijan
At the end of August, a Finnish delegation participated in a sponsored trip funded by the Azerbaijani state. One of the participants was Markku Kangaspuro, the Research Director at the Aleksanteri Institute, a research institution affiliated with the University of Helsinki.
Av Rasmus Canbäck 10 september, 2024
Since the end of the Nagorno-Karabakh war in 2020, sponsored trips to Azerbaijan have followed one after another. According to information from the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs, nearly 1,000 individuals have participated in these trips. Among them are journalists, tourists, bloggers, decision-makers, and academics.
Previous investigations conducted in Sweden, Belgium, and the UK have garnered significant attention. For example, Swedish journalists who had participated in these sponsored trips were banned from reporting on the region for public service media, and in the European Parliament, revelations led to the cessation of such trips.
In recent weeks, the controversial sponsored trips have also reached Finland. Between August 20 and 24, a Finnish delegation traveled to Azerbaijan, including Markku Kangaspuro, Research Director of the Aleksanteri Institute. Markku Kangaspuro is also the chairman of the peace organization Fredskämparna in Finland.
The Aleksanteri Institute is affiliated with the University of Helsinki. Its website describes it as one of the ”world’s largest and most well-known centers for Russian, Eastern European, and Eurasian studies.” The Aleksanteri Institute also has a special task of coordinating all twelve institutions active in the same field in Finland.
“This case shows that we should pay more attention to our own instructions [at the university] and follow the procedures.,” wrote Pirjo Hiidenmaa, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities (under which the Aleksanteri Institute operates), to Blankspot.
Other participants included former Finnish Minister of Defense Jan-Erik Enestam (Swedish People’s Party), former leftist politician Jaakko Laakso, current member of parliament Mikko Polvinen (Finns Party), and Antero Eerola, editor of the tabloid magazine Hymy. They were accompanied by the chairman of the Finnish-Azerbaijani Friendship Association, Tarana Nazarova.
The trip has been covered by several Finnish media outlets, including Hufvudstadsbladet and Ilta-Sanomat.
According to the program handed to Blankspot by the University of Helsinki, the delegation met with several state institutions, traveled to Nagorno-Karabakh, and had scheduled meetings with state media. Each day concluded with a group dinner.
The packed schedule left no room for personal excursions. For instance, Markku Kangaspuro mentioned that they did not have time to address the issue of visiting the city of Stepanakert, which was emptied of its Armenian population last year.
During the Finnish delegation’s visit, prominent peace activist Bahruz Samadov, known for his opposition to the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, was also arrested. He is accused of treason after having private conversations with Karabakh Armenians.
According to Markku Kangaspuro, it was Jan-Erik Enestam who led the Finnish delegation. When asked how he views the sponsored trip in relation to the EU’s research ethics guidelines suggesting that such trips can ”jeopardise independence and impartiality in the research process or unbiased reporting of the results,” he said:
“I think that the code is an excellent guideline for doing research. I have no reservations to that. However, my own participation was not about conducting research in the sense of instructions are concerning, but about the fact-finding mission of a group led by an experienced politician, Minister Enestam,” Markku Kangaspuro wrote.
In a radio interview with Svenska Yle, Jan-Erik Enestam mentioned that it was Jaakko Laakso who contacted him after receiving an invitation from a diaspora organization.
“At least ideologically, we are far apart, and we have been on all major issues. But I have come to appreciate [Jaakko Laakso] as a very knowledgeable person, especially regarding foreign policy, and he has been [to Azerbaijan],” said Jan-Erik Enestam.
Six years ago, in 2018, Laakso was banned for life from the Council of Europe, where he served as an honorary member while simultaneously working as a lobbyist for Azerbaijan. Laakso was accused of receiving money from Azerbaijan during 2015-2016 and attempting to gloss over the country’s human rights violations.
The suspension followed years of scandals known as ”caviar diplomacy,” a term also used by Azerbaijani lobbyists themselves. The scheme was exposed by the German think tank European Stability Initiative.
Svante Lundgren, a Swedish-speaking Finnish Middle East researcher at Lund University, who has long followed the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, told Blankspot that it’s clear Azerbaijan hopes to gain new allies.
“It’s obvious that Azerbaijan has ulterior motives behind these paid trips. They want to showcase them to both their own population and the international community. If a former Finnish defense minister visits what they call the ‘liberated areas’, Nagorno-Karabakh, it naturally lends some legitimacy to the actions, military offensives, and ethnic cleansing that led to the liberation,” Svante Lundgren noted, adding:
“They also hope, of course, that those who have been on these trips will, in the future, defend Azerbaijan or speak positively about the country, which Enestam indeed did in his op-ed in Hufvudstadsbladet.”
Both Jan-Erik Enestam and Jaakko Laakso wrote articles defending Azerbaijan after the trip. However, Markku Kangaspuro has not done so.
Markku Kangaspuro does not believe that the trip will affect his independent research. In a phone interview with Blankspot, he stated that after many years of studying Russia and Eurasia, he is ”vaccinated” against propaganda.
“I have travelled from the beginning of the 1990’s in Russia until sanctions and closing of the border. In this respect it’s nothing new, and I’m well vaccinated of all kind of propaganda.,” said Markku Kangaspuro.
He also compared a sponsored trip to Azerbaijan with an EU-funded conference in Poland.
“Well, invitors have many times paid my trips. For example now in Krakow, a science academy in Poland, I’m going to work with the European Council’s HERA project applications. I’m doing that work and written evalutations, and now we will have a panel making a final proposal of the research projects that will be granted.”
When asked if it’s perceived differently to go on a paid trip to Nagorno-Karabakh, funded by the Azerbaijani state, versus attending a conference in Krakow, he acknowledged the difference.
“Of course there is a difference. Countries such as Azerbaijan, I understand very well that they have their own reasons to invite a group, organized by their friendship society and this committee responsible of them [Committee of Diaspora Affairs]. No doubt about that.”
When asked whether it’s common practice for researchers at the Aleksanteri Institute to go on such paid trips, Kangaspuro replied:
“Well, it’s under their consideration, and of course and depending on their research topics. And do they need it or not. As you know, university autonomy is quite an important part of doing research. […] It’s a principal thing, that we have to have space to consider whether a trip to a third party country can benefit, for example to Israel or China, or Saudi Arabia. We are doing research on all these authoritarian countries, and also who are waging war. It’s always delicate, and you have to consider it case by case.”
In a follow-up email, he also mentioned that he didn’t see any other way to access the Azerbaijani side of the conflict without accepting a sponsored trip.
“I believe that it would certainly have been possible to obtain a visa for a self-organized and paid trip, but organizing meetings with representatives of the administration responsible for mine clearance, the Diaspora Committee and the Ministry of Culture, not to mention visiting the Nagorno-Karabakh region, would of course not have been possible without cooperation with the official bodies of Azerbaijan,” wrote Markku Kangaspuro.
He also emphasized the importance of listening to all sides of a conflict.
“I have not had any intention to report on the conflict at this stage and no reason to rely only on this information from one side,” Marku Kangaspuro concluded.
Middle East researcher Svante Lundgren argues that the purpose of these sponsored trips is partly to provide a simplified view of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, excluding opinions like those of Bahruz Samadov.
“The image that Azerbaijan presents on these sponsored trips of the Karabakh conflict is, of course, biased. Both Enestam and Kangaspuro claim to understand this, but at least Enestam has uncritically repeated the Azerbaijani version in his op-ed. Let’s see if these gentlemen plan to visit Armenia, for example, to listen to the Karabakh Armenians who were displaced from their homes a year ago. That would be a way to listen to the other side,” Svante Lundgren said.
Pirjo Hiidenmaa, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, admits that mistakes were made on their part in approving the trip. In a statement to Blankspot, she wrote that they should have reviewed the itinerary more thoroughly.
“As the Dean, I have accepted the travel request [from the Aleksanteri Institute] without getting enough information. The invitation should come to the University, not to an individual employee. I should have got more information about the travel and visiting program. I have not asked for that,” wrote Pirjo Hiidenmaa.
She also mentions that she confused the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the Azerbaijani Ministry as the inviting party in the application. Pirjo Hiidenmaa added that there are no “blacklists” indicating where trips are prohibited, and that is why the university has guidelines to assess whether a trip aligns with the purpose of the research.
Top Picture: Screenshot from Azerbaijani media covering. Markku Kangaspuro is second on the right.
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