European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has met Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Baku, amid calls from jailed journalists to address the country’s human rights record.
The one-on-one meeting took place on 1 July following Mrs von der Leyen’s arrival in the capital, where she was met by Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and the European Union (EU) commissioner for enlargement, Marta Kos.
The EU chief is scheduled to travel to Armenia following her visit to Azerbaijan.
Writing on the social media platform X, Mrs von der Leyen said the EU “believes in a bright future of peace, prosperity and integration for the South Caucasus”.
“I am also here to deepen the partnership between the European Union and Azerbaijan – from trade to transport, energy to the economy,” she added.
However, the high-level visit has been overshadowed by appeals from imprisoned journalists and civil society activists, who have urged the EU leader to raise systemic human rights concerns publicly with Azerbaijani officials.
Journalists from the independent outlet Abzas Media, who were jailed last year, wrote an open letter warning that European energy deals with Baku should not come at the expense of democratic values.
“Ilham Aliyev has a sense of reassurance while carrying out mass arrests in the country,” the letter said. “That is Europe’s silence. European countries’ energy cooperation with Azerbaijan has led to values being sacrificed for interests.”
The writers urged Mrs von der Leyen to make bilateral partnerships conditional on domestic reform.
“We hope that you will not only speak about this behind closed doors, but also in public,” the letter added.
Abzas Media has been the target of a systematic crackdown by authorities since November 2023.
In June 2025, Baku Grave Crimes Court sentenced the outlet’s director, Ulvi Hasanli, and editor-in-chief, Sevinc Vaqifqizi, to nine years in prison on smuggling charges. Other journalists from the organisation received sentences of up to eight years.
The convictions were upheld by Azerbaijan’s Supreme Court in April.
Human rights groups estimate there are currently about 330 political prisoners in Azerbaijan. Activists also highlighted the suspicious deaths of two jailed figures, Elbayi Karimli and Ilgar Aliyev, in custody over the past two years.
The government in Baku has repeatedly denied holding political prisoners, maintaining that those detained were prosecuted for specific criminal offences.
Azerbaijan has cooperated with the EU since 2009 under the Eastern Partnership programme. Negotiations for a comprehensive bilateral agreement began in 2017 but have yet to be finalised.