Summary European Union is worried about a possible Internet clampdown by President Ilham Aliyev.
BAKU (AFP) - The European Union is worried about a possible Internet clampdown in Azerbaijan as strongman President Ilham Aliyev cracks down on opposition following a spate of protests earlier this year, a senior EU official said Friday.
"Freedom of expression and freedom of the press is one of those issues of concern," Stefan Fule, the EU s Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, said Friday during a two-day visit to Baku.
"We are concerned about ideas ... to curb the free access to Internet and its use for communication," Fule said, after meeting with Aliyev.
Azerbaijani security forces earlier this year brutally suppressed several demonstrations including one over alleged hazing in the army and arrested scores of protestors.
Opposition activists typically use social media websites to coordinate their activities.
Despite the concerns Fule said that the EU remains intent on taking its relations with the oil-rich former Soviet state to "an even higher level".
Azerbaijan s energy-fuelled economy has boomed since Aliyev came to power in 2003, succeeding his father Heydar, an ex-KGB officer and Communist-era boss.
After decades of Soviet rule, Azerbaijan emerged as one of the most secular states in the Islamic world, becoming an important energy supplier to Europe and an ally in the NATO-led campaign in Afghanistan.
Aliyev faces presidential elections in October, in a vote that he is almost certain to win.
