The Azerbaijani leadership appears to be channeling the legendary American football coach Vince Lombardi as it copes with criticism of its hosting of COP29: the best defense is a good offense.

Pro-government media in Azerbaijan has been busy punching back critics who have assailed the Aliyev administration’s handling of the annual UN climate conference, as well as its poor human rights record. Among state-controlled outlets’ chief targets are US Representative Frank Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat, and Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg. In addition, several Azerbaijani activists have been caught in the media crosshairs. 

Pallone is an outspoken supporter of the Armenian diaspora in America. He traveled to Baku on November 16 as part of the US delegation to COP29. Soon after his arrival, a group of protestors, representing local government-supported non-profit groups, or GONGOs, appeared in front of his hotel carrying slogans reading; “Apologize or Get Out!” 

“Frank Pallone, a main figure of the Armenian lobby in the US, who doesn’t recognize Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and calls for sanctions against our country, doesn’t have a conscience, he sold it for Armenian cognac,” said Azerbaijani state television chair Rovshan Mammadov on his television program. 

Pallone is a constant critic of Azerbaijan’s poor human rights record, as well as the country’s treatment of Karabakh Armenians, who were forced to leave their homes after Azerbaijani forces reconquered all of Karabakh in late 2023. He has repeatedly characterized the mass Karabakh Armenian exodus as “ethnic cleansing,” a conclusion echoed recently by the rights watchdog group Freedom House. Most recently, Pallone, along with Democratic Senator Edward Markey of Massachusetts, who also was a member of the US delegation in Baku, were prominent signatories of a petition to US State Secretary Anthony Blinken, calling on the State Department to hold Azerbaijan accountable for “ongoing human rights violations and unresolved territorial conflicts.”

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met with US delegation members on November 17, except for Pallone and Markey. According to a readout of the meeting posted on the president’s website, the sides discussed energy, COP29 hosting, and peace process with Armenia. “Discussions at the meeting also revolved around stepping up the dialogue between the US Congress and Azerbaijan, increasing reciprocal visits, prospects for the development of cooperation and partnership between Azerbaijan and the US in various fields,” it read. 

A statement issued on November 18 by Pallone’s office indicated that state media coverage of his presence at COP29 would only stiffen his resolve to speak out on Azerbaijan’s rights record. “It is outrageous and very telling that President Aliyev would try to silence members of the US Congress and prevent critical discussions on human rights and justice for the Armenian people, even behind closed doors,” the statement quoted Pallone as saying. 

After their return to the United States, Pallone and Markey told journalists that they were excluded from meeting with Aliyev. 

In response, Aliyev’s assistant Hikmet Hajiyev reported that he met with Markey, while justifying excluding Pallone from meetings. “It seems [Pallone] might have suffered psychological and mental distress gazing out of his hotel window at the nearby Trophy Park, where the destroyed equipment of the invading army of Armenia is displayed, and the Victory Park, inaugurated by President Ilham Aliyev on November 8,” he wrote on X. “Perhaps it was divine retribution for the injustices he has supported against the Azerbaijani people over the years.”

Another target of Azerbaijani media venom is climate activist Greta Thunberg, who, along with Azerbaijani activists, led a protest in neighboring Tbilisi, Georgia, that focused criticism on Azerbaijan’s selection as the host of COP29. Thunberg described Azerbaijan as “a repressive, occupying state, which has committed ethnic cleansing, and which is continuing cracking down on Azerbaijani civil society.” She also said Baku officials were intent on using COP29 as a “chance to greenwash their crimes and human rights abuses”. 

A commentary published by the Report.az news agency alleged that American financier and philanthropist George Soros, whose foundation is dedicated to promoting civil society around the world, is exploiting Thunberg for supposedly nefarious purposes, driven by anger over the Aliyev government’s decision to crack down on Soros’ local foundation in Baku in 2015. 

“Greta Thunberg is a puppet in the hands of George Soros and Western circles,” the commentary alleged. “After the shameful expulsion of the Soros Foundation from Azerbaijan, the institution, which could not forget the pain in its tail, has made a habit of letting out its poison at every opportunity.”

Azerbaijani government-affiliated media identified several Azerbaijanis who protested alongside Thunberg in Tbilisi and launched a smear campaign against them. “They [Azerbaijani activists] are more dangerous than foreign cowards like Pallone,” REAL TV director Mirshahin Agayev said in his television program.