MAY 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Vafa Guluzade, a senior Azerbaijani diplomat, died aged 74 in Baku. He helped shape Azerbaijani foreign policy in the early 1990s after independence from the Soviet Union and was Azerbaijan’s chief negotiator with Armenia for a peace deal on Nagorno-Karabakh.
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(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)
APRIL 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Malaysia’s state energy company Petronas completed the $2.25b buyout of the Statoil’s assets in Azerbaijan, making it one of the biggest players on the Azerbaijani oil and gas scene.
The deal included a 15.5% stake in the Shah Deniz gas project, a 15.5% stake in the South Caucasus Pipeline Company and a 12.4% stake in the Azerbaijan Gas Supply Company.
Importantly, too, Azerbaijan’s state oil and gas company SOCAR took over operational control of the South Caucasus Pipeline Company which pumps gas from the Shah Deniz project, across Georgia to Turkey. From there it links up to the Turkish gas pipeline network.
Statoil surprised analysts last October when it agreed the deal. At the time it said that it wanted to reduce the proportion of investment in its portfolio in favour of higher value projects.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)
MAY 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The PEN American Center awarded its Freedom Award to imprisoned Azerbaijani journalist Khadija Ismayilova. Ms Imayilova is in pre-trial detention for coaxing a fellow journalist into a suicide attempt. She is one of Azerbaijan’s most high- profile journalists.
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(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)
MAY 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In an interview with local media, Azerbaijani foreign minister Elmar Mammadyarov compared Azerbaijan’s sparring with the United States to a new Cold War.
Mr Mammadyarov’s comparison may highlight how relations between the West and Azerbaijan, a key energy provider, have worsened although the anti-US rhetoric may be designed to appeal to a local audience.
“Bearing in mind the growing media interest on Azerbaijan with regards to the first European Games some people are trying to exploit the current situation for their nefarious purposes with Cold War style propaganda,” Mr Mammadyarov said.
The main sticking point is the heavy-handed suppression of civic rights in Azerbaijan over the past couple of years. Free media has been all but chased out of the country, human rights defenders and opposition leaders have been locked up.
Azerbaijan is particularly sensitive to criticism from the West at the moment. Next month it hosts the European Games which it desperately wants to use to showcase the country.
Azerbaijan’s media has hit back, though. A Bulletin correspondent said progovernment media in Azerbaijan had posted a series of articles attacking the United States’ reputation.
But Zardusht Alizade, Baku based political analyst told RFE/RL the anti-America campaign is targeted at a local audience to show that the government is powerful enough to criticise the US. The row, he said, may not be that serious.
“I think the real politics between the two countries is still great,” he said. “Gas flows, oil flows and this is the real politics.”
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(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)
APRIL 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Azerbaijani state-owned International Bank of Azerbaijan raised a $200m loan from 18 financial institutions. This is important because it means Western banks are willing to lend to Azerbaijani state-owned institutions despite the economic downturn.
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(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)
APRIL 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan is covertly cutting salaries for state employees to try and pay for the rising cost of the European Games which are scheduled to be held next month, the Eurasinet website reported.
It quoted unnamed employees of Azerbaijan’s State Customs Committee saying that they had had their bonuses scrapped because of the Games.
Eurasianet said the State Customs Committee declined to comment and that the ministry of taxes denied the allegations.
The 16-day European Games, which starts on June 12, is a major set-piece event for Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev. He wants to use sport to promote the country and to distract from criticism of his human rights record.
The problem is that, although Azerbaijan has enough oil- generated wealth to survive a regional downturn in economics, cash is getting tighter and paying for the multi-billion- dollar European Games is getting harder.
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(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)
APRIL 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Milli Majlis, the Azerbaijani Parliament approved an amendment to the Criminal Code which will punish citizens for not notifying the government within a month when they receive citizenship for another country.
Opposition members criticised the new law for imposing repressive legislation designed to increase the government’s control of its people.
Under the new law, citizens will be fined between 3,000 and 5,000 manat ($2,800-$4,750) or receive 360 to 480 hours of public service for not notifying the Azerbaijani authorities that they have taken a second nationality.
Azerbaijan already outlaws dual nationality but the existing laws did not contain a penalty.
Lawyer Muzaffar Baxishov of the Legal State Research Foundation, an Azerbaijani NGO told the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that the government wants to create obstacles for its critics.
“People will have to inform the government about new citizenship, otherwise they will be involved in a criminal case,” he said.
The US and the EU have both heavily criticised Azerbaijan for crushing dissent over the past few years. Many of Azerbaijan’s opposition groups gather emotional and financial support from outside the country. The government has already moved to restrict its citizens’ travel.
Under regulation introduced in January, Azerbaijanis now have to inform their embassies that they are residing in a country, even if temporarily. Previously, Azerbaijani citizens only had to tell embassies if they intended to stay in a country permanently.
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(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)
APRIL 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Increasing pressure on Azerbaijan over its treatment of journalists, the Swedish National Press Club gave its Freedom of Speech Award to imprisoned Azerbaijani reporter Khadija Ismayilova. The award was set up in 2006 after the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya.
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(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)
APRIL 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – After visiting Yerevan, French President Francois Hollande travelled to Baku to meet Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev. According to reports he raised concerns about Azerbaijan’s human rights record. Importantly, French businesses have won a handful of lucrative deals in Azerbaijan
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(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)
APRIL 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia has filed an extradition request to Azerbaijan for former president Mikheil Saakashvili, media reported. Mr Saakashvili, who is now based in New York and Kiev and is an adviser to the pro- Western Ukraine government, is visiting Azerbaijan for a conference.
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(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)