Tag Archives: Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan extradites Gulenist to Turkey

JAN. 30 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan extradited to Turkey another alleged Gulenist, the group the Turkish government accuses of an attempted coup in 2016. Turkish media named the alleged Gulenist as Ibrahim E, the editor of a Gulen newspaper in Baku. Turkey has been applying pressure to its neighbours to extradite suspected Gulenist, followers of the exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen. Azerbaijan, a strong Turkish ally, has been quick to acquiesce to Turkey’s demands. Others, such as Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, where Gulenists set up universities and schools in the post-Soviet 1990s, have been less keen.
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>This story was first published in issue 398 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 31 2019
Copyright The Conway Bulletin 2019

Turkmenistan to start exporting oil via Russia

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JAN. 25 (The Conway Bulletin) — As part of improved bilateral relations, Turkmenistan will start pumping its oil via Russia, reducing flows through the BTC pipeline that runs from Azerbaijan, through Georgia to Turkey, analysts told Reuters. The reduction in Turkmen flows will also lower the quality of the oil from BTC as its oil is considered high-quality.
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>This story was first published in issue 398 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 31 2019
Copyright The Conway Bulletin 2019

Azerbaijan’s Pasha Bank increases lending portfolio

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JAN. 17 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s Pasha Bank doubled its share of the corporate lending market in 2018, the ratings agency Standard & Poor’s said. It said that Pasha’s share had increased to 17% of the market from 9%. Pasha has been looking to expand its loan portfolio in both Azerbaijan and also in Georgia and Turkey, markets that now make up a quarter of its loans.
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>>This story was first published in issue 397 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 20 2019

Ango Asian posts weaker Q4

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LONDON/JAN.15 (The Conway Bulletin) — – Azerbaijan-based gold producer Anglo Asian, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange, posted weak fourth quarter results but said that its overall performance in 2018 had been good.

Output in the three months to the end of December fell to 21,945 ounces of gold equivalent compared to 23,185 ounces in the same period in 2017 and dented what had been a spectacular year.

In September, Anglo Asian’s share price began to rise from 42.5p after the first of a series of positive trading updates and an inaugural dividend announcement.

By Dec. 4 it had peaked at 95.5p. It lost 5% after Tuesday’s announcement that Q4 had been worse than expected, triggering a drop of 5%.

Even so, total production in 2018 rose to 83,736 ounces, up 17% from 2017. This was at the top end of its guidance range.

In his commentary, Anglo Asian CEO Reza Vaziri concentrated on the full year results.

“In addition to increasing production from the previous year, Anglo Asian has also significantly strengthened its balance sheet and paid a maiden dividend, all of which has bolstered Anglo Asian’s value and investment profile,” he said.

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>>This story was first published in issue 397 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 20 2019

British police take $1.55m ring from Azerbaijani

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LONDON/JAN. 13 (The Conway Bulletin) — British police say they seized an 8.9 carat ring from a jeweller’s where it had been taken to be repaired. The ring, bought at Harrods in London in 2011, is one of the multi-million dollar assets that Zamira Hajiyeva, wife of jailed Azerbaijani banker Jahangir Hajiyev, has bought. She is the subject of Britain’s first unexplained wealth order.
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>>This story was first published in issue 397 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 20 2019

Israelis sell suicide drones to Azerbaijan

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TBILISI/JAN. 11 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan has become the first foreign buyer of Israel’s so-called suicide drone, the Jerusalem Post reported. Relations between Azerbaijan and Israel have blossomed in recent years with Israel buying Azerbaijan oil and gas and Azerbaijan buying Israeli weapons. Azerbaijan is still officially at war with Armenia over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
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>>This story was first published in issue 397 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 20 2019

Azerbaijani journalists join hunger strike

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JAN. 15 (The Conway Bulletin) — Several Azerbaijani opposition activists and journalists, including award-winning investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova, joined jailed blogger Mehmen Huseynov in a hunger strike. Huseynov, 26, was jailed for defamation in 2017. He had been nearing the end of his jail sentence when the authorities said that that they were charging him with attacking a prison officer. The charges could add seven years to his sentence. Huseynov and his supporters have said the charges have been fabricated to silence him. Azerbaijan is already considered to have a poor record for human and media rights. The added attention of the hunger strike will further dent its reputation.
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>>This story was first published in issue 397 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 20 2019

Consumer lending rises in Azerbaijan

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JAN. 17 (The Conway Bulletin) — Consumer lending in Azerbaijan increased by 6% in 2018 compared to the previous year, the Central Bank said, the first annual rise since 2015. The rise is an important sign that consumer confidence is returning. Azerbaijan was heavily hit by an economic downturn from 2014, triggered by a drop in oil prices. One of the drivers of Azerbaijan’s economic decline was a high proportion of poor loans, often unrecoverable, to consumers.
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>>This story was first published in issue 397 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 20 2019

Georgia and Azerbaijan to build new terminal at Batumi port

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AN. 14 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia and Azerbaijan will jointly fund the construction of a new terminal at the Georgian city of Batumi on the Black Sea, media reported. The terminal will specialise in the loading and unloading minerals and fertilisers and add to the ports of entry and exit for goods moving across the South Caucasus. Reports said that US companies Wondernet Express Investments and Trammo will also invest in the project.
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>>This story was first published in issue 397 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 20 2019

European human rights court fines Azerbaijan

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JAN. 10 (The Conway Bulletin) — The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ordered Azerbaijan to pay journalist Khadija Ismayilova 16,750 euros compensation for failing to investigate a 2012 blackmail campaign against her that hinged around an online sex video.

The ruling damages Azerbaijan’s already-poor reputation for media rights just as it prepares to become a major gas supplier to Europe.

Azerbaijan “had had a duty to investigate. However, there had been significant flaws and delays in the investigation, even though there had been obvious leads,” the ECHR said in a statement.

The ECHR, though, stopped short of blaming the Azerbaijani government for the blackmail. “It had not been possible to establish ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ that the State itself had been responsible for the very serious invasion of Ms Ismayilova’s privacy,” it said.

Her supporters said the government tried to intimidate Ms Ismayilova, one of Azerbaijan’s most high-profile journalists, because she had been investigating corruption claims against Azerbaijani Pres. Ilham Aliyev.

When it failed, her supporters said, officials fabricated evidence that she had been involved with corruption. She served 537 days in prison, being released in May 2016. Azerbaijani officials have not commented.

This year, Azerbaijan is expected to start pumping gas from its Caspian Sea fields to Europe along the so-called Southern Gas Corridor.

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>>This story was first published in issue 396 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 11 2019