FEB. 21 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s fractured relations with Iran soured further after police in Baku arrested, for the second time this year, a group of Iranians for allegedly plotting to assassinate foreigners. A few days earlier police detained an Iranian journalist on drug smuggling charges. Iran denied the allegations and threatened reprisals.
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(News report from Issue No. 78, published on Feb. 23 2012)
FEB. 20 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – With three months to go until Azerbaijan hosts the Eurovision Song Contest, Azerbaijani officials and human rights groups have been arguing. Rights groups urged Azerbaijan to improve its record ahead of the competition. Officials countered that lobbyists were politicising Eurovision.
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(News report from Issue No. 78, published on Feb. 23 2012)
FEB. 12 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s state energy company SOCAR said it wanted European partners for its planned Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) across Turkey. TANAP is considered by some as a rival to the EU-backed Nabucco pipeline proposal. SOCAR will offer part of its 80% stake in TANAP to Western energy companies.
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(News report from Issue No. 77, published on Feb. 16 2012)
FEB. 16 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Attacks against Israeli targets in Georgia, India and Thailand and an acrimonious row between Baku and Tehran have thrown a spotlight over the relationship between the South Caucasus and Iran.
The same day that Georgian security forces disarmed a car bomb in Tbilisi another exploded in Delhi, injuring an Israeli woman (Feb. 13). Israel has blamed Iran for both attacks and another in Bangkok the following day.
Three weeks earlier the authorities in Baku arrested two Iranians for conspiring to assassinate Israeli diplomats, although Iran denied the charges.
The South Caucasus has a complex, fluid relationship with Iran.
Over the past year, much to the irritation of the US, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia have strengthened ties with Iran. Gas deals have been made, railway and air links solidified, visa regulations waived and military delegations hosted. Private business and trade links have also surged.
But behind these strengthening connections relations often remain strained.
Azerbaijan has built up good links with Israel and Georgia’s main backer is the US. Both are Iran’s sworn enemy. Armenia has more cordial ties with Iran but it also needs to be flexible.
The South Caucasus countries have to deal with their powerful neighbour but they are also wary.
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(News report from Issue No. 77, published on Feb. 16 2012)
FEB. 3 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – At the annual Munich Security Conference, Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev said Azerbaijan would not succumb to a Middle East-style uprising because of its strong economic growth. Last year police in Baku quashed a series of anti-government demonstrations and some analysts have said it may be vulnerable to an uprising.
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(News report from Issue No. 76, published on Feb. 9 2012)
FEB. 1 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Media freedom rankings by the France-based NGO Reporters Without Borders reflect another tough year for local journalists in Central Asia and the South Caucasus.
Turkmenistan retains its standard position at the bottom of the 179-country list, just above North Korea and Eritrea, underlining its reputation as one of the world’s most repressive states. Twenty places above Turkmenistan is Uzbekistan, also in familiar territory.
But this year, between Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, sliding 10 places to 162nd is Azerbaijan.
In 2011, the authorities in Azerbaijan quashed anti-government protests and imprisoned journalists and bloggers. In November a prominent Azerbaijani journalist was also murdered in Baku.
Reporters Without Borders called Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev a “predator” of the media.
“Violence is back in a big way there, with threats, beatings and abduction of opposition journalists,” the report said.
The report was compiled between Dec. 1 2010 and Nov. 30 2011, before the Kazakh authorities’ crackdown on media after riots in the west of the country.
Even so, Kazakhstan comes in at 154th position and looks set to slip in the next rankings.
Armenia enjoys the most media freedom in the region. In 77th position it has regained ground lost after opposition protests and a state-of-emergency in 2008.
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(News report from Issue No. 75, published on Feb. 2 2012)
JAN. 25 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Security forces in Azerbaijan arrested two Iranians for plotting to kill prominent foreigners, including Israel’s ambassador in Baku, officials said. Azerbaijani officials said the two men had links to Iran’s intelligence service. The arrests further strain already tense Azerbaijan-Iran relations.
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(News report from Issue No. 75, published on Feb. 2 2012)
JAN. 25 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – A property developer in Azerbaijan has applied to the Baku city government for permission to build the world’s tallest tower, the AP news agency reported. Avesta wants to build an office complex with a 1,050m tower at its centre. The tower would be nearly a third higher than the world’s current tallest building.
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(News report from Issue No. 75, published on Feb. 2 2012)
JAN. 26 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Relations between Azerbaijan and Iran have long been strained but a row over hackers’ attacks on official websites in both countries has eroded trust still further.
Despite their shared religion, the two Shia Muslim neighbours take a different approach to Islam. Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev is wary of fundamentalist Muslims. Iran considers them a source of strength.
Add Israel into the mix and Azerbaijan-Iran relations become potent.
Israel, Iran’s sworn enemy, counts Azerbaijan as a friendly force and buys a large amount of oil from Azerbaijan. With an eye on Armenia and the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan is re-arming and likes to tap into Israel’s military expertise.
Last year it emerged that Israel and Azerbaijan were jointly developing military drones.
All this makes Iran wary and it has recently been building diplomatic and economic relations with Armenia, Azerbaijan’s sworn enemy.
Over the last year there have been a number of shootouts on the Azerbaijan-Iran border that have killed a handful of soldiers. These potentially dangerous incidents generally dissipated after a spot of diplomacy but the hacker attacks could do more serious damage.
On Jan. 16, 2012 a number of government websites in Azerbaijan were hacked into and defaced with anti-Semitic messages. The next day, hackers turned their attention to Iran.
Both sides have reacted angrily. An already fragile relationship has soured further.
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(News report from Issue No. 74, published on Jan. 26 2012)
JAN. 19 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR agreed to build an oil refinery in Kyrgyzstan. Media reported that the refinery will process 2m tonnes of crude oil a year and be operational by the end of 2013. The construction will cost $150m. China is already building an oil refinery in Kyrgyzstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 74, published on Jan. 26 2012)