JUNE 19 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Police in Baku detained 23 protesters at an anti-government demonstration which they said was illegal. Worried that street-level revolutions in the Arab world may spread, the authorities in Azerbaijan have been trying to stamp out anti-government protesters throughout the year.
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(News report from Issue No. 45, published on June 21 2011)
JUNE 13 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – The foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan said they made progress towards a settlement on Nagorno-Karabakh at a meeting hosted by Russia, media reported. The rare positive statement from both sides comes just weeks before a major international conference on the disputed region.
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(News report from Issue No. 44, published on June 14 2011)
JUNE 8 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in a town near Baku replaced a statue of Hosni Mubarak, the former Egyptian leader overthrown in a popular uprising earlier this year, media reported. Azerbaijan has faced growing anti-government protests and concern was mounting that the statue could become a focal point of discontent.
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(News report from Issue No. 44, published on June 14 2011)
MAY 31 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Completion of a railway linking Baku to Kars in eastern Turkey via Tbilisi inched closer after Georgia’s parliament approved a $575m loan from Azerbaijan to build a section of the track, local media reported. The rail link bypasses Armenia and will transport goods between Azerbaijan and Turkey. It was supposed to open in 2010.
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(News report from Issue No. 43, published on June 6 2011)
JUNE 4 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s defence ministry once again warned it would one day send soldiers back into the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh to wrestle control from Armenia. It said Armenia has obstructed talks to resolve the dispute. Armenia refutes this. Armenia and Azerbaijan are due to meet in a few weeks to discuss the issue.
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(News report from Issue No. 43, published on June 6 2011)
MAY 26 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev issued a pardon freeing 70 people from prison including newspaper editor Eynulla Fatullayev, in jail since 2007 for inciting terrorism and drugs possession. Mr Fatullayev had written articles critical of the government and denies the charges. His supporters have always said the charges were false.
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(News report from Issue No. 42, published on May 30 2011)
MAY 21 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – For years Europe has coveted Azerbaijan’s gas but until May 14 Azerbaijani pop music had been far less appreciated. Overnight that changed.
In Dusseldorf, Germany, in front of a TV audience estimated at 100m, pop duo Ell and Nikki won the Eurovision Song Contest for Azerbaijan and threw a glaring spotlight over the country.
Thousands poured out onto the streets of Baku to celebrate the unexpected win and President Ilham Aliyev was quick to praise the victory.
But winning was the easy bit. Now Azerbaijan has to put on a show worthy of the famously kitsch and super-glitzy competition which started in 1956 and has become one of the world’s most successful television franchises. Azerbaijan is the fourth former Soviet state and the second predominantly Muslim country, after Turkey in 2003, to win the contest.
Hosting the contest allows the venue city to bask in the limelight and showcase its attractions but it also lets others peer in. When Moscow hosted the contest in 2009, the gay rights lobby grabbed its moment and dominated the headlines.
This year anti-government demonstrations have already put Azerbaijan’s leadership under increasing pressure. It has contained the anti-government movement by arresting potential leaders, raiding opposition headquarters and banning demonstrations.
Now, with human rights groups already questioning their commitment to freedom of speech, Azerbaijan’s leaders will face a year of scrutiny until the Eurovision Song Contest next May.
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(News report from Issue No. 41, published on May 24 2011)
MAY 14 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – In front of a TV audience estimated at 100m, Azerbaijan won the 56th annual Eurovision Song Contest. Azerbaijan will now host Eurovision, famed for its kitsch and glitz, in 2012. The host nation usually uses the contest to showcase itself to the world.
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(News report from Issue No. 40, published on May 17 2011)
MAY 4 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Azerbaijan sentenced 20-year-old opposition activist Jabbar Savalan to 2-1/2 years in prison for drugs possession. Police arrested Savalan for carrying opium in February immediately after he had called for a “Day of Rage” on Facebook, a networking website. Amnesty International said the charges were politically motivated.
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(News report from Issue No. 39, published on May 9 2011)
MAY 6 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – The opening of the Nabucco pipeline which will pump gas to Europe from Azerbaijan’s Caspian Sea fields will be delayed by two years to 2017, said the group of European energy companies developing the project. Nabucco is key to European plans to bypass Russia’s pipeline monopoly but it has struggled to secure gas supplies.
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(News report from Issue No. 39, published on May 9 2011)