Tag Archives: Azerbaijan

Qatar to increase flights to Azerbaijan

JAN. 31 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — At a press conference with his Qatari counterpart, Azerbaijani foreign minister Elmar Mammadyarov said that the Qatar airline had agreed to increase the number of flights to Baku. He said that the driving motivator of the planned flight increase was a jump in the number of tourists travelling to Azerbaijan. Mr Mammadyarov didn’t give any figures to back this up or say how many Qatar flights would now operate to Baku. International airlines have been increasing their flights to the South Caucasus.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)

Freedom House says rights in Central Asia and the South Caucasus worsened in 2016

JAN. 31 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — In its annual report mapping out the status of just how free people are to express themselves, the US-based NGO Freedom House said that in 2016 the countries of Central Asia and the South Caucasus cracked down on civil liberties.

Freedom House rates Georgia as the best place for civil liberties in the region, with a “Partly Free” status. It also gave this ranking to Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. The others were ranked “Not Free” with Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan listed as two of the most repressive regimes in the world.

“Apparently unnerved by the repercussions of a lengthy slump in oil prices, the rulers of Azerbaijan and the Central Asian states used tightly controlled constitutional referendums to extend their rule into the future,” Freedom House wrote.

The Freedom House assessment of civil rights broadly mirrors the assessment of human rights groups who have been warning of worsening conditions in the region.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)

Aliyev wants Azerbaijan to boost wine sales

FEB. 2 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan is producing only 20m bottles of wine per year, roughly a fifth of its capacity, media quoted President Ilham Aliyev as saying.

Mr Aliyev wants Azerbaijan to diversify away from oil and gas, which dominates the economy. The economy has taken a hit with the collapse in oil prices. He has previously highlighted the potential for growth in the hazelnut sector and now appears to have earmarked the wine-making industry for growth.

“Most of these plants were built in recent years. Major funds have been invested in them and modern equipment installed. How can it be possible for plants with a production capacity of 100m bottles to produce only 20m bottles of wine?” media quoted him as saying.

Georgia, which has a far more developed wine production and sales system, exports 50m bottles of wine every year. Most of the growth has come in China and other parts of the Far East.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)

Azerbaijani bank drops football sponsorship

JAN. 28 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA), majority owned by the Azerbaijani government, has dropped sponsorship of a Baku football team as part of a cost-cutting drive.

Dropping sponsorship of Inter Baku, a top tier team, is another sign that the tough economic conditions have hit IBA hard. A few years ago such a move would have been unimaginable.

“In accordance with new strategic goals limitation of the IBA’s sports support will help the bank optimise its expenses and direct resources to the sphere of finance and banking, which are priority,” IBA chairman Khalid Ahadov said in a statement released by the bank.

“That will increase the efficiency of the recovery processes, conducted with government’s support.”

At the end of January, the Azerbaijani government increased its stake in IBA to 77% from 56% in order to ensure the stability of the bank, Azerbaijan’s biggest. Analysts have been warning for the past 12 months that an economic downturn was pressuring the banking sector in Azerbaijan. The Central Bank has also withdrawn trading licences from some of the smaller banks.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)

Azerbaijan security forces shoot terrorists

JAN. 31 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Security forces in Azerbaijan killed four alleged terrorists who had been plotting a series of attacks, media reported quoting a government statement. Reports did not say where the shootout had taken place. It is unusual for Azerbaijan to report a shootout between its security forces and alleged terrorists. Azerbaijan and other countries in the region have been trying to deflect a recruitment drive by the extremist IS group.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)

Russia complains about extradition of blogger to Azerbaijan

FEB. 2 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia has complained to Belarus about the extradition of a Russian- Israeli blogger to Azerbaijan, media reported. Azerbaijan requested the arrest and extradition of Alexander Lapshin because it said that he had visited the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh illegally. The complaint and ensuing row could upset Russia-Azerbaijan relations.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)

Azerbaijani students told not to criticise the government

JAN. 27 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Students at Baku State University have been warned not to criticise Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev or the university on social media, a leaked audio recording showed.

In the audio recording, released on Facebook, the deputy dean of the faculty of journalism of Baku State University Aytekin Zeynalova threatened students for criticising the university administration.

“After seeing on social media the criticism of a student my blood pressure increased,” she told a group of students. “If students break the rules of the discipline, they will receive a warning and I will reprimand them.”

A second audio recording was leaked a few days later in which Ms Zeynalova again threatened students.

The recordings, and the attitude of Ms Zeynalov, are important because they highlight what human rights have said is a systematic crackdown on free speech in Azerbaijan.

It also demonstrates just how important Facebook has become as a tool for people to express themselves and criticise governments in countries which have been showing an increasingly authoritarian bent.

Students told The Conway Bulletin that it was fairly standard to receive warnings about social media use.

Umman Safarov, a third-year student at the Faculty of Journalism at Baku State University, said that he was warned not to share posts criticising President Aliyev and the university administration.

“The vice-Chancellor told me that while you are studying at Baku State University, you cannot share such posts otherwise you will be expelled from the university,” he said.

Baku State University said in a statement that Ms Zeynalova had admitted that she had handed out the warning but media later quoted the rector of the University, Abel Meherremov, as saying that it was a duty of every student not to criticise the government.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)

Azerbaijani court sentences 17 for links to Muslim group

JAN. 26 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Baku sentenced 17 people to up to 20 years in prison for plotting to overthrow the government and for trafficking. The men, 16 of them described as members of a group called Muslim Unity, were all arrested in a suburb of Baku in December 2015. The suburb was renowned for its pious nature. Police cordoned off the area during the arrests which triggered a shootout in which six people were killed. Rights protesters have called the trial a sham and a show trial.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 314, published on Jan. 27 2017)

Azerbaijan to complete railway to Turkey

JAN. 22 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The 840km Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway link between the Caspian Sea and central Turkey will be completed in the next two months, Turkish energy minister Ahmet Arslan told media. The route is seen as a vital piece of infrastructure linking Europe and China. Mr Arslan said is would double the cargo capacity between Turkey and the Caspian Sea and become an important part of China’s so called “One Belt, One Road” trade project.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 314, published on Jan. 27 2017)

Azerbaijan closes top university because of its links to Gulen Movement

JAN. 20 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The authorities in Azerbaijan have closed the Qafqaz University in Baku because of its links to the Gulen movement which key ally Turkey blames for a failed coup in 2016.

The closure of the high-profile university, considered one of the best in Azerbaijan, follows the shutting of 10 high schools linked to Gulen.

Azerbaijan has been the only country in the South Caucasus and Central Asia region to go out of its way to accommodate Turkey’s demands to close institutions linked to Fethullah Gulen, the Muslim cleric who is now living in exile in the United States.

In the 1990s, after the collapse of the USSR, Gulenists set up schools and universities in the region. They are now regarded as some of the best.

Gunel Hacıyeva, a recent graduate of the Qafqaz University, lamented its closure.

“Caucasus was the best university in Azerbaijan. So much experience, so many people, so many students have become victims of the interests of the authorities of both Turkey and Azerbaijan,” he told the Conway Bulletin.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 314, published on Jan. 27 2017)