Tag Archives: international relations

Azerbaijan increases defence budget

JAN. 18 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Over the past decade, it’s become an increasingly familiar story. At almost every budget, the Azerbaijani authorities have boosted spending on weapons and other military hardware.

This year, though, the jump in military spending was more significant than normal.

According to media reports, Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev said that military spending would hit $3.7b in 2013, up from 3b in 2012. A decade ago, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) estimated that Azerbaijan spent roughly $414m on its defence budget.

And Azerbaijan is not short of neighbours it considers to be problematic.

Azerbaijan’s military shopping spree is aimed mainly at Armenia. The two countries are still officially at war over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. A 1994 ceasefire keeps the peace around Nagorno-Karabakh but shootouts and death puncture this peace every week.

Azerbaijan’s relations with Iran have worsened considerably over the past 18 months too.

There have been a number of reported shootouts on their border. In Baku, the Azerbaijani authorities have arrested several people accused of being Iranian agents. The Iranians have also arrested several Azerbaijanis in Iran.

The Azerbaijani authorities are unlikely to relax their policy of rearmament any time soon.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 120, published on Jan. 18 2013)

Azerbaijan and Armenia to discuss N-K in Paris

JAN. 28 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – The foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia met in Paris to discuss a solution to their dispute over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. While little substantial progress was made at the one-day meeting, foreign mediators consider getting Azerbaijan and Armenia to sit across a table as positive.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 122, published on Feb. 25 2013)

Russia monitors Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan for revolutions

DEC. 10 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Perhaps it was just scare-mongering, but Nikolai Patrushev, the head of Russia’s National Security Council and a close adviser to president Vladimir Putin, said that his staff were monitoring Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan for signs of any re-emergence of the so-called colour revolutions, Russian media reported.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 117, published on Dec. 14 2012)

Russia to close its radar in Azerbaijan

DEC. 13 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – In the end, years of on-off negotiations came to nothing when Russia walked away from talks with Azerbaijan on an extension on its lease of a radar station.

Officially, the Qabala radar station in northern Afghanistan was deemed surplus to Russian military requirements. Unofficially, and perhaps more plausibly, the main reason for Russia walking away from a potential deal was its refusal to pay the $150m annual rent that the Azerbaijani government had, apparently, asked for.

That’s what Russian news agency Interfax reported. It said that Russia had been prepared to match an initial fee of $7m a year but that it considered the Azerbaijani demand excessive.

Certainly, the Qabala radar station had been important to the Russian military. It has a range of 6,000km and could detect missiles being fired across the Middle East, a useful thing when tension in the region is rising.

Now though, Russia will have to do without the Soviet-era radar system that only a few years ago it had offered to the US as an alternative to a proposed missile defence system in eastern Europe.

And if the reason touted by the Russian media is true — that Azerbaijan simply pushed up the price too high — it must be another indicator of Azerbaijan’s rising fiscal powers.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 117, published on Dec. 14 2012)

Kyrgyzstan hosts SCO meeting

DEC. 4 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – PMs of members of the Russia, China lead Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which focuses on Central Asia, met in Bishkek. China’s Wen Jiabao also met privately with Kyrgyz PM, Zhantoro Satybaldiyev. They discussed China’s future investment in Kyrgyzstan, and a potential trans Central Asia pipeline.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 116, published on Dec. 7 2012)

Clinton criticises Georgia’s new government

NOV. 29 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – At her first meeting with her new Georgian counterpart, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton publicly criticised Georgia’s new government for arresting several officials linked closely to the previous government. The previous government has described the arrests as a witch-hunt against them.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 115, published on Nov. 30 2012)

Ashton visits Georgia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan

NOV. 26-30 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Catherine Ashton, the EU’s foreign policy representative, completed a whirlwind tour of Georgia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. On her travels she met with opposition leaders as well as the heads of states. Her office said she discussed bilateral cooperation as well as human rights.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 115, published on Nov. 30 2012)

Turkmen President flies to Armenia

NOV. 29 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov flew to Yerevan for talks with his Armenian counterpart, Serzh Sargsyan. Media reported that the talks were to concentrate on bilateral cooperation. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said Turkmenistan may agree to supply Armenia with electricity via Iran.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 115, published on Nov. 30 2012)

Georgia’s new PM visits Brussels

NOV. 12/14 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Making a statement of intent on where he wants to lead Georgia, the country’s new PM, Bidzina Ivanishvili, made his first overseas trip since winning an election last month to Brussels where he met the head of NATO and the EU. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili visited Brussels at the same time on a separate trip.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 113, published on Nov. 16 2012)

Iran accuses Turkmenistan

Nov. 14 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Iran accused neighbouring Turkmenistan of cutting off gas supplies because of a contractual dispute, media reported. Iran relies on Turkmenistan to pump gas to its northern regions. A Turkmen official denied that it had cut gas supplies to Iran.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 113, published on Nov. 16 2012)