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No plans to allow US military base in Azerbaijan: president

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Wednesday that his government has no plans to allow the United States to establish military bases in his country.

Reports that foreign military bases will be set up on Azerbaijan's territory are groundless, Aliyev told the media.

November elections will be a test case for Azerbaijan, says PACE President

Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly President (PACE) René van der Linden today completed his visit to Azerbaijan and with it his week-long visit to the South Caucasus.

The President stressed that the November elections would be a test case for Azerbaijan and an important opportunity for the international community to see that the government was doing its utmost to ensure free and fair elections. He mentioned a few of the basic issues; these included a full investigation into electoral fraud committed during the 2003 elections. The President was reassured by President Aliyev’s promise that this process would be completed by November. NGOs should not be prevented from monitoring the elections only because of foreign funding, provided their finances were transparent.

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Foreign Minister: Breakthrough in Store if Armenia Accepts All Proposals

Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has said that progress will be achieved in talks on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement if Armenia accepts the proposals made by Azerbaijan.

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OPPOSITION-POLICE CLASHES JAR AZERBAIJAN ELECTION CAMPAIGN

With just five weeks to go before Azerbaijan’s parliamentary elections, the chances for constructive dialogue between Azerbaijan’s opposition and the government seem to be fading.

On October 1, after a breakdown in talks between the authorities and opposition leaders, about 700 protestors took to the streets of central Baku to call for a fair and transparent parliamentary vote on November 6. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Truncheon-wielding riot police moved in quickly to break up the protest, the second such unauthorized gathering in a week.

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AZERBAIJAN'S OPPOSITION ANGERED BY LIMITS ON FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY

After three month of peaceful demonstrations, last Sunday (September 25) Azerbaijan's opposition parties and police clashed in downtown Baku. Ministry of Interior forces broke up the unauthorized rally by the main opposition alliance, Azadliq (Freedom), which unites the three largest opposition parties (Musavat, Popular Front, and the Democratic Party), and arrested more than 100 protestors. U.S. Ambassador Reno Harnish, acting on his own initiative, finally brought both sides to the negotiating table. Only then did the opposition parties agree to halt the rally, and the government agreed to join the discussions.

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DEBATE OVER EXIT POLLS THREATENS CONFIDENCE IN ELECTION RESULTS

Plans to conduct exit polls during Azerbaijan’s November 6 parliamentary poll elections are fueling controversy. Questions have arisen about the impartiality of selected polling organizations and about a paucity of information concerning the sponsors of some of the exit polls.

When the US Agency for International Development (USAID) announced plans in early 2005 to fund an exit poll, the project was seen as a key component in a broad strategy to ensure free-and-fair elections and maintain stability. Violent clashes occurred following the country’s 2003 presidential election, which opposition leaders say was rigged. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

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Three arrested in scheme to bribe government of Azerbaijan

A Connecticut man and two others tried to "steal the wealth" of a foreign nation when they offered hundreds of millions of dollars to top officials in the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan to ensure they privatized the nation's oil company, a prosecutor said.

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Azerbaijan: Military Cooperation Does Not Target Neighbors

Former Soviet republic Azerbaijan sought to reassure Iran and other fellow Caspian Sea states that military assistance it was receiving from the United States was not a threat to its neighbors.

”The cooperation of Azerbaijan in any sphere with any other countries is not directed against its neighbors and does not infringe upon their interests,” Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov said on Oct. 7 in response to a question on whether nearby Iran should be concerned about the U.S. aid.

EU Warns Azerbaijan May ‘Lag Behind’ In Neighborhood Policy

A high-ranking European Union official has warned Azerbaijan may ‘fall behind’ in the EU New Neighborhood Policy due to its forging ties with the unrecognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), Armenia media reported.

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Iran does not object to U.S. radar station in Azerbaijan

Iran has nothing against the Azerbaijani-American project of building radar stations in Azerbaijan, member of the Iranian delegation to the talks on the legal status of the Caspian Sea, Movsum Baharvend, has said.

"Iran is not opposed to other countries fighting terrorism, drug trafficking and other crimes," he told a Friday news conference in Baku after the 18th session of the working group drafting the convention on the legal status of the Caspian.

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CIS observers begin operations

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, lawmakers in Azerbaijan voted to restore the area’s independence. Former Communist Party leader Ayaz Mutallibov became president, while Haidar Aliyev—who had coordinated the operations of the KGB in the region—took over as leader in the exclave of Nakhichevan

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OPPOSITION-POLICE CLASHES AGAIN ROCK BAKU

Conflict between authorities and Azerbaijan’s opposition in the run-up to November’s parliamentary election peaked on October 9 following a brutal police response to an unsanctioned rally, the third in as many weeks, in central Baku. Chances for a resumption of dialogue between both sides appear to be fading fast, with statements from the international community that call for caution and calm passing largely unheeded.

After seeing its October 1 and September 25 rallies dispersed by police, the opposition bloc Azadlig (Freedom) changed tactics on October 9 and expanded the area covered by protestors to multiple different locations. Authorities have refused to sanction opposition rallies in central Baku, saying that the gatherings threaten public order. International organizations have urged the government in the past to respect the right to freedom of assembly, but have made no statement to date about the latest demonstration. Human rights activists and the opposition have tagged the police crackdown a violation of the right to freedom of assembly and of candidates to address voters during the parliamentary election campaign.

OSCE GIVES MIXED GRADE FOR AZERBAIJANI ELECTION PREPARATIONS

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s first report on conditions in Azerbaijan in the run-up to the country’s November 6 parliamentary elections promises to further debate over whether government bans on opposition rallies in downtown Baku violate voters’ right to freedom of assembly.

The nine-page report, published on September 30, focused on events within Azerbaijan between September 5 and September 23, and did not include assessments of three recent unsanctioned demonstrations in the Azerbaijani capital which left scores wounded.

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EU ticks Azerbaijan democracy

"The European Union expresses its concern at events leading to the break-up by police of the rally held by opposition forces on 25 September in Baku, and by the Azaglig Block in Baku on 1 October," announced UK Presidency officials.

The EU called on Azerbaijan to live up to promises to improve freedom of assembly ahead of 6 November parliamentary elections. Opposition leaders accuse Azeri police of only allowing demonstrations in non-central locations of the capital Baku.

Presidents of Georgia, Turkey, and Azerbaijan open the Georgian part of BTC

An opening ceremony of the Georgian part of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline launched at midday on Wednesday. Georgia’s President Mikhail Saakashvili, Turkey’s President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev participated in the ceremony. As a REGNUM correspondent reports, the ceremony takes place at the first pump station of the Georgian section of BTC in Gardabansky District of Georgia near the Azerbaijani border.

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WILL INCREASING U.S. PRESENCE IN AZERBAIJAN MEAN MORE TROUBLE FOR RUSSIA AND IRAN?

Yesterday the governments of the United States and Azerbaijan convened a two-day conference in Baku on "Black Sea and Caspian Sea Maritime Nonproliferation." Running October 12-13, the workshop seeks to develop close cooperation among the coast guard and border agencies of the Black Sea and Caspian Sea littoral states in their effort to counter the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and other illegal maritime trafficking.

Representatives from Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Romania, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and the United States participated in the military simulation, where "an imaginary country" obtained nuclear weapons and then was sanctioned by the United States. Although the participants claimed that the country in the exercise does not exist in the real world, many outside observers said that its characteristics very much resembled Iran.

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EXILED POLITICAL LEADER’S RETURN RAISES TENSIONS IN AZERBAIJAN

Plans by Rasul Guliyev, leader of Azerbaijan’ s opposition Democratic Party of Azerbaijan, to end his nine-year exile and return to Azerbaijan to take part in the country’s parliamentary elections are spurring political turbulence. The authorities have warned that Guliyev, who faces criminal charges, will be arrested upon arrival. Opposition members have predicted that if Guliyev is detained, thousands of protestors will take to the streets in Baku.

The former parliamentary speaker, who has resided in New York since leaving Azerbaijan in 1996 after a falling-out with then President Heydar Aliyev, has announced that he will return to Baku on October 17 at 4:00 pm on a "special " British Airways flight from London.

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AZERBAIJAN: STILL WAITING FOR RASUL GULIYEV

Azerbaijani opposition leader Rasul Guliyev, chairman of the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan, was detained by Ukrainian law enforcement authorities on October 17 while trying to return to Baku after nine years in exile.

The former parliamentary speaker was arrested in the airport of Simferopol, capital of Crimea, in Ukraine, en route to Baku from London to take part in the November 6 parliamentary elections. Guliyev was stopped in Simferopol’s airport at the request of Azerbaijani authorities and is now being questioned by an Interpol representative in Crimea. A decision on the outcome of Guliyev’s case is still pending, according to statements made by the Simferopol regional police department to news agencies.

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Azerbaijan foils return of an opposition leader

An opposition leader's plan to return to Azerbaijan under the protection of rallying supporters was thwarted Monday when he was detained on an international warrant in Ukraine and hundreds of his backers were arrested in Baku.

The events caused pre-election tensions to mount in the country, where the authorities had feared that supporters of Rasul Guliyev might try to disrupt their plans to arrest him at the Baku airport on embezzlement charges.

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Economy minister sacked in Azerbaijan ahead of key election

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev today sacked his reformist economy minister Farkhad Aliyev amid growing political tensions less than three weeks before legislative elections in the oil-rich Caucasus state.

'Minister of Economic Development Farkhad Aliyev has been removed from his post by presidential decree,' the presidential administration of the former Soviet republic said in a statement published by the official Azertaj news agency.

No explanation was given for the dismissal.

No Revolution Coming, Azerbaijani Leader Says

President Ilham Aliyev mocked the opposition movement in his nation during an interview Tuesday, saying it seeks to haplessly imitate the anti-authoritarian revolutions that in the last two years have swept governments from power in other former Soviet republics.

Rather than focusing on next month's parliamentary election, the Azerbaijani leader asserted, the opposition is primarily concerned about planning protests for the next day over its probable loss at the ballot box.

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Azerbaijan's sacked minister Farkhad Aliyev wanted to 'take power'

Authorities in Azerbaijan have accused a minister sacked and arrested earlier in the week of plotting a violent power-grab in the oil-rich, ex-Soviet state.

'On Oct 19, Farkhad Aliyev was arrested,' according to a statement released jointly by the state prosecutor and the ministries of the interior and state security, the first official confirmation of his arrest.

U.S. Official Says Democratic Elections to Draw Azerbaijan to US and Europe Closer

Democratic and free parliamentary elections will draw Azerbaijan even closer to the US and Europe, the US State Secretary assistant on Europe and Euro-Asia Daniel Fried said in a statement on October 20 in Baku, speaking at the Baku State University, Trend reports.

Azerbaijan to get over $100bln if oil prices stay high: Oil Fund

Azerbaijan will get $100 billion in revenues if world oil prices make up $30 a barrel over the next five years, said the State Oil Fund (SOFAR) executive director Samir Sharifov.

Addressing a conference, "Securing a prosperous future: Azerbaijan's political economy at a landmark moment", in Baku last week, Sharifov said the country's profits will be even higher if the price exceeds the figure. The revenues will mainly depend on two factors - oil prices in world markets and accurate evaluation of hydrocarbon reserves, said Sharifov.

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PRESIDENT ALIYEV SACKS KEY MINISTERS, CLAIMS COUP WAS IMMINENT

On October 19, Azerbaijani authorities announced they had successfully prevented a coup in the country. Authorities arrested two powerful and influential cabinet ministers -- Minister of Economic Development Farhad Aliyev (no relations to President Ilham Aliyev) and Minister of Health Ali Insanov. A third figure, Akif Muradverdiyev, head of a department of the president's office, was also fired.

Yesterday, October 20, the popular daily news website day.az reported that Minister of Education Misir Mardanov, Minister of Labor and Social Protection Ali Nagiyev, and several other high-ranking officials were also fired, but there has been no official confirmation of this development. Also arrested is Rafik Aliyev, Farhad's brother and president of the country's largest oil monopoly Azpetrol. The company's bank accounts are frozen and an investigation has been launched into the operations of the Ministry of Economic Development and Azpetrol.

US Disturbed By Pre-Election Moves by Azerbaijan

The degree of U.S. concern about Azerbaijan was underlined by the mission of Assistant Secretary Fried, who met government and opposition politicians Thursday and delivered a university speech exhorting all parties to work to make the country a full democracy.

Azerbaijanis are to elect a new 125 member parliament November 6. The current parliament is dominated by supporters of President Aliyev, who succeeded his father as president in 2003 in an election marred by fraud charges.

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Azerbaijan purge raises election tensions

Azerbaijan is bracing itself for violence ahead of a planned opposition rally on Sunday, with rumors of a possible revolution following a mass government purge earlier this week that saw a handful of ministers arrested for allegedly plotting a coup for 6 November parliamentary elections.

In a stunning move only 16 days prior to the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan, the authorities have in the past few days arrested a number of government ministers, former ministers, and other public figures on charges of plotting to overthrow the government.

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Azerbaijan Opposition Have Set Date for Orange Revolution — Expert

The 88th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution has been penciled in as the date for a coup d’etat in Azerbaijan, Fuad Akhundov, political studies chief of the presidential administration’s department for social and political issues, told Interfax on Sunday.

“Today’s unauthorized opposition rally, which will of course be dispersed, is one in a series of recent rehearsals for the staging of a coup d’etat, set for early November 7 — a revolution which our opposition calls ’orange’ for easy reference,” Akhundov said.

Azeri Police Detain Dozens Opposition Rally Participants

The police in Baku thwarted Sunday afternoon an attempt by the opposition to hold an unauthorized rally in the city center, news agencies reported.

An Interfax correspondent reported from the scene that the police detained several dozen participants.