Tag Archives: Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan jails prominent human rights defenders

AUG. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Azerbaijan sentenced human rights defenders Leyla and Arif Yunus to 8-1/2 and 7 years in prison for financial crimes, in what their supporters said was a sham trial.

Tanya Lokshina, a Human Rights Watch researcher based in Moscow, attended the sentencing.

“No matter what technical and legalistic pretexts the authorities are now using to lock up and destroy the Yunuses, one glance into that courtroom leaves you with no shadow of a doubt — this is a political trial and the supposed perpetrators are in fact victims of a vicious repression campaign against independent critics,” she wrote in a story on the Guardian website.

The Yunuses are just the latest human rights defenders, opposition activists or troublesome journalist to be sent to jail in Azerbaijan. The authorities have responded by saying that the West is mounting a concerted effort to blacken its name with negative PR.

But, perhaps, a precedent has been set. Attitudes towards free speech in Azerbaijan appear very dim as the death of another journalist on Aug. 8 appears to show.

Razim Aliyev died after he was beaten up apparently for criticising on Facebook international Azerbaijani footballer Javid Huseynov for making a politically sensitive gesture at a match between his club Gabala and a Cypriot team. Police have detained six men, including Mr Huseynov.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 243, published on Aug. 14 2015)

Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan plan Caspian naval drills

AUG. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia will host two naval exercises this year with the Azerbaijani and Kazakh navies, media reported quoting senior Russian officials. The drills will take place in the Caspian Sea. The first will be a bilateral exercise involving Azerbaijan and Russia. The second will be trilateral and also include Kazakhstan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 243, published on Aug. 14 2015)

Explosion hits pipeline from Azerbaijan’s Caspian Sea

AUG. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – An explosion in Turkey on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars-Ezurum gas pipeline has raised worries that Kurdish fighters and other factions may target energy transport infrastructure carrying oil and gas from the Azerbaijan’s Caspian Sea to Europe. Media reported an explosion on a remote section of the pipeline in east Turkey.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 242, published on August 7 2015)

Statoil quits Azerbaijani fields

JULY 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Statoil, the oil and gas company part owned by the Norwegian government, has decided to sell its 20% stake in the Trans- Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project that will pump gas from Azerbaijani fields in the Caspian to consumers in Europe.

Rovnag Abdullayev, the head of Azerbaijani oil and gas company SOCAR, announced the news on Azerbaijani TV.

“Statoil has decided to leave the TAP project completely, and there is a company which is ready to buy its stake,” ANS TV quoted him as saying.

“Several companies have expressed an interest in buying Statoil’s stake, and it would be better if several companies would buy it.”

Statoil declined to comment.

If confirmed, Statoil’s decision to quit TAP is probably more a reflection on how it is

re-adjusting its portfolio rather than on the project itself. Statoil has already said it wants to reduce its exposure to risk in its portfolio and has sold its stakes in the giant Shah Deniz field in the Caspian Sea as well as in the South Caucasus Pipeline.

Stakes in these projects were snapped up by SOCAR, BP and Malaysia’s Petronas and Statoil’s stake in TAP will attract bids from companies looking for a high-profile project.

TAP is an 870km pipeline project that should link up with the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline near the Turkey-Greece border which will then carry Azerbaijani gas onto central Europe.

The current TAP shareholders are BP (20%), SOCAR (20%), Statoil (20%), Belgium’s Fluxys (19%), Spain’s Enagas (16%) and Swiss company Axpo (5%).

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)

Harvey Nichols closes in Azerbaijan

JULY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – BAKU — Harvey Nichols, the upmarket, blingy British retailer favoured by the world’s globe trotting metropolitan elite has closed its store in Baku only four months after opening.

A spokesperson for Harvey Nichols declined to comment but she did confirm the news.

“Harvey Nichols has terminated its licence agreement with the operator of the Baku store. Consequently, the Baku store no longer operates under the Harvey Nichols brand,” retail-week.com quoted a spokeswoman as saying.

A Bulletin correspondent in Baku confirmed that the Harvey Nichols signage had been removed from its shop in an upmarket shopping mall.

The closure will embarrass the authorities in Azerbaijan who have taken pride in attracting some of the top luxury brands to Baku and turning it into a regional shopping Mecca.

And it also shines another spotlight on Azerbaijan human rights and corruption records which have been attracting criticism.

Harvey Nichols opened its Baku store in March 2015, its eighth overseas outlet and the first in the former Soviet Union. It operated in Baku through a franchise arrangement.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)

West calls Azerbaijan for journalist release

JULY 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Western media lobby groups called for Azerbaijan to release imprisoned journalist Khadija Ismayilova who is accused of various financial crimes. Her trial was due to begin on July 24. Ms Ismayilova’s supporters say the charges have been fabricated.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)

Azerbaijani president holds talks with Tusk

JULY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Donald Tusk, head of the European Council, completed his tour of the South Caucasus in Baku where he held talks with Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev. Mr Tusk’s visit comes at a time of increasingly strained relations between Azerbaijan and the West.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)

Azerbaijan airline looks to cut fees

JULY 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan Airlines will reduce the cost of is tickets in-line with a direct order from President Ilham Aliyev, local media quoted the company as saying in a press release. The statement showed just how much control Mr Aliyev has over Azerbaijan’s various state-linked companies.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)

Azerbaijani oil exports to Russia re-start

JULY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – SOCAR, the Azerbaijani state- owned oil and gas company, resumed oil exports to Russia after a break of several weeks, Rovnag Abdullayev, the SOCAR chairman, was quoted by media as saying. No reason was given on why exports were resumed.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)

Azerbaijani activists go on trial

JULY 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Husband and wife Arif and Leyla Yunis will go on trial, accused of financial crimes, on July 27, a year after they were arrested, media reported. Both Arif and Leyla Yunis are high profile human rights defenders and their trial is almost certain to act as a flash-point.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 240, published on July 16 2015)