NOV. 29 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, flew to Vilnius to sign a deal visa deal with the EU. The deal, which will make it easier and cheaper for Azerbaijanis to travel to the EU, is more a small step than a ground-breaking agreement but media said the next stage could be dropping visa requirements altogether.
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(News report from Issue No. 163, published on Dec. 4 2013)
DEC. 2 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Greek parliament ratified a deal to build the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) which will connect Turkey with Italy and send Azerbaijani gas to the EU. The Greek parliament’s ratification is important as it keeps TAP on track for a construction start in 2015.
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(News report from Issue No. 163, published on Dec. 4 2013)
NOV. 28 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia complained to Kazakhstan after Kazakh border guards shot and killed one Russian fisherman in the Caspian Sea on Nov. 25, media reported. In the same incident, the Kazakh border guards also arrested seven other fisherman, all from the North Caucasus region of Dagestan, for fishing illegally.
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(News report from Issue No. 163, published on Dec. 4 2013)
DEC. 1 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — An Azerbaijani border guard died in a shootout on the border with Iran. The Azerbaijan-Iran border is used heavily by smugglers although the incident could also inflame tension between the two neighbours. Separately, Azerbaijani authorities released an Iranian they had suspected of plotting to bomb the Israeli embassy in Baku.
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(News report from Issue No. 163, published on Dec. 4 2013)
DEC. 2 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The world’s attention has focused on the massive street demonstrations against the Customs Union in Kiev but in Armenia another, far smaller, crowd has also been demonstrating against the Russia-led group. And this crowd of roughly 500 were within earshot of the visiting Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
The core of the debate is similar to the issues facing Ukraine. Faced with the option of moving closer to the EU or shifting towards Russia, Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan earlier this year chose the Kremlin. This surprised EU officials but unlike in Ukraine, the decision was generally welcomed in Armenia. Russia is seen as something of a security blanket for Armenia. It controls Armenia’s gas supplies and maintains a large military base in the country. It has also vowed to intervene if Azerbaijan threatens it.
Tigran Abrahamyan, a political scientist in Yerevan said the military aspect of the Customs Union was critical for Armenia. “Armenia will buy military equipment from Russia at a lower price and import it without paying customs fees,” he said.
Most Armenians are not anti-EU but they also understand the importance of military equipment and that is something that Russia’s army, and not the EU, can offer them.
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(News report from Issue No. 163, published on Dec. 4 2013)
NOV. 25 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan will re-commission its 10 Su-24 bombers, withdrawn from service in 2008, media reported quoting unnamed military sources. The news is more evidence that Azerbaijan is spending heavily on its armed forces. It is still officially at war with Armenia over the disputed region of Nagorno- Karabakh.
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(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)
NOV. 25 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov visited Tashkent for talks with his Uzbek counterpart Islam Karimov. Mr Berdymukhamedov is a relatively well-travelled leader but visits to other Central Asian countries are still rare. His visit showed that Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan relations are strong.
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(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)
NOV. 25 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia has resumed sending tangerines to Russia after a seven-year gap, news organisations reported quoting Georgian officials. The resumption of fruit exports to Russia is another indication of the normalisation of Georgia- Russia relations after a brief war in 2008.
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(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)
NOV. 21 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — At first glance the visit of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to Baku on Nov. 20/21 was unremarkable.
Mr Lukashenko met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, exchanged pleasantries, pledged to bolster economic cooperation and, finally, opened a Belarusian embassy in Baku. All standard enough for presidents in the former Soviet area.
But the two countries relationship is, actually, becoming more significant on a global scale. Their shared problem is Russia which, prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, was their colonial overlord.
Belarus has had to deal with a number of economic rows with Russia over the years, most recently over potash, a mineral used to produce fertiliser.
It is a member of the Russia-led Customs Union but it still clashes with its larger neighbour over gas and other trade issues.
Relations between Azerbaijan and Russia are even more strained. They have argued over gas supplies and Russia’s military support for Azerbaijan’s arch enemy Armenia.
If a relationship between two countries can be measured in terms of trade, the Belarus-Azerbaijan relationship would be booming. Media reported that trade between the two countries had increased six-fold since 2006.
Azerbaijan assembles various Belarusian trucks and tractors for the local market, key exports from Belarus, but the relationship has prospered recently mainly due to weapons and energy.
And at the core of these issues is Russia.
To reduce its dependency on Russian energy, Belarus imports gas from Azerbaijan. To counter Russia’s support for Armenia, Azerbaijan imports weapons from Belarus.
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(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)
NOV. 21 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — An Uzbek delegation led by foreign minister Abulaziz Kamilov visited Britain for talks on further cooperation and the situation in Afghanistan. Despite concerns over its human rights record, NATO is cooperating with Uzbekistan to withdraw its military equipment from neighbouring Afghanistan next year.
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(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)
