Category: Southern Caucasus

Azerbaijani laser specialist arrested in Iran accused in espionage

Azerbaijan, Baku, October 31 / Trend News T. Jafarov /

Azerbaijani laser specialist arrested in Iran is accused of espionage, head of Iranian firm Sazan Elektronics Industry, Abbas Eftekhari, told Trend News over phone on October 31.

“Arrest of Rashid Aliyev has no relation to the contract signed between our firm and Baku State University. He was arrested due to national security. He was arrested for espionage,” Eftekhari said.

Leading engineer-physicist of the biological laboratory of the institute for physical problems of the Baku State University Rashid Aliyev worked in this company in 2006-2008 at the invitation of Iranian company Sazan Elektronics Industry.

Head of the company has repeatedly suggested the scientist to move to Iran for permanent living. But Aliyev did not accept this proposal, and returned to his homeland soon, the Committee for the Protection of Aliyev’s Rights said.

Mammadov said that the corresponding organizations in Iran got letters with a request to investigate the reasons of the scholar’s arrest and release. The Iranian Embassy in Azerbaijan was also informed. However, Aliyev’s family has not got any official information on the reasons for the scholar’s arrest.

The committee and the scholar’s family call on the appropriate organizations to assist in Aliyev’s release and return to his homeland.

After persistent requests of the director Abbas Eftekhari, Aliyev returned to Iran for a short perod on October 5. On October 6 he was arrested under the pretext of problems with visa.

Eftekhari said that he does not know for whom Aliyev dealt with espionage and a core of the problem.

“I was told that this person was accused of espionage. They did not say for which country he worked,” Eftekhari said.

Eftekhari said that Aliyev worked over a joint project in the company. He was arrested by employees of the Interior Ministry and the Ministry of National Security of Iran.

Eftekhari also said about objections during the arrest. “But it is impossible to object to employees of the Interior Ministry and the Ministry of National Security of Iran,” director of the company said.

The permission to meet with Aliyev was not given. But conditions for telephone conversation were created two days ago, Eftekhari said.

Eftekhari stressed that the company hired a lawyer to protect rights of Azerbaijani scholar. But the police do not allow him to work.

“Arrested person does not have rights to hire a lawyer and deal with protection till the case is submitted to the court upon the Iranian laws. We have hired a lawyer for Aliyev but the police said that he does not need a lawyer’s services till the trial is conducted. After the case is submitted to the court, we will hire a lawyer and protect Aliyev’s rights,” head of the company said.

He said that Aliyev is in the fifth corpus of Evin jail.

Aliyev has suspended his scientific activity. He voluntarily went to serve in the army when he was 38.

He installed communication systems in N unit of the special purpose till 1999. He participated in organizing and conducting tests in military units of laser technology for special purposes.

He was also involved in overhaul of some vessels of Border Troops, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources.

Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at [email protected]

Source: en.trend.az. 31.10.2009

November 1, 2009
Turkey to recompense $1.1 billion for low-priced Azeri gas

TURKISH-ARMENIAN PROTOCOLS ARE AT WORK

[ 28 Oct 2009 15:18 ]

Trend News Agency

Baku. Rashad Suleymanov – APA-ECONOMICS. Turkey will pay the difference between the old price it has paid for Azeri gas since April 2008 after the gas agreement expired and the new price to be agreed on with Azerbaijan, said Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yilldiz.

According to him, Turkey has continued to import natural gas from Azerbaijan although the gas supply agreement expired in April 2008.

“Today we no longer buy low-priced gas from Azerbaijan. In accordance with the new price to be agreed upon, we will pay the difference”, he said, adding that Turkey is continuing talks with Azerbaijan’s SOCAR on natural gas, and hopes to reach an agreement soon.

Turkish media report that Turkey will have to pay at least $1.1 billion to Azerbaijan as price difference compensation if the new gas price is around $250 per 1,000 cubic meters, compared to the current price of $120. .

October 29, 2009
Biden Sees ‘More Opportunity Than Danger’ In Caucasus

Czech Republic / United States – U.S. Vice President Joe Biden in an interview with RFE/RL in Prague, 23Oct2009

26.10.2009

Abubakar Siddique, Brian Whitmore

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has struck an upbeat tone regarding the South Caucasus region, saying that Turkey’s recent rapprochement with longtime foe Armenia and other developments in the volatile region are “fraught with more opportunity than danger.”

In a wide-ranging interview with RFE/RL on Friday, Biden pointed to the recently signed Turkish-Armenian agreements and progress toward a settlement between Armenia and Azerbaijan on Nagorno-Karabakh as causes for optimism.

“What’s happening, from my perspective, is that people in the [South Caucasus] region are beginning to understand that their self-interest lies in greater cooperation now. Not out of love and affection, but out of necessity and opportunity,” he said.

“This is going to be a very difficult period,” continued the vice president. “It is fraught with danger, but I would argue it’s fraught with more opportunity than danger. And I see more positive things happening than negative things happening.”

“I think everyone’s seized with the consequence of not making progress in that region of the world. Therefore, because so many are focused on it, I’m more hopeful than I am pessimistic,” he said.

Speaking to RFE/RL in Prague at the conclusion of a three-day visit to Eastern European capitals, Biden insisted that Russia could contribute to regional stability and integration despite consolidating its dominance over Georgia’s breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

“I look at Russia with eyes wide open, as a realist,” he explained. “And my expectation is that Russia will decide over the next decade that its interest lies in more integration rather than what some in Russia seem to be thinking may be a different course. So we just have to keep the dialogue going.”

https://www.azatutyun.am/a/1861268.html

October 26, 2009
CANADA: Scholarly Conference “Azerbaijan in the Caspian Geopolitical Context”

The Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University

Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Canada

“Azerbaijan in the Caspian Geopolitical Context”

November 12, 2009

2017 Dunton Tower, Carleton University

1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa

Azerbaijan has become a key player in the Caspian region which emerged as a vital energy and transportation link between Central Asia and Europe. Due to Azerbaijan’s geostrategic location and energy resources, it attracts attention of policy makers and business circles. Yet, region’s security environment remains the subject of concerns for statesmen, experts and scholars. Despite difficulties Azerbaijan is developing and enhancing trad e and investment relations with Europe, Asia and North America.

The conference will focus on the two dimension of Azerbaijan’s geopolitical and geoeconomic environment: security and energy with a view to highlight issues and formulate expert recommendations for strengthening peace and international strategic partnership in the region. Last year’s August war in Georgia and its impact on the South Caucasus security, Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations, Turkish-Armenian rapprochement, the Nabucco energy project and other matters will be discussed at the conference.

AGENDA

9:30  10:00 Registration and Coffee

10:00 10:20 Welcoming Remarks

Dr. Dane Rowlands, Associate Director of the Norman Paterson School of

International Affairs, Carleton University

H.E. Farid Shafiyev, Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan to Canada

10:20  12:00 Panel 1: Security and Energy Environment in the South Caucasus

Chair

Dr. Joan DeBardeleben, Chancellor’s Professor and Director of the Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, Carleton University

Speakers

10:30 -10:50 Mr. Paul Goble, Director of Publications, the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy, “Evolving Security Environment in the South Caucasus”

10:50 – 11:10 Dr. Robert Cutler, Research Associate, Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, Carleton University, “European-Caspian Energy Links”

11:10 -11:30 Mr. Taleh Ziyadov, Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs, the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy, “Energy and Transportation projects in South Caucasus”

11:30 – 12:00 Questions & Answers

12:00 – 13:00 Lunch

13:00  14:30 Panel 2: Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict and Turkish-Armenian Rapprochement

Chair

Dr. Fen Hampson, Chancellor’s Professor and Director of the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University

Speakers

13:10 -13:30 Dr. Thomas Ambrosio, Associate Professor, Political Science Department,

North Dakota State University, “Obama’s Foreign Policy toward Nagorno-Karabakh: Continuity or Change?”

13:30-13:50 Mr. Tofig Musayev, Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Azerbaijan to the UN, “The International Legal Framework for the Settlement of the Conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan”

13:50 -14:10 Mr. Hashim Gafarov, PhD Candidate in Political Science at the School of Political Studies of the University of Ottawa, “The Implications of Recent Rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia for the South Caucasus”

14:10 – 14:30 Questions & Answers

14:30  14:35 Closing Remarks

Dr. Fen Hampson, Chancellor’s Professor and Director of the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University

For space reasons, please contact Mr. Tural Ganjaliyev if you intend to attend the conference at [email protected] or telephone 613-288 0497 ext. 248& nbsp;

Please send an email with the subject line “Azerbaijan Conference.” In the message body include your full name and institutional affiliation.

October 24, 2009
Armenian “Genocide” Resolution Introduced In U.S. Senate

U.S. — The Dome of The Capitol Building. Note the flag at the base of the dome (right) and the pole above the Senate Chamber (left, no flag means the Senate is not in session), 2006

22.10.2009

Emil Danielyan

Two members of the U.S. Senate have introduced legislation calling on President Barack Obama to officially term the 1915-1918 mass killings and deportations of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire a genocide.

The resolution drafted by Senators Robert Menendez and John Ensign urges him to “accurately characterize the systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1,500,000 Armenians as genocide.”

“One and a half million Armenians experienced Hell on Earth, and to sweep their plight under the rug is to insult their memories and their descendants,” Menendez said as he presented the resolution on Wednesday. “It is long past time that our nation help set the historical record straight and provide a foundation of understanding that helps prevent future atrocities.”

“By joining together and affirming that genocide was committed on the Armenian people, we send a strong message to the international community that we will not turn a blind eye to the crimes of the past simply because they are in the past,” Ensign said for his part.

A similar bill was circulated by other pro-Armenian lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives early this year. It has yet to reach the House floor despite being co-sponsored by over 130 lawmakers and tacitly endorsed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a longtime supporter of Armenian issues.

Progress of the House bill stalled this spring amid an intensifying dialogue between Armenia and Turkey. Obama cited the Turkish-Armenian rapprochement when he backtracked on his campaign pledge to reaffirm his recognition of the Armenian genocide once in office, in an April 24 statement on the 94th anniversary of the massacres. His stance angered the influential Armenian-American community that had overwhelmingly backed his presidential bid.

Obama’s failure to use the word “genocide” was clearly facilitated by the April 22 announcement of a U.S.-brokered “roadmap” to normalizing Turkish-Armenian relations. As part of that roadmap, Armenia and Turkey signed earlier this month agreements on establishing diplomatic relations and reopening their border.

The agreements, strongly supported by the Obama administration, have split the Armenian Americans and, in particular, their two main advocacy groups that have for decades lobbied for genocide recognition. One of them, the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), has been at the forefront of Diaspora criticism of the deal.

The ANCA and other critics are especially opposed to Ankara’s and Yerevan’s plans to set up a commission tasked with looking into the 1915 massacres. They say the very existence of such a body would discourage the United States and other countries from recognizing what many historians consider the first genocide of the 20th century.

U.S. — Democratic Senator from New Jersey Robert Menendez, 05Aug2009

Menendez condemned the planned historical commission as an “insult to the Armenian people” in a speech at an ANCA event organized earlier this month. The New Jersey Democrat had earlier blocked the congressional approval of former President George W. Bush’s choice of a new U.S. ambassador to Armenia, in protest against the dismissal of the previous envoy, John Evans. The latter is believed to have been recalled to Washington because of publicly describing the slaughter of Ottoman Armenians as genocide.

Turkish pundits welcoming the deal agree that Ankara will now find it easier to ward off embarrassing genocide resolutions in the U.S. and elsewhere. Writing in “Hurriyet Daily News” on October 13, veteran commentator Mehmet Ali Birand said: “It will be very difficult for Armenian representatives to go before the U.S. Congress or the French Senate and ask for pressure on Turkey regarding genocide and the acceptance thereof. And it will become impossible for them to go before parliaments of countries that have committed genocide themselves and ask for Ankara’s punishment.”

“We will no longer be on pins and needles on the April 24s and ask ‘What will the U.S. Congress do?’ U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the rear row of this picture is our biggest guarantor,” another columnist, Cuneyt Ulsever, wrote in an op-ed article published by the English-language paper the previous day.

President Serzh Sarkisian and other Armenian leaders insist that the historical commission would not seek to determine whether the 1915 killings constituted genocide and would thus not thwart genocide recognition. Their policy on Turkey enjoys the backing of some of the leading Diaspora organizations, notably the Armenian Assembly of America.

The Assembly on Wednesday joined the ANCA in welcoming the genocide resolution submitted to the Senate. “The Assembly will not rest until Armenian Genocide denial is defeated,” Bryan Ardouny, the lobbying group’s executive director, said in a statement.

Another Armenian-American leader familiar with congressional affairs, who asked not to be identified, also hailed the Menendez-Ensign bill, while noting that the Senate is unlikely to approve it soon. “It shows that the [Turkish-Armenian] protocols and U.S. reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide are not connected, even though it has little chance of passing Senate this year,” he told RFE/RL. “Senate is a harder mountain for us to climb. But next year is an election year, and there are other factors that will help.”

Turning to the genocide recognition push in the House of Representatives, he said, “My guess is that it will not get serious until after April of next year, and people will see how Turkey performs. If Turkey does not ratify the protocols or open the border [with Armenia] on time, the resolution will be relatively easy to pass.”

“Even if Turkey does perform, the resolution should pass the House, as the U.S. has been clear on no linkage and despite some wishful thinking, the [historical] commission actually agreed to is not to determine whether or not there was genocide,” added the leader.

https://www.azatutyun.am/a/1858487.html

October 22, 2009
Turkish Foreign Minister in Azerbaijan

[ 22 Oct 2009 20:02 ]
Baku. Lachin Sultanova, Elbrus Seyfullayev-APA. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov visited Heydar Aliyev’s grave in the Alley of Honors, Martyrs’ Alley and Turkish memorial to Turkish soldiers.

APA reports that both ministers came to the alley in the cars carrying Azerbaijani and Turkish flags.

The foreign ministers issued a joint statement in the memorial to Turkish soldiers. Ahmet Davutoglu said he was pleased to visit Azerbaijan. Turkish Minister noted that he met with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister and President Ilham Aliyev, they discussed Azerbaijan-Turkey relations, the problems of the two countries.
“We came to the conclusion that Turkish and Azerbaijani territories, flags are the same for us. We consider Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity our territorial integrity, Azerbaijan’s flag our flag. Our flags are alike, the crescent moon and star on them are the same. Turkey is concerned over the recent happenings as much as Azerbaijan is. The memorial to Turkish soldiers has been entrusted to our Azerbaijani brothers. Turkey and Azerbaijan will remain brothers forever. Both flags are Turkish flags. We will not allow anyone to insult these flags. Turkey will continue to defend Azerbaijan. Our common Turkish language, common flag is eternal,” he said.

Elmar Mammadyarov said he had one-on-one meeting with Ahmet Davutoglu, later they met with President Ilham Aliyev.
“The principle ‘one nation, two states’ is effective. We discussed the unpleasant incidents concerning the flags. Our views coincided. Ahmet Davutoglu said the incident in connection with Azerbaijani flag will be investigated in Bursa, criminal case will be launched. The wrongdoers will be punished. Azerbaijan-Turkey friendship, love, brotherhood will not be affected,” he said.

Both ministers answered the question of APA’s correspondent “Will Azerbaijani and Turkish flags be hung out in the memorial to Turkish soldiers again?”

Ahmet Davutoglu said the incidents concerning the flags should not affect the relations between the two brotherly countries.
“An incident happened in Bursa. Investigation is being carried out. Some videos broadcasted in media are provocations, they aim to stir up discord. We will not allow anybody to insult Azerbaijan’s flag in Turkey. Despite this, we are investigating this provocation and will take measures. The Turkish flag in the memorial is not the flag of others, this is the flag of our common Turkish language. The flags of Azerbaijan and Turkey were hung out here together. We hope these flags will soon be hung out in the memorial again,” he said.

Elmar Mammadyarov said all saw the attitude towards Azerbaijan’s flag in Bursa stadium.
“It has been decided to punish those persons. We will also take necessary measures,” he said.

October 22, 2009