Re: Azerbaijan - Internal Political Affairs
Aliyev Named Most Corrupt ‘Person of the Year’
BUCHAREST—Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has won the first ever Organized Crime and Corruption Person of the Year bestowed by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).
The award is given for the person who figured prominently in 2012 on stories on crime and corruption in its coverage area. Aliyev was chosen because of new revelations this year about how his family had taken large shares in lucrative industries including the telecom, minerals and construction industries often through government related deals.
The award is chosen by 60 reporters and 15 news organizations that make up the OCCRP consortium. Runners-up included Albanian drug lord Naser Kelmendi, President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“2012 was a banner year for those of us who cover organized crime and corruption,” said OCCRP editor Drew Sullivan. “It’s a growth industry around the world and we expect a lot of work next year as well.”
OCCRP, based in Sarajevo and Bucharest, is a non-profit, consortium of independent investigative centers, media outlets and investigative journalists from 20 countries. Its purpose is to educate readers worldwide on how organized crime and corruption works. Click here to read the full report (OCCRP).
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Re: Azerbaijan - Internal Political Affairs
Police disperses opposition rally in Azerbaijan
November 17, 2012 - 18:45 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - About 20 people were detained in Baku on Saturday when police dispersed an unauthorized opposition rally in Azerbaijan’s capital calling for the dissolution of parliament, RIA Novosti reported.
The rally, organized by the youth wings of the Musavat and the Popular Front opposition parties, chanted slogans: “Resign!” and “Freedom!”
The protests are linked to a video released in late September, purportedly showing a ruling-party MP offering a seat in parliament in return for a $1 million bribe.
The Baku City Prosecutor’s Office has launched criminal proceedings into the case on “fraud” charges.
The first protest rally was held on October 20, when about 40 opposition activists were detained.
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Re: Azerbaijan - Internal Political Affairs
Azerbaijan: How to Measure Free Speech on the Internet?
November 13, 2012 - 2:36pm, by Shahin Abbasov Azerbaijan EurasiaNet's Weekly Digest Azerbaijani Politics New Media Press Freedom
Baku hosted the UN Internet Governance Forum in Baku, Azerbaijan, with more than 1,600 delegates from 128 countries attending the four-day event. Civil society activists argue that the country’s struggle for online freedom of expression should not be forgotten despite Azerbaijan being selected to hold the annual global conference. (Photo: UN Photo/Devra Berkowitz)
Civil society activists in Azerbaijan are trying to push back against government efforts to restrict space for public debate. And they’re hoping a recent global Internet forum in Baku will expand international support for their cause.
The United Nation’s Internet Governance Forum, held in the Azerbaijani capital November 6-9, brought together more than 1,500 government officials, business executives, international organization representatives and civil-society activists from more than 100 countries. They discussed a wide variety of web-related issues, including Internet security, copyright laws and online eavesdropping.
In the coming weeks and months, rights activists in Azerbaijan hope the forum will prove a catalyst for broader international discussion about what they contend are government policies designed to stifle free speech. “If not for the IGF (Internet Governance Forum), we would not be able to attract so much international attention to problems with Internet-freedom in Azerbaijan,” said Rasul Jafarov, the director of the Baku-based Human Rights Club, part of the Expression Online Initiative, a non-governmental coalition.
The Internet emerged in 2009 as a new front in an ongoing free-speech battle, following the imprisonment of two video bloggers who posted a clip online that portrayed President Ilham Aliyev as a donkey. Over the past year or so, authorities have struggled to contain flash-protests whipped up via the social network Facebook. In a report distributed at the Forum, the Expression Online Initiative ranked the country as “partly free.”
While the Azerbaijani government may not block access to websites or social networks, noted Jafarov, “there is a serious problem with content regulation and [governmental] monitoring of email correspondence, social-network content and websites.”
Such “shadow” pressure prompts many Azerbaijanis to censor themselves online, he continued. “They are afraid to post critical stuff online [so as] not to be summoned to the Ministry of National Security and have other problems,” he said.
Media lawyer Alasgar Mammadli, a board member of the watchdog Azerbaijan Internet Forum, agreed. “People are afraid even to ‘like’ a cartoon about the president posted on Facebook,” Mammadli said. “The right to host the IGF does not mean that the country has a free Internet.”
Authorities defend their record by emphasizing quantity over quality when it comes to the Internet.
In an official letter to the Forum, President Aliyev argued that since 65 percent of the country’s 9.16 million citizens were online, Azerbaijan’s approach toward the Internet should be deemed free. Aliyev, writing in general terms, also credited the “the global network” for encouraging “freedom of speech on the Internet, the widening of social networks, [and] ensuring the open and transparent activity of government.”
At the forum, Communications and Information Technologies Minister Ali Abbasov said the government plans to spend over $500 million installing fiber-optic cables and satellite communications.
Both Jafarov and Mammadli acknowledged that the government has made progress in widening Internet access: prices have fallen significantly – from about 500 manats ($700) per month for unlimited, high-speed access in 2008 to about 10 manats ($12) today. But expanded web access should not be conflated with freer speech, they added.
Forum participants from the European Union and elsewhere tended to agree with civil society activists. At a November 7 news conference, European Commission Vice-President Neelie Kroes took Azerbaijan to task, citing the Azerbaijani public’s fear of speaking out freely online. Free speech and fear are incompatible, she indicated. “It is not a democracy, but an imitation,” Kroes said.
Senior presidential aide Elnur Aslanov dismissed Kroes’ criticism as “biased,” in comments distributed by the 1news.az website.
Kroes also called for the release of five Azerbaijanis currently in prison (Nijat Aliyev, Faramaz Allahverdiyev, Vugar Gonagov, Zaur Guliyev and Taleh Hasmammadov) on charges related, or claimed to be related, to their online activities. Separate calls for the release of the five were issued by Council of Europe Commissioner on Human Rights Nils Muižnieks and the OSCE’s Media Freedom Representative Dunja Mijatović. The government did not respond directly to the calls. Alsanov maintained that Azerbaijanis are not persecuted for expression of their opinions online.
On November 9, Ryan Heath, an aide to Kroes, alleged that someone had hacked into his laptop during the Forum. "It is consistent with the observations that have been made by [the European Commission] in connection with the freedom of the Internet in Azerbaijan,” Heath said about the episode during an interview with Radio Azadlig, the Azeri-language service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. No information was stolen, and he did not identify a possible perpetrator.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Communications said the ministry had “heard about” Heath’s complaint, but did “not have any information about it.”
Jafarov and other Azerbaijani activists say European officials need to keep a close eye on Azerbaijan’s Internet situation, and to speak out when they notice government overreaching. “Otherwise, nothing will change,” Jafarov said.
Editor's note: Shahin Abbasov is a freelance reporter based in Baku.Leave a comment:
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Re: Azerbaijan - Internal Political Affairs
hahahahahaha what are the chances
what a great start to the morningLeave a comment:
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Re: Azerbaijan - Internal Political Affairs
I cant stop laughing.
Colombia Reports
Oct 16 2012
Shakira causes a stir after flag blunder .
Tuesday, 16 October 2012 13:53 Simon Willis
Shakira caused a shock at an international soccer tournament in
Azerbaijan Saturday as she mistakenly held up a Colombian flag upside
down giving the impression it was the flag from Armenia, a country
which has had a long-standing feud with the host nation.
The Colombian singer took to the stage before the FIFA Under 17
Women's World Cup Final between France and Korea in Baku, Azerbaijan,
for the first time since the announcement of her pregnancy.
She was dressed all in black and displaying what she thought was her
native Colombian flag. However the flag, turned backwards, represents
Armenia due to it having the same colors - red, yellow and blue - as
Colombia.
The mistake may have gone un-reported or even un-noticed had it not
represented a country which has maintained a religious and ethnic
conflict with Azerbaijan for just under a decade.
It is not the first time the pop star has dropped a clanger in public.
Earlier in the year she sang the incorrect lyrics to the Colombian
national anthem at the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena.
The blunder sent shock-waves throughout social media sites like
Twitter and Facebook, with many Colombians criticizing the artist for
not spending enough time in her homeland.
Time will only tell if this latest faux pas will bring an equivalent
response in Armenia and Azerbaijan.
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Re: Azerbaijan - Internal Political Affairs
I think everyone saw this coming, he is a dictator after all.Originally posted by Mher View PostLeave a comment:
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Re: Azerbaijan - Internal Political Affairs
Ilham Aliyev: Former, Current and Future President of Azerbaijan?
July 24, 2012 - 11:37am, by Giorgi Lomsadze
Azerbaijan’s ruling party announced today that their leader, President Ilham Aliyev, will run for a third term in 2013. Now who saw that coming?
The nomination was "definite," solemnly declared Ali Ahmedov, the executive secretary for Yeni Azerbaijan Party, as if the matter had not been as clear as day ever since Aliyev assumed the presidency in 2003.
Several days ago, Aliyev's opponents had argued that preventing the president from seeking reelection would be key to leveling the field for the 2013 vote.
“If Ilham Aliyev runs for the third time, there will be no room for a fair election,” Kavkazsky Uzel reported Panah Huseynov, one of the coordinators of the Public Chamber movement, as saying.
But running forever runs in the Aliyev family. Ilham Aliyev all but inherited the presidency from his late, glorified father Heydar Aliyev, who died a president. And when it comes to holding on to power, Ilham is his father’s son.
For now, the opposition’s plan is to mount a public push for democratization and to appeal to the international community for help. But the Aliyev government has shown in the past its taste for crackdowns, and Western governments, their eyes both on Azerbaijan's energy resources and its strategic proximity to Iran, usually do little more than wag a finger at Aliyev’s authoritarian practices.
Looks like the opposition strategists will need to think creatively if they don’t want to see another “definite” result in 2013.Leave a comment:
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Re: Azerbaijan - Internal Political Affairs
Baku confesses no Azeri state existed before 1918 Soviet Power
From: Mihran Keheyian <[email protected]>
Date: Sat, 21 Jul 2012 23:43:54 PDT
Baku confesses no Azeri state existed before 1918 Soviet Power
July 21, 2012 - 16:06 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Azerbaijanis are a young nation, author of an
article published in Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, Daria Aslamova
wrote, citing Azerbaijani politicians.
`We are a young nation. If only a century ago a Baku-based person was
asked about his nationality, the answer would be: Muslim, later Tatar.
The identity of `Azerbaijanis' was thought up in the Soviet Union,'
Azeri political analyst Ilgar Mammadov said.
Another political expert Zardusht Alizadeh, in turn, noted, `There is
a common myth in our country about a powerful Azerbaijan, which was
allegedly divided between Russia and Persia. However, according to
every encyclopedia, small vassal khanates of Qajar dynasty (of Turkic
origin) resided in the territory. With an internal strife breaking out
in Iran, our khans resolved to grab the chance and declare
independence. However, after acknowledging the futility of waging a
struggle against the Persian shah, they addressed Empress Catherine II
with a letter, expressing willingness to go under her control. As a
result of our khans' rebels and Russo-Persian wars, Turkmanchai treaty
was signed in 1828, leaving the territories of present-day Azerbaijan
and Armenia under Russia's control. Thus, no Azeri state existed
before the Soviet power was shaped in 1918.'Leave a comment:
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Re: Azerbaijan - Internal Political Affairs
Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan: Azerbaijan sends representatives of
indigenous nations to the line of contact
23.06.2012 12:51
Anna Nazaryan
`Radiolur'
Azerbaijan declared independence without holding a referendum, as it
was afraid of the reaction of the indigenous nations living on its
territory. Despite the Azerbaijani pressures, under the conditions of
Internet accessibility those nations manage to express their protest
against the posture of Azerbaijani authorities.
Azerbaijan deliberately persecutes all those who dare express their
protest and hint that Armenians should not be conceived as rivals.
Azerbaijanis send representatives of those indigenous nations to the
line of contact, which is a purposeful step. Thus, Azerbaijan makes
its enemies clash with its other, and makes this serve its interests.
Political scientist Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan draws attention to the
fact that event the word `Talish' is banned in Azerbaijan, and recalls
that last year the leaders of the indigenous nations urged their youth
not to go to the line of contact and not to fight against Armenians.
The indigenous nations living in Azerbaijan demand autonomy inside the
country. Moreover, a few days ago the issue of independence of
indigenous nations was raised at a conference at Moscow's President
Hotel. The statement was met with ovations in Moscow and with arrests
in Baku.
Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan is assured that escalation is inevitable. The
political scientist keeps in touch with representatives of indigenous
nations of Azerbaijan and convenes periodic discussions. He suggests
opening of representations of Azerbaijan's indigenous nations in
Armenia.Leave a comment:
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Re: Azerbaijan - Internal Political Affairs
International Organizations Sharply Criticize Repressions in Azerbaijan
BAKU. June 17, 2012. Major international organizations have issued
statements sharply criticizing the Azerbaijani authorities for
persecution of photo-reporter Mehman Huseynov, journalist Anar
Bayramli and others. These arrests are seen as the post-Eurovision
crackdown against civil society activists and the press that was
expected by many observers.
The Freedom House statement on this issue expressed "serious concern"
with these arrests and harassment. "The Azerbaijani authorities are
obliged to follow their obligations to the international community and
their own laws and respect the freedom of speech and expression," said
Representative Susan Cork.
The International Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called on
authorities to immediately stop the criminal case against Mehman
Huseynov. They regard his arrest as an outright suppression of the
rights and freedoms of the press. CPJ notes that after the Eurovision
Contest, officials announced a hunt for those involved in the project
"Sing in the name of democracy' and those who denounced the violation
of human rights and freedoms, and called for a boycott of the ESC in
Baku. The command for an attack on civil society activists and the
press was unprecedented in its nature and came in a public speech
given by the main ideologue of the Presidential Administration, Ali
Hasanov, when he openly called for expression of `public hatred'
against the dissidents in Azerbaijan.
Another organization - Human Rights Watch - said in a statement that
the prosecution of Huseynov by the authorities was a response to the
campaign "Sing for the sake of democracy" and criticism of Eurovision,
as well as publications in the media of photo materials about police
violence against the opposition. Criminal cases and arrests of
Huseynov and others were a message from the authorities to other
opposition activists to punish them, crush their will to demand their
rights and defend freedom in the country, according to Human Rights
Watch. In this regard, the organization called on international
partners, in particular the European Broadcasting Union, to demand
that Azerbaijani authorities put an end to this vicious practice, and
to prevent further prosecution of the opposition. (Turan)Leave a comment:
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