A community portal about Azerbaijan with blogs, videos, and photos. According to Wikipedia.org: Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a country in the South Caucasus. Located at the crossroads of Eastern Europe and...
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A community portal about Azerbaijan with blogs, videos, and photos. According to Wikipedia.org: Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a country in the South Caucasus. Located at the crossroads of Eastern Europe and Southwest Asia, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south. The Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic borders Armenia to the north and east, Iran to the south and west, and Turkey to the northwest. The Nagorno-Karabakh region in the southwest of Azerbaijan Proper declared itself independent from Azerbaijan in 1991, but it is not recognized by any nation.
Armenian forces killed an Azerbaijani civilian near the breakaway region of Nagorny Karabakh, Azerbaijani media reported on Monday. ANS television and the Azeri Press Agency said a 41-year-old man was killed on Sunday when separatist forces opened fire on Azerbaijani positions in the Goranboy region on the de facto border with Karabakh. The Nagorny Karabakh administration denied its forces had killed a civilian and accused Azerbaijani soldiers of repeatedly firing on its positions over the... Read Full Story
BAKU (Reuters) - A court in Azerbaijan sentenced two opposition bloggers to jail terms Wednesday in a case that has stirred international concern over freedom of expression in the oil-producing Caspian Sea state. Adnan Hajizade, 26, was sentenced to two years in prison and Emin Milli, 30, to two years and six months over an incident in a cafe in Baku, a member of their defense team told Reuters. The two have been held since the incident in July, in which the bloggers say they were the... Read Full Story
An Azerbaijan court on Wednesday jailed two bloggers who posted a satirical Internet video of a donkey giving a press conference, in a ruling rights groups say is aimed at silencing independent media. Adnan Hajizade, 26, and Emin Milli, 30, were found guilty of hooliganism over a scuffle at a restaurant in Baku, their lawyer, Isakhan Ashurov, told AFP. Hajizade was jailed for two years and Milli two-and-a-half years. The bloggers, who had been in jail since their arrests in July, say they... Read Full Story
The United States "regrets" the jailing of two Azerbaijan bloggers who were critical of their country in online postings, the State Department said Wednesday. "The United States regrets today's court decision in Azerbaijan to imprison Azerbaijani youth leaders Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade," said spokesman Ian Kelly. "This court decision is a step backwards for Azerbaijan's progress towards democratic reform." Hajizade, 26, and Milli, 30, were found guilty of hooliganism over a scuffle at a... Read Full Story
Azerbaijan on Sunday slammed its ally Turkey for agreeing to normalise ties with Armenia and warned that the opening of the Armenian-Turkish border could cause instability in the volatile South Caucasus. "The normalisation of relations between Turkey and Armenia before the withdrawal of Armenian forces from occupied Azerbaijani territory is in direct contradiction with the interests of Azerbaijan and casts a shadow over the spirit of brotherly relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey, built... Read Full Story
Two Azerbaijani bloggers face up to five years jail for posting a video of a donkey giving a press conference, the latest crackdown on the vibrant Internet of the ex-Soviet Union. Adnan Hajizade, 26, and Emin Milli, 29, posted the satirical video on www.YouTube this summer, in a send-up of the Azerbaijan government and media. Surrounded by gravely nodding journalists, the donkey (one of the bloggers in an oversized grey suit) extols the virtues of life in Azerbaijan and praises the... Read Full Story
Russian President Dmity Medvedev hosted talks Saturday between his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts Saturday in the latest Moscow-mediated bid to end their dispute over a separatist enclave. The three began their meeting at 3:30 pm (1130 GMT) after joining other leaders of former Soviet states at an informal summit during a prestigious horse race at the Moscow hippodrome. Armenian leader Serzh Sarkisian and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev had face-to-face talks with other... Read Full Story
The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan made "serious progress" on Thursday during discussions aimed at resolving their long-standing dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, a U.S. official said. French and Russian mediators at the talks also expressed optimism, saying the two leaders had tentatively agreed to meet again early next month in St. Petersburg, Russia. "On the basis of what we heard from both presidents, we expect to be in a position to confirm some progress during the next... Read Full Story
* Azeraijan sees 'no miracle' in sight to end conflict * Diplomats see little progress over Nagorno-Karabakh * Time has come for Armenia to 'think realistically' By Matt Robinson and Margarita Antidze BAKU, March 13 (Reuters) - Azerbaijan accused Russia on
Friday of supplying arms to Armenia, its foe in one of the most
intractable conflicts arising from the Soviet Union's collapse. Azeri Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov denied his
country's oil-financed military expansion meant it was... Read Full Story
March 15 (Reuters) - Oil-producing Azerbaijan votes on
Wednesday on whether to scrap the country's two-term
presidential limit and give Ilham Aliyev the chance to rule
beyond 2013. The opposition and rights groups have criticised
the move. Here are some key facts about the country: GEOGRAPHY: Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic, lies at a
strategic crossroads between East and West, sandwiched between
Iran and Russia and straddling a region emerging as a key
transit route for oil and gas... Read Full Story
