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BAKU. July 29, 2010: "Rosoboronexport" has concluded a contract for delivery of C-300 zenith complexes to Azerbaijan. C-300 is an anti-air defense system already deployed in Armenia.  Azerbaijan’s acquisition of the same defense system is a step to restore the anti-air defense system balance between Armenia and Azerbaijan.  The sum of the deal is $300 million and it is the biggest contract for weapons acquisition concluded between the two former Soviet republics. The officials on the both sides do not confirm this information.  However, the Russian media confirms the accuracy of this information. The contract  was concluded last year and its performance has already started. One or two years will be needed to implement the contract, reported Russian Vedomosti.

BAKU. July 28, 2010: It is difficult to manage the resources of the State Oil Fund in a country with no well-established state institutions and a high level of corruption, Inglab Ahmadov, chief of the Public Finance Monitoring Center, told Turan. In order to avoid risks of corruption, we need efficient mechanisms of control – from audit to civilian supervision, the expert claims.

NEW YORK. July 28, 2010: The Committee to Protect Journalists is disturbed by an Azerbaijani court’s decision to deny early release to jailed video blogger Adnan Hajizade, and it called on the appeals court to set him free.
On Monday, a district court judge in Baku ruled against Hajizade, who has served half of his two-year term and was thus eligible for release under Azerbaijani law, according to news reports and the Baku-based Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS). Authorities arrested Hajizade and his colleague Emin Milli in July 2009 and later sentenced them to prison terms on fabricated charges of hooliganism.

BAKU. July 27, 2010: Today two popular newspapers in Azerbaijan wrote that the wife of one Azerbaijani Minister had left the country with her lover, her fitness trainer. One of the newspapers reported that the Minister’s wife did not run away but was kidnapped. Those newspapers did not name the Minister fearing the heavy media liability laws of Azerbaijan. However, Azerireport learned from the sources in the local media of Azerbaijan that the person whose wife disappeared was Elmar Mammadyarov, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan. Ehsan Zahidov, press officer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, did not confirm the information about the kidnapping of the Minister’s wife. "This is lie and libel and people responsible for spreading such rumors are Azerbaijan’s enemies," one of the Ministry’s officials told Turan.

WASHİNGTON DC. July 27, 2010: At the end of the last week the International Court of Justice ruled that Kosovo’s controversial breakaway declaration of independence from Serbia two years ago was not a breach of international law.  Some experts in WashingtonDC warn the ICJ’s ruling may encourage breakaway movements elsewhere around the globe, complicating efforts to bring stability to places as diverse as the three Caucasus regions – Mountainous Garabagh, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

BAKU. July 26, 2010: Today the Court rejected the appeal for the imprisoned blogger Adnan Hajizade to be released from jail on parole.  According to the Criminal Law of Azerbaijan a person who has served half of his prison term is eligible for parole depending on his behavior in jail.  Adnan Hajizade was arrested on staged up hooliganism charges after he posted a Youtube video exposing corruption in the Azerbaijani government.

BAKU. July 24, 2010: The countries-producers of great sturgeon’s caviar – Russia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Iran and Kazakstan – have signed an agreement on the caviar export quota.

AFP reported that till end of February total volume of export from these countries will total 3 tons of caviar.

By Joshua Kucera

WASHINGTON DC. July 23, 2010: atthew Bryza, President Obama's controversial nominee to be the next American ambassador to Azerbaijan, had his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill on July 22. He defended himself against allegations of bias in favor of Baku and asserted he would be an even-handed advocate of US policy in the Caucasus. His critics did not appear reassured, however.

BAKU. July 23, 2010: Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has finally expressed his attitude towards numerous appeals of local and international journalism organizations to adopt the defamation law and abolish criminal liability for libel. At the opening of the new building of Press Council on July 22 he said that even the developed European countries do not occupy a clear-cut position to this issue.   "We are not opposed to adoption of this law. Considering that nobody is arrested for freedom of speech in Azerbaijan, we can say that there is an unofficial moratorium in this field," Aliyev said. President Aliyev added that sometimes international organizations are not objective and "raise a clamor on trifle issues." There is not such an approach to the neighboring countries. He reminded murder of 10 demonstrations and repressions after the presidential elections 2008 in Armenia. But Council of Europe and international press forgot about that "very fast." "As soon as less important event occurs in Azerbaijan, it becomes a focus of international media. They attempt to present Azerbaijan as an anti-democratic country. This is a purpose-oriented and unfair work against us. We are going to defend ourselves and oppose our policy to that."

WASHINGTON DC. July 22, 2010: Today, the U.S. Senate Committee On Foreign Relations held a hearing on nomination of Matthew Bryza to the position of the U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan. Click here for video Below is the full text of Matthew Bryza’s testimony: Madam Chair and distinguished Members of the Committee,

WASHINGTON DC. July 22, 2010: The pending return of Washington’s Bush-era Caucasus man, Matthew Bryza, has touched off so much buzz in the region that one might as well turn his last name into a verb.

Following the 2008 Georgian-Russian war, critics both inside and outside the Caucasus charged that Tbilisi, emboldened by an easy bonhomie with the White House Caucasus envoy, ended up challenging Moscow. Now, Armenia is concerned that Baku may be "Bryza'd" as well.

WASHINGTON. July 21, 2010: Hearings on the nomination of Francis J. Ricciardone to the post of U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, took place at the Foreign Relations Committee of the U.S. Senate. It was a kind of dress rehearsal before tomorrow’s hearings on the candidacy of Matthew Bryza for the position of the  U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan, reported Turan’s correspondent in Washington. 

BAKU. July 21, 2010: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will visit Azerbaijan in September, Russian Ambassador Vladimir Dorokhin told journalists yesterday. Several bilateral documents, in particular, the agreements on delimitation of state borders and apportioning of water of the border river Samur, will be signed during the Russian president's visit. In early August Sergei Naryshkin, head of the Russian presidential administration, plans to visit Azerbaijan, according to the diplomatic sources (Turan).

BAKU. July 20, 2010: Ali Karimli, the leader of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), welcomes the idea of the unification of his party with the opposition Musavat Party. In his interview to Turan agency Ali Karimli said such initiatives have been initiated by the PFPA as well. Karimli said the idea of the unification proposed by Isa Gambar, leader of Musavat, was initially brought up in 2005. However, due to tactical contradictions after the parliamentary elections in 2005 the idea was not realized.

BAKU. July 19, 2010: Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said there was no progress in Garabagh negotiations which were held with the Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian in Almaty, during an informal session during the Council of Foreign Ministers of the OSCE member-states.  At a press conference held after the meeting with the Ukrainian foreign minister Konstantin Grishenko, Mammadyarov said the discussions on Garabagh conflict were held in Almaty with both the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen and the Foreign Ministers of the OSCE member-states.

BAKU. July 19, 2010: Tidewater Inc. is close to a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission that would resolve allegations that the marine services company made corrupt payments to customs brokers in Nigeria and tax authorities in Azerbaijan.

ALMATY. July 17, 2010: The Heads of Delegation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries, Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergei Lavrov, Foreign Minister of France Bernard Kouchner, and Deputy Secretary of State of the United States James Steinberg, released the following statement today:

BAKU. July 17, 2010: Supporters of the freedom of speech honored memory of Elmar Huseynov, editor-in-chief of Monitor magazine who was murdered on March 2, 2005. Today would be his 43 birthday. "It is a tradition- all who supports freedom of speech come to his grave to demonstrate their gratitude,” said founder of “Ganun” Publishing House Shahbaz Khuduoglu.

He said that the number of independent journalists decreased from year to year, and attacks on the freedom of speech increased. "But all who are devoted to the values of freedom continue Elmar’s way despite hardships and threats," he said.

BAKU. July 17, 2010: The Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers met with Foreign Ministers of the countries co-chairing of the OSCE Minsk Group in Almaty in the frames of the summit of Council of OSCE Foreign Ministers.

No statement was made for the press after the meeting (Turan).

BAKU. July 16, 2010: Yesterday the government of Azerbaijan appealed against the decision of the European Court of Human Rights regarding journalist Eynulla Fatullayev, Chingiz Askarov, Azerbaijan’s special representative in the European Court, told Turan. If the European Court’s Grand Chamber does not satisfy the Azerbaijani government’s appeal, the European Court’s decision will enter into force. The deadline for submitting an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights expires on July 22.

BAKU. July 16, 2010: Azerbaijan has to continue and deepen the reforms for rapprochement with EU, said John Kryer, the head of EU mission on negotiations in Baku for Associative Agreement.  He considers that the future agreement will cover all spheres of cooperation. "Azerbaijan is the only country in the South Caucasus which has not joined the World Trade Organization (WTO). Membership in this organization is very important. Without it, we cannot speak about creation of a common trade space," - said Kryer.

WASHINGTON DC. July 15, 2010: On April 22 this year, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson issued a congratulations letter celebrating the birthday of the late Azerbaijani dictator Heydar Aliyev, a former KGB general and one of the top communist rulers of the Soviet Union. The letter signed by Governor Richardson, who run as a US presidential candidate in 2008 emphasizing his foreign policy expertise, apparently was requested by the Azerbaijani government’s lobbying agent in the US and contains grossly distorted historical facts.

Records obtained by Azerbaijani-Americans for Democracy (AZAD) indicate that Governor Richardson issued the letters in response to the request from the lobbyist Jason Katz, whose firm, Tool Shed Group, also obtained similar Heydar Aliyev birthday proclamations from Santa Fe mayor David Coss.

WASHINGTON DC. July 15, 2010: This week the Azeri service of the Voice of America interviewed David Kramer, the former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, currently the Senior Transatlantic Fellow with German Marshall Fund. Below is the full text of the interview:

- US State Secretary Hillary Clinton recently completed her visit to Azerbaijan. Many observers were hoping that this trip would have a positive impact on Azerbaijani government’s actions on the human rights front. But shortly after her visit, journalist Eynulla Fatullayev was sentenced to a lengthy prison sentence. Another blogger temporarily released to attend his father’s funeral was returned to prison. What are your thoughts on the current state of affairs?

- I think they are not good and they seem to be getting worse.

BAKU. July 15, 2010: Amnesty International has launched a campaign to support Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli, two young Azerbaijani bloggers who were imprisoned on fraudulent charges.  Amnesty International placed Hajizade’s picture on their website, along with information about why Hajizade and Milli were arrested.

The website says the bloggers were arrested and convicted due to their public activity and the posting of a video on YouTube exposing corruption in Azerbaijan.

BAKU. July 14, 2010: The Azadlig opposition bloc, uniting the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), the Liberal party and the Citizen and Development party, has ceased to exist, said the deputy leader of the PFPA, Fuad Gahramanli.

"The bloc fulfilled its mission in 2005, and there is no need for it at this stage," Gahramanli said commenting on the latest developments in the bloc.  The new center of power in the opposition is expected to be the alliance of the two leading opposition parties: Musavat and PFPA.

BAKU. July 13, 2010: The Mountainous Garabagh will not get a status separating this region from Azerbaijan, said Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev at the session of the government. "Neither Armenia, nor separatists, or any third party will give any status to the Mountainsou Garabagh without Azerbaijan’s consent,” Aliyev said. People of Azerbaijan will never agree to the status separating the region from the rest of the country, and this is the position of international mediators as well, Aliyev said. Proposals by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs provide restoration of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, withdrawal of Armenians troops from all the occupied territories and the return of the displaced people to their homelands, said president Ilham Aliyev (Turan).

BAKU. July 13, 2010:The imprisoned blogger Adnan Hajizade marked his 27th birthday in prison. He was allowed a visit with his parents in prison No. 14 in Gizildash (about 40 km from Baku).
“Adnan is feeling well. His health is normal. He's a strong and optimistic man, and conveyed regards to all," Adnan’s father Hikmet Hajizade told Turan.

WASHINGTON DC. July 12, 2010: (TURAN’s interview with Margarita Assenova, founder and Executive Director of the Institute for New Democracies, in Washington, DC)
- How important is Azerbaijan for the US as an ally and why? What is the reason for the West, including the US,to tolerate the current situation in this region? How would you comment on the opinion that the US exchanged democracy for oil in the South Caucasus and Central Asia?

- I think Azerbaijan is a very important country for the United States and Europe because of its location in the Caspian basin, its role in providing alternative energy supplies to Europe, and its proximity to Iran. Azerbaijan is a secular Muslim country, which is an example of how Islam and democracy can co-exist. This is a very important example, given that the U.S. has been promoting such a concept of Muslim society in Afghanistan and Iraq.

BAKU. July 12, 2010: Defense officials from the United States and Azerbaijan opened two-day Bilateral Defense Consultations (BDC) today. During the meetings, representatives of the Pentagon and Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defense are reviewing the full range of bilateral cooperation, and defining concrete plans for the coming year.

WASHINGTON DC. July 10, 2010:  Following Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's trip last week to Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus, RFE/RL’s Washington correspondent Heather Maher asked U.S Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner, the top U.S. diplomat for human rights and democracy, for an assessment of what Clinton accomplished and of the rights situation throughout the region as a whole.

RFE/RL: How is Secretary Clinton's trip to Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus being assessed within the State Department?

Michael Posner: I would say, in general, I think people felt very good about the trip. It was a chance -- and in cases, her first [chance] as secretary of state -- to visit some key countries in the region, both to discuss shared interests and concerns and to strengthen relationships, but at the same time, to reach out to civil society and to express concerns about differences.

BAKU/YEREVAN. July 9, 2010: On the eve of the upcoming round of the negotiations with his Armenian counterpart , Elmar Mammadyarov, the Azerbaijani foreign minister said  the liberation of Lachin and Kelbajar regions would be discussed at the session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of OSCE member-states in Almati.  The liberation of the occupied territories around the Mountainous Garabagh would begin immediately after the signing of the peace agreement, Mammadyarov said. Mammadyarov said his meeting with the Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian could take place on July 16-17. However, the Armenian side refuted the Azerbaijani foreign minister right away.

WASHINGTON DC. July 9, 2010: An international panel on human rights passed a resolution by U.S. Senator Benjamin L. Cardin aimed at strengthening press freedoms and protection for investigative journalists across the 56-country OSCE region.

The measure calls for these countries to repeal criminal defamation laws, increase the free flow of information, and actively investigate and vigorously prosecute those responsible for threats against, or physical attacks on, journalists.

BAKU. July 8, 2010: Today, a group of members from Dalga Youth Organization held a flash-mob action of protest in front of the Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan.  Four of the protesters were arrested and later released by the police. The youth activists were marking the one year anniversary of the arrest of the bloggers Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli.  A year ago, on this day, Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli were attacked and beaten by two people.  When Adnan and Emin appealed to the police they were arrested and accused of beating their assailants.

WASHINGTON DC. July 8, 2010: Yesterday, U.S. State Department issued a statement on the new court verdict on the jailed Azeri journalist Eynulla Fatullayev. Below is the full text of the statement:

"On July 6, Azerbaijani journalist Eynullah Fatullayev was convicted on criminal charges of drug possession and sentenced to two and a half years’ imprisonment. The United States is concerned by the court ruling. We note that the OSCE Representative on Media Freedom characterized the drug charges on which Fatullayev was convicted as "highly improbable," and we join the OSCE Representative and others in calling for his release. We also note the recent judgment of the European Court of Human Rights that acquitted Fatullayev of charges raised against him in 2007.

BAKU. July 7, 2010: The updated version of the Madrid principles for settlement of the Garabagh conflict creates the basis for solving the problem, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on July 6 at the opening ceremony of the new building of the Azerbaijani community of Mountainous Garabagh in Baku.

LONDON. July 7, 2010: Amnesty International has condemned the sentencing of imprisoned Azerbaijani journalist Eynulla Fatullayev to two and a half years’ for possession of drugs, charges the organisation believes to have been fabricated.
A Baku court passed the new sentence on Eynulla Fatullayev on Tuesday in what Amnesty International believes is the latest attempt to silence his reporting, which has been critical of the government.

NEW YORK. July 7, 2010: The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns today’s decision by Azerbaijan’s Garadagh District Court in Baku to sentence imprisoned independent editor Eynulla Fatullayev to two and a half years in a strict-regime prison after finding him guilty of drug possession. Fatullayev, a 2009 recipient of CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award, has already served more than three years of an eight and a half year term on a series of fabricated charges, including terrorism.

PARIS. July 7, 2010: Reporters Without Borders is appalled by the additional 30-month jail sentence that a court in the Baku district of Garadag imposed today on Eynulla Fatullayev, an opposition newspaper editor who has been detained since 20 April 2007. The court convicted him of illegal possession of a narcotic – 220 mg of heroin allegedly found in his clothes during a search of his cell in Prison No. 12 on 29 December.

BAKU. July 7, 2010:  Yesterday, Rustam Ibrahimbayov, a well-known Azeri writer and movie scenarist made an appeal to the Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev on the case of the arrested Azeri journalist Eynulla Fatullayev and the jailed bloggers Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli.  Addressing the Azerbaijani president on behalf of a group of well known representatives of the Azeri intelligentsia, Rustam Ibrahimbayov called for the release of those arrested people.  Below is the text of the appeal:
Dear Mr. President,

A few days ago in Baku there were public hearings on the theme "The Role of Azerbaijani Intelligentsia in the Building of an Independent Democratic State: Historical Experience and Modern Times".

BAKU. July 6, 2010: Today the Garadagh district court presided by judge Ismayil Khalilov announced the verdict on the jailed Azeri journalist Eynulla Fatullayev. Eynulla Fatullayev who was serving his prison term of eight and half years for trumped up terrorism charges, received an additional prison sentence of two and half years on drug possession charges.  Many international organizations, including Reporters Without Borders, Article 19, Amnesty International,  Freedom House, British PEN, as well as the Media Rights Representatives of the OSCE Miklos Haraszti have voiced their suspicions that the drugs were planted on Eynulla Fatullayev’s cloths in a jail cell.  The drug charges against Eynulla Fatullayev were brought shortly before the European Court of Human Rights announced its verdict on Eynulla Fatullayev’s case ordering the Azerbaijani government to release the imprisoned journalist from jail.  The new drug charges are expected to be the preemption of the Azerbaijani government in order prevent Eynulla Fatullayev from getting out to freedom.

The court verdict against Eynulla Fatullayev was announced directly after the visit of the US State Secretary Hillary Clinton.  An editorial at Yeni Musavat newspaper covered this issue with the headline “New Punishment In Honor of Clinton.”