Azerbaijan - Articoli

Azerbaijan: "Come, vote, elect"

05/11/2010 -  Arzu Geybullayeva Baku

On 7 November Azerbaijan will hold its parliamentary elections, but international observers with the OSCE election observation mission have expressed concerns about a number of issues. Nonetheless, amid a low-key electoral campaign, there are opposition candidates among the choices


Tensions Rise After Armenian Dies in Azeri Custody

03/11/2010 -  Jasur Sumerinli - Sara Khojoyan

While Azerbaijan says it captured a spy who committed suicide, Armenians say he was a shepherd and was deliberately killed. From IWPR


Azerbaijan: Baku Embarks on Military Spending Surge, Seeking Karabakh Peace

29/10/2010 -  Shahin Abbasov Baku

Azerbaijan’s parliament on October 22 approved a military budget of 2.5 billion manats, or about $3.12 billion. That figure is higher than the entire state budget of Baku’s neighbor and longtime foe, Armenia. From EurasiaNet.org


Baku, is it Asia or Europe?

12/10/2010 -  Arzu Geybullayeva

The novel "Ali and Nino" tells about the love between an Azerbaijani and a Georgian teenager. Depicted as symbols of Asia and Europe, they meet in the Caucasus and there can be united. Almost one century after Ali and Nino was published, can the Caucasus be European and can it be united?


Concerns raised over extension of Russian military presence in Armenia

03/09/2010 -  Onnik Krikorian Yerevan

The reactions to the signing of the August 20 deal between Russian president Dimitry Medvedev and his Armenian counterpart, Serge Sargsyan, extending Moscow's military presence in its former satellite by more than two decades. The internal and regional scenario, the consequences for the Karabakh conflict


Oil, Afghanistan and progress

17/08/2010 -  Arzu Geybullayeva Baku

The United States’ willingness to overlook Azerbaijan's democratic and human rights records was revealed by the recent visit of Secretary of State Clinton to Azerbaijan’s capitol, Baku. Azerbaijan has become more important, not only as an oil and gas-rich country, but also for the transit of troops to Afghanistan


Nagorno Karabakh: talk of peace, but also of war

02/07/2010 -  Onnik Krikorian Yerevan

Panic reportedly began to spread last week in Yerevan as news of the worst major skirmish between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces on the line of contact in two years was reported by the local media. Ironically, the ceasefire violation occurred just one day after the Armenian president and his Azerbaijani counterpart met in St. Petersburg for talks convened by Russia


Caucasus: New media, new social networks and old conflicts

16/06/2010 -  Arzu Geybullayeva

In the Caucasus, social networking and new media help build bridges among communities divided by long conflicts. More initiatives now work in this direction


The Caucasian Eurovision

07/06/2010 -  Onnik Krikorian Yerevan

Oil money and ethnic voting lose out to simplicity in Eurovision


Azerbaijan construction boom: good or bad?

07/05/2010 -  Arzu Geybullayeva Baku

A construction boom is dramatically transforming the urban face of Azerbaijan's capital city, Baku, yet questions are being raised about the sustainability of the process, especially where historical districts are concerned


Novruz is coming, spring is coming

22/03/2010 -  Arzu Geybullayeva Baku

Novruz, a Zoroastrian holiday, marks the beginning of spring. Prohibited but celebrated discreetly in Soviet years, Novruz is now one of the most anticipated holidays in Azerbaijan



The genocide issue

17/03/2010 -  Onnik Krikorian Yerevan

A US Congressional resolution, which urges Washington to recognize the 1915 massacre and deportation of as many as 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide, raises concerns about future of Armenia-Turkey process


De facto cooperation proves to be difficult

15/02/2010 -  Gegam Bagdasaryan Stepanakert

International organisations, both governmental and non-governmental, find it difficult to co-operate with NGOs in Nagorno Karabakh because its de facto independence is not recognised at the international level. These are some of the difficulties facing civil society in a territory not officially recognised


Double standards or fair approach?

10/02/2010 -  Arzu Geybullayeva Baku

Russia and European Union member states have shown different approaches to the South Caucasus. Finding some common ground with Russia might help resolve the conflicts in the region


Voting In Azerbaijan

08/01/2010 -  Arzu Geybullayeva Baku

Local elections in Azerbaijan have been accompanied by allegations of fraud. The limited electoral participation can be explained by the local administrations' lack of real power and the lack of authentic democratic competition


IDPs in Azerbaijan

17/12/2009 -  Gunel GuliyevaJvan Yazdani Baku

The conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh caused the displacement of over 600,000 ethnic Azeris. Some achieved good living standards. But many live in collective accommodations or in dwellings officially owned by other private persons


A web of Peace

27/11/2009 -  Onnik Krikorian Yerevan

Social media and conflict resolution in the South Caucasus. The opportunities offered to Armenian and Azeri peace activists, the debate in the region


Grand Finale

17/11/2009 -  Arzu Geybullayeva Baku

Emin and Adnan, two young activist-bloggers earlier detained in Baku, Azerbaijan on charges that many international organizations consider fabricated, were condemned to serve heavy prison terms


Azerbaijan, the enduring struggle after 1989

30/10/2009 -  Arzu Geybullayeva Baku

In Azerbaijan, intellectual elites began a long struggle for independence and democracy in the 1970s. This story chronicles Azerbaijan's journey after 1989 through a difficult transition, war, and instability


In Karabakh everything started in '88

28/10/2009 -  Gegam Bagdasaryan Stepanakert

The slogans of Perestroika, hopes, war. Difficulties and small advantages in creating democratic institutions in a country not recognised on an international level. Twenty years of changes in Stepanakert


An Azeri village in Georgia

16/10/2009 -  Arzu GeybullayevaOnnik Krikorian Karajala

Our correspondents from Baku and Yerevan, Arzu Geybullayeva and Onnik Krikorian, visited an ethnic Azeri village in Karajala, eastern Georgia. A photo-reportage


Between music and poetry

01/10/2009 -  Arzu Geybullayeva Baku

Mugham is a symbol of Azerbaijan's traditional culture. Much more than music played with traditional instruments following a precise style, it is also poetry, inspiration, and improvisation


Rocking and rapping in Azerbaijan

10/09/2009 -  Onnik Krikorian Yerevan

Music in all three republics continues to be dominated by those singers and musicians who are subordinate to nationalist or predominant political interests. But rock and rap bands are starting to speak out, especially in Azerbaijan


Not a matter of taste

02/09/2009 -  Arzu Geybullayeva Baku

Among those who voted for Armenia's representative on the Eurovision song contest, which took place in Moscow last May, there were 43 people from Azerbaijan. A few weeks ago, the Azeri police interrogated them about why they voted the way they did


Facing violence at home

18/08/2009 -  Arzu Geybullayeva Baku

Domestic violence is a taboo topic in Azerbaijan. Every attempt to discuss issues that touch the private, family realm is perceived as a threat to the country's national identity


Youth activists and bloggers detained

20/07/2009 -  Arzu Geybullayeva Baku

Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizada have been recently detained in Azerbaijan because of apparently groundless accusations. Despite inquiries to the local authorities by foreign embassies in Baku, they are still being held in jail


Bittersweet relief for NGOs in Azerbaijan

08/07/2009 -  Arzu Geybullayeva Baku

Recent amendments to the law on NGOs in Azerbaijan have been milder than earlier expected. And while the local NGO community is relieved, there is some dissatisfaction and worry that the struggle is not over yet


North of Tehran

30/06/2009 -  Arzu Geybullayeva Baku

In spite of the fact that there's a large Azeri minority in Iran - up to one fourth of the population - state-run media, as well as public officials in Azerbaijan, largely ignored the protests taking place across the border


Eurovision opens new wounds in the Caucasus

22/05/2009 -  Onnik Krikorian Yerevan

Already notorious more for its political block voting than even its kitsch and glitzy musical entries, nothing could have prepared anyone for the controversy surrounding the three countries of the South Caucasus in this year's Eurovision Song Contest


Borders closed unless occupation is over

18/05/2009 -  Arzu Geybullayeva Baku

The visit of Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to Azerbaijan healed the wounds opened by the recent Turkish-Armenian rapprochement. Nagorno Karabakh and gas prices were the main issues discussed during the meetings