Azerbaiyán (Continuación)

MundoCáucaso

The day after Christmas, armed police in Azerbaijan’s capital raided and ransacked the bureau of congressionally funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). After being detained for several hours, RFE/RL reporters and editors were released, although at least 10 have since been summoned to a prosecutor’s office for questioning. Police are going to the homes of former employees as well, taking people off for interrogation in the night. Authorities in Azerbaijan say the measures are part of an ongoing investigation connected to Azeri laws on foreign funding of nongovernmental organizations.

The government of strongman Ilham Aliyev has been intensifying its campaign against civil society groups and independent media, and against RFE/RL specifically: Investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova has been jailed since Dec.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoCáucaso,

As human rights defenders, we must report that our own situation in Azerbaijan has been deteriorating fast.

Two years ago, human rights groups across Europe worried that holding the Eurovision Song Contest in our country would only prop up Azerbaijan’s increasingly intolerant regime. Now their fears have been confirmed. Just in the past year, we have seen a cascading series of arrests of human rights defenders on trumped-up charges.

So imagine our dismay on hearing about Europe’s latest approach to our country: The Council of Europe itself is holding a conference this Saturday and Sunday in Baku, on how to implement the European Convention on Human Rights.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoCáucaso

En parcourant la déclaration publiée par les chefs d'État et de gouvernement lors du sommet de l'OTAN des 4 et 5 septembre, il est intéressant de remarquer que les Alliés « restent également déterminés à soutenir l'intégrité territoriale et la souveraineté de l'Arménie, de l'Azerbaïdjan, de la Géorgie et de la République de Moldova ».

Les conflits qui agitent le Sud-Caucase ne doivent pas être oubliés, alors que bien d'autres conflits font la une de nos journaux. S'ils ne doivent pas être oubliés, les chefs d'État et de gouvernement ont bien fait de rappeler l'intégrité territoriale et la souveraineté de ces pays.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoCáucasoEuropa, , ,

Ukraine isn’t the only place where Russia is stirring up trouble. Since the Soviet Union broke up in 1991, Moscow has routinely supported secessionists in bordering states, to coerce those states into accepting its dictates. Its latest such effort is unfolding in the South Caucasus.

In recent weeks, Moscow seems to have been aggravating a longstanding conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan while playing peacemaking overlord to both. In the first week of August, as many as 40 Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers were reported killed in heavy fighting near their border, just before a summit meeting convened by Russia’s president, Vladimir V.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoCáucaso

Azerbaijan and the United States are partners in addressing the world’s most difficult challenges from fighting terrorism internationally to serving shoulder-to-shoulder in Afghanistan and working together to ensure peaceful future for the Afghan people. In fact, one of only a few nations that have made an early commitment to post-2014 Afghanistan, Azerbaijan accounts for some 40 percent of transit via the vital Northern Distribution Network supporting the International Security Assistance Force.

Our nations also work to together promote Europe’s energy security by bringing Caspian natural gas to the European markets through the strategic Southern Gas Corridor, including the recently announced Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, a choice enthusiastically endorsed by the United States.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoCáucaso, ,

Five years after the Russian-Georgian war captured world attention, the South Caucasus — Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia — continues to face huge challenges. The region’s geopolitical importance is ebbing as global energy production expands and NATO winds down in Afghanistan. The three countries also face major security risks, unmet popular expectations and governance failures. For the South Caucasus, this is a time for choices.

Security issues plague the South Caucasus. Russia’s military occupies two “independent” enclaves in Georgia — Abkhazia and South Ossetia — and some contiguous land. A two-decade military standoff persists around Nagorno-Karabakh, populated by ethnic Armenians but lying within Azerbaijan.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoCáucaso

With Syria mired in open revolt, several other Middle Eastern and North African countries still reeling from the Arab Spring, and Iran at loggerheads with the United States over its nuclear program, it was astounding to hear Israel’s president refer to a Muslim country this week not as a problem but as part of the solution.

Yet there was Shimon Perez in Jerusalem on Monday praising Azerbaijan for taking “a clear stand” against war and terrorism and for making the world a bit more safe and predictable.

The occasion was a visit to Israel by Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, accompanied by a large delegation of Azerbaijani Jews, including a Jewish member of the parliament.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoCáucaso

As the world focuses on the passing of Hugo Chavez and the impact of his socialist policies on oil-rich Venezuela, halfway around the globe a different kind of leader has been quietly transforming his country into a prosperous and reliable partner of the West. Since assuming the presidency in 2003, Ilham Aliyev, the 52-year old Azerbaijani head of state, has used his country’s vast energy resources to make the transition from a centrally planned economy to a free and prosperous one. While socialism has ruined Venezuela’s enormous potential, Mr. Aliyev’s adoption of market capitalism has transformed his country into the Kuwait of the former Soviet Union with an average annual gross domestic product growth rate of 24 percent over the past 10 years.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoCáucaso, , ,

One frigid day nearly 19 years ago, I found myself standing along a muddy, rutted road in the foothills of Azerbaijan’s 3,000 meter-high Murov mountain range. Hundreds of Azerbaijani internally displaced persons — from the strategic Kelbajar region — were arriving on foot, some nearly frozen to death after a multiday trek through the icy mountain passes. .

They were the latest casualties in the war with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh. An autonomous region in Soviet times, it is still internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan. The dispute over who owns the “historical rights” to the rugged, sparsely populated territory goes back decades or centuries.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsiaMundoOriente Próximo, ,

Iran’s capture of an American drone compels us to revisit some difficult, unwelcome but fundamental security issues. If Iran downed a sophisticated U.S. drone, as it claims, that would represent a monumental Iranian intelligence coup in learning how to override the drone’s command-and-control system and then guide it safely down to earth. That conclusion, if true, would force a rethinking of the U.S. intelligence campaign against Iran and, quite possibly, in Afghanistan, as it is likely Iran would share the secret with the Taliban, whom it has helped in the past.

If, however, the drone malfunctioned, as the Obama administration maintains and is more likely, Iran probably will learn those secrets with the help of Russian and Chinese technicians.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoCáucaso,

America has sacrificed a lot fighting the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan - but we are not alone. The United States and our NATO allies are getting help from places many Americans can’t find on the map.

Late on July 5, an Azerbaijani tanker plane crashed in Afghanistan en route to U.S.-NATO Bagram Air Base with a load of fuel. The United States and NATO should mourn the nine crew members who were killed on board, but this accident also should serve as a reminder of the invaluable contributions and sacrifices this small, predominately Muslim country has made for NATO and American forces when other coalition allies have been pulling out of Afghanistan.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoCáucaso, ,

The United States, the European Union and Russia don’t seem to agree on much these days. But in the volatile South Caucasus, they concur that Armenia and Azerbaijan need to sign an agreement on Friday if they are serious about finding a peaceful solution to the decades-old Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

President Dmitri Medvedev of Russia has invited the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders to the city of Kazan on Friday and expects they will finally put their signatures on a “basic principles” text they have been wrangling over since 2007. This will be the ninth meeting that Medvedev hosts with his Caucasian counterparts.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoCáucaso

There is something weird and rather disturbing about Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) - a U.S.-funded media outlet that is famous for broadcasting information during the Cold War to support our friends and undermine our enemies - attacking an ally over our mutual enemy, radical jihadism.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has claimed repeatedly that Azerbaijan is not at risk from the threat of spreading Iranian-backed radicalism and therefore, accuses it of human rights violations for considering banning head scarves in public schools (something France did recently) and imprisoning radical clerics who foment the overthrow of the government in favor of becoming a satellite of the mullahs in Iran.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoCáucaso

Ten years ago this month, a young American civilian working for democracy in Azerbaijan was brutally murdered in the former Soviet republic's capital. The stabbing of John Alvis raised little public attention. A decade later, his death remains a crime deemed unsolved by the FBI.

John Alvis, a 36-year-old from Texas, was the representative of the International Republican Institute in Baku. He worked closely with me, in my capacity as representative of the National Democratic Institute, to bring about democratic political reform of the autocratic government of Heydar Aliyev, a former member of the Soviet Politburo. Our close cooperation showed that Republicans and Democrats can work together toward a worthy common cause.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoCáucaso,

Last week, 12 May, marked 16 years since Russia mediated a ceasefire agreement that ended the Armenian-Azerbaijani war over Nagorno-Karabakh and started a long period of "no war, no peace" stagnation. Presently, there is a sense that things might be changing.

The territory of Karabakh is essentially a backwater for both countries. It had certain significance for Soviet military planners because of its proximity to Turkey, but otherwise has no prize assets. It is agricultural land, now sparsely populated because of the exodus of ethnic Azerbaijanis who fled the war, with roads leading to closed borders. Remote from Armenia's better-off areas around Yerevan, development in Nagorno-Karabakh is being propped up by the Armenian diaspora.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoCáucaso

Many Americans may know my country, Azerbaijan, for its oil wealth or for its conflict with Armenia over the territory of Nagorno Karabakh. A March 5 article in The Post portrayed a nation whose ruling family appears to own $75 million worth of luxury villas in Dubai. Few of us in Azerbaijan were surprised by a report that President Ilham Aliyev's family apparently invests assets abroad. What else should be expected from a leader who inherited power from his father through fraudulent elections?

Aliyev's brutal crackdown on the opposition and independent media began with his election in October 2003. Thousands of Azeris protesting the transfer of power -- more succession than an election -- were arrested and beaten.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoCáucaso, , ,

When Ganimat Zahidov, editor of the independent Azadlyq newspaper, arrived for work one day this month in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, he was accosted on the pavement by a young woman he had never seen before who started cursing and shouting at him. Moments later "an athletically built young man popped out of nowhere and began beating me", he said. "I defended myself as best I could."

Within hours, Zahidov had been arrested by police, charged with "hooliganism" and sentenced to two months' pre-trial detention. If found guilty, he faces five years in jail. He joined eight other Azerbaijani journalists, including editor Einulla Fatullaye, who are currently being held after criticising or otherwise annoying the government of President Ilham Aliyev.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoCáucaso, ,

Tema: El conflicto de Nagorno-Karabaj ha limitado la estabilidad del Cáucaso desde hace siglos. La implicación de actores internacionales (Irán, Rusia, Turquía, EEUU o Francia) ha complicado más aún la resolución del mismo.

Resumen: Nagorno-Karabaj es una “pequeña” montaña en disputa entre Azerbaiyán y Armenia. A finales de los años 80 el conflicto se convirtió en una guerra abierta que segó la vida de más de 15.000 personas. En 1994 se estableció un alto el fuego, tutelado por la OSCE, que debe convertirse en un futuro en acuerdo de paz. El líder de este proceso debe ser la OSCE, que en 2007 se encuentra bajo presidencia española.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoCáucaso,

Some people suppose that President Bush's freedom agenda was buried last Wednesday by the report of the Iraq Study Group. In fact, history will show that the administration largely smothered its own baby, even before Iraq's descent into civil war propelled the resurrection of James Baker and other "realist" friends of Middle Eastern dictators.

Evidence of that conclusion could be found in Washington on the same day Baker delivered his report, as administration officials, members of Congress and business executives gathered for a glittering dinner in honor of Mehriban Aliyeva, the visiting first lady of Azerbaijan.

Aliyeva's husband, Ilham, rules a Muslim country wedged between Russia and Iran that is on the cusp of becoming a major exporter of oil and gas, with strategic pipelines that offer Europe an alternative to Russian suppliers.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsiaMundoCáucasoReflexionesDemocracia, , ,

By Jackson Diehl (THE WASHINGTON POST, 24/04/06):

President Bush's retreat from the ambitious goals of his second term will proceed one small but fateful step further this Friday. That's when, after more than two years of stalling, the president will deliver a warm White House welcome to Ilham Aliyev, the autocratic and corrupt but friendly ruler of one of the world's emerging energy powers, Azerbaijan.

Here's why this is a tipping point: At the heart of Bush's democracy doctrine was the principle that the United States would abandon its Cold War-era practice of propping up dictators -- especially in the Muslim world -- in exchange for easy access to their energy resources and military cooperation.…  Seguir leyendo »