Page 2 - Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan accused of intensifying repression of critics amid hosting COP29

As representatives from nearly 200 countries, along with hundreds of journalists, arrived in Azerbaijan in November for the UN climate conference known this year as COP29, they bring with them a level of scrutiny the hosts aren't accustomed to and don't often tolerate. Azerbaijan has had a poor human rights record for many years and the government has regularly targeted journalists, activists and independent politicians. President Ilham Aliyev and his administration are accused by human rights organisations of spearheading an intensifying crackdown on freedom of speech ahead of the climate summit, including against climate activists and journalists. Aliyev's father, Haidar, ruled Azerbaijan from 1993 until he died in 2003 and Ilham took over. Both suppressed dissent as the country of almost 10 million people on the Caspian Sea basked in growing wealth from huge oil and natural gas reserves. Elections since independence from the Soviet Union in the 1990s haven't been regarded as ful

Greta Thunberg protests against Azerbaijan hosting global climate summit

Climate activist Greta Thunberg on Monday attended a rally in Georgia to protest against Azerbaijan hosting the annual United Nations climate talks. Thunberg and scores of other activists who rallied in Tbilisi, the capital of the South Caucasus nation, argued that Azerbaijan doesn't deserve to host the climate talks because of its repressive policies. UN climate talks, called COP29, opened Monday in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, a major oil producer where the world's first oil well was drilled. Thunberg described Azerbaijan as a repressive, occupying state, which has committed ethnic cleansing, and which is continuing cracking down on Azerbaijani civil society". She charged that the Caspian Sea nation has used the summit as a chance to greenwash their crimes and human rights abuses. "We can't give them any legitimacy in this situation, which is why we are standing here and saying no to greenwashing and no to the Azerbaijani regime, she said. Azerbaijan has committed to clean

COP29: What are the main issues at the UN climate summit in Baku?

The acronym dominating this year's summit is NCQG - which stands for the New Collective Quantified Goal

Climate of denial: Mobilising private capital will be challenging

Private-sector climate finance accounted for 20 per cent of the funds mobilised till 2022. Accelerating this source of funding will require addressing challenges on multiple fronts

Azerbaijan buys fighter jets from Pakistan under $1.6 billion deal

Azerbaijan has purchased multi-role JF-17 Block III fighter jets from Pakistan reportedly under a USD 1.6 billion deal, a media report said on Friday. A contract for the sale of JF-17 Block-III fighter aircraft to Azerbaijan was signed recently, the Pakistan Army said in a statement. It is believed the agreement was inked in February this year, the Dawn newspaper reported. Reports in Azerbaijan media have claimed the aircraft were acquired under a USD 1.6 billion deal for an unspecified number of jets, armament, and training. The jets have already been integrated into the arsenal of Azerbaijan's Air Force, Azerbaijan's presidency said in a statement after President Ilham Aliyev was formally presented with the aircraft at the Heydar Aliyev International Airport on Wednesday. At the ceremony, which took place on the margins of Azerbaijan International Defence Exhibition 2024 in Baku, President Aliyev was briefed about the jet's cutting-edge tactical and technical specifications, ...

From Bangkok to Baku: How Indians are jet-setting across the globe in 2024

Indians are jet-setting like never before, with a 32 per cent jump in multiple international trips annually. Dive into the 2024 travel trends to see how Indians are taking their wanderlust to new heig

Azerbaijan holds election expected to retain president party's dominance

Azerbaijan on Sunday is holding a snap parliamentary election that is the first for the country since it regained full control of a former breakaway territory in a lightning offensive last year. Previous elections since independence from the Soviet Union have not been regarded as fully free or fair, and the vote for the Milli Mejlis parliament is not expected to bring significant changes to the body that is dominated by the New Azerbaijan party of President Ilham Aliyev. Under the constitution, the election would have been held in November, but Aliyev decreed it to take place two months early because the capital of Baku will host United Nations climate talks known as COP29 that same month. Aliyev and his late father, Heydar Aliyev, have led Azerbaijan with their heavy-handed rule since 1993, suppressing dissent as the country of almost 10 million people on the shores of the Caspian Sea basked in growing wealth from its huge oil and natural gas reserves. New Azerbaijan holds 69 of t

Putin meets Azerbaijani Prez to strengthen ties amid ongoing tensions

Russian leader Vladimir Putin held talks on Monday with his Azerbaijani counterpart as part of a two-day trip to secure Moscow's under-pressure trade routes and shore up ties in the South Caucasus. Business links were high on the agenda as Putin and President Ilham Aliyev met in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku, with Aliyev announcing that USD 120 million had been earmarked to boost cargo transport between the two countries. We're talking about the possibility of transporting 15 million tons of cargo per year or more, he said, adding that the two countries crossed the USD 4 billion mark for Russia-Azerbaijan turnover last year and "neither of us think that is where things will stop, Such ties are a priority for Putin, who increasingly depends on countries such as Azerbaijan to access global markets because of sanctions imposed on Moscow over Russia's war on Ukraine, said independent political scientist Zardusht Alizade. Azerbaijan is an important transit country for Russia at a time

COP29 only chance to bridge climate action, finance gap: Commonwealth chief

The COP29 climate talks in Azerbaijan's Baku is the world's only chance to bridge the gaps in climate action and finance which is crucial to "rebuild trust" among countries and protect lives and livelihoods, Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland has said. In an interview with PTI via Zoom, Scotland said it is important to have the fossil-fuel producers as allies in the fight against climate change. Azerbaijan, the host of this year's UN climate talks, is a small petrostate on the Caspian Sea. Nearly all of its exports are oil and gas. "We are nearing the cliff, the critical 1.5 degrees Celsius limit. In fact, some of our scientists say that we are there now. Our home, our planet, is literally on fire. Instead of action, we see the gaps in emissions, finance, and justice widening. It is our duty to bridge those gaps, and COP is our only chance. It comes at a moment of immeasurable urgency," Scotland said. She said rich countries promised to provide USD 100 billion (one ..

Armenia, Azerbaijan normalising ties as first border marker goes up

Armenia and Azerbaijan on Tuesday came a step closer toward normalising relations after a bitter conflict over territory, as experts in both countries worked to demarcate their boundaries and the first border marker was placed. The two nations are working toward a peace treaty after Azerbaijan regained full control of the Karabakh province that had been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces since the 1990s. A six-week war in 2020 resulted in Azerbaijan retaking large parts of the breakaway region, and in September 2023, Azerbaijani forces launched a lighting blitz that forced Karabakh's Armenian authorities to capitulate in negotiations mediated by Russian forces. Several days ago, Armenia and Azerbaijan reached an agreement over a stretch of border that would cut though four Armenian villages in the Tavush province, meaning that Armenia would cede some territory to Azerbaijan. Armenian and Azerbaijani authorities on Tuesday announced that the first border marker was installed

Azerbaijan minister, state oil company veteran to lead COP29 climate talks

The country has an estimated 2.5 trillion cubic metres of natural gas reserves, according to the 2021 BP Statistical Review of World Energy, and it aims to double its gas exports to Europe by 2027

Israel offers tax incentives to aid housing crisis for war evacuees

Following the start of the "Iron Swords" war the government evacuated more than 100,000 citizens from the areas surrounding Gaza and near the Lebanese border, mainly to hotels

Armenia, Azerbaijan exchange POWs in line with deal announced last week

Armenia and Azerbaijan on Wednesday exchanged prisoners of war, in line with an agreement announced last week that also promised the two countries would work towards a peace treaty and was hailed by the European Union as a major step toward peace in the tumultuous region. Azerbaijan brought back two servicemen, while 32 soldiers returned to Armenia, officials in both countries reported. Azerbaijan waged a lightning military campaign in September in the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The offensive ended three decades of rule there by ethnic Armenians and resulted in the vast majority of the 120,000 residents fleeing the region, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan. In their joint statement last week, the two countries said they share the view that there is a historical chance to achieve a long-awaited peace. They said they intend to normalise relations and to reach the peace treaty on the basis of respect for the principles of sovereignty and territorial

Armenia and Azerbaijan announce deal to exchange POWs, work toward peace

Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed to exchange prisoners of war and work toward signing a peace treaty in what the European Union hailed as a major step toward peace in the long-troubled region. The two countries said in a joint statement on Thursday they share the view that there is a historical chance to achieve a long-awaited peace. They said they intend "to normalize relations and to reach the peace treaty on the basis of respect for the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity. Azerbaijan waged a lightning military campaign in September in the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The offensive ended three decades of rule there by ethnic Armenians and resulted in the vast majority of the 120,000 residents fleeing the region, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan. Until Thursday's announcement, the two countries had bitterly argued on the outline of a peace process amid mutual distrust. As part of the deal, Armenia agreed to lift its objections t

Armenian PM hopes for peace deal with Azerbaijan 'in coming months'

Weeks after a major conflict, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has expressed his commitment to signing a peace agreement with Azerbaijan in the coming months, Al Jazeera reported on Thursday

Nagorno-Karabakh will cease to exist from 2024: What is at stake?

Israel quietly helped Azerbaijan retake Nagorno-Karabakh, supplied weapons

Israel has quietly helped fuel Azerbaijan's campaign to recapture Nagorno-Karabakh, supplying powerful weapons to Azerbaijan ahead of its lightening offensive last month that brought the ethnic Armenian enclave back under its control, officials and experts say. Just weeks before Azerbaijan launched its 24-hour assault on Sept. 19, Azerbaijani military cargo planes repeatedly flew between a southern Israeli airbase and an airfield near Nagorno-Karabakh, according to flight tracking data and Armenian diplomats, even as Western governments were urging peace talks. The flights rattled Armenian officials in Yerevan, long wary of the strategic alliance between Israel and Azerbaijan, and shined a light on Israel's national interests in the restive region south of the Caucasus Mountains. For us, it is a major concern that Israeli weapons have been firing at our people, Arman Akopian, Armenia's ambassador to Israel, told The Associated Press. In a flurry of diplomatic exchanges, Akopian said

The swift fall of an enclave in Azerbaijan stuns the Armenian diaspora

The swift fall of the Armenian-majority enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani troops and exodus of much of its population has stunned the large Armenian diaspora around the world. Traumatized by genocide a century ago, they now fear the erasure of what they consider a central and beloved part of their historic homeland. The separatist ethnic Armenian government in Nagorno-Karabakh on Thursday announced that it was dissolving and that the unrecognized republic will cease to exist by year's end a seeming death knell for its 30-year de-facto independence. Azerbaijan, which routed the region's Armenian forces in a lightning offensive last week, has pledged to respect the rights of the territory's Armenian community. But by Thursday morning, 74,400 people over 60 per cent of Nagorno-Karabakh's population had fled to Armenia, and the influx continues, according to Armenian officials. Many in Armenia, and the diaspora, fear a centuries-long community in the territory they call ...

Nagorno-Karabakh republic will 'cease to exist' from Jan, says its leader

More than half of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh has fled for Armenia over the past week

192 Azerbaijani troops killed during offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh

A total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and over 500 were wounded during Azerbaijan's offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh last week, the country's Health Ministry announced on Wednesday. The military operation allowed Azerbaijan to reclaim full control over the breakaway region that was run by separatists for about 30 years. Thousands of ethnic Armenians have sought to leave the region after separatist troops agreed to lay down arms. The status of Nagorno-Karabakh remains uncertain even after Azerbaijan held two rounds of talks with separatist officials.