Official News
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev today received at the Presidential Palace Andrey Klyuyev, the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine co-Chair of the Ukraine-Azerbaijan Joint Intergovernmental Commission for Economic Cooperation to exchange views on various aspects of the Azerbaijan-Ukraine bilateral relations including the economic cooperation between the countries.
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev attended Bled Strategic Forum Caspian Outlook-2008 commenced at Golf hotel in the Slovenian city of Bled. Organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia in cooperation with the Institute for Strategic Studies Ljubljana, the 2-day forum has brought together over 180 top international experts, political leaders, representatives from relevant international organizations and the private sector from more than 20 countries to discuss the geopolitical relevance of the Caspian region for the European Union both from the economic, political and strategic perspectives.
On the morning of August 28, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev held an official meeting with his Slovenian peer Janez DrnovЕЎek.
After the meeting DrnovЕЎek stressed that Azerbaijan and Slovenia jointly participate in the formation of Europe. At present the EU attaches special importance to the relationships with Azerbaijan and Slovenia with satisfaction accepts Azerbaijans future membership at the this organization.
Ilham Aliyev stressed that Azerbaijan attaches a great significance to the development of realltions with Slovenia. He noted that this visit will server further development of bilateral relations. Official Ljubljana, as a member of European Union, is an important partner.
Besides, Aliyev spelled out that during the bilateral talks, a special attention was paid to the settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He once again remembered that the position of Azerbaijan remains unchanged. The territorial integrity of Azerbaijan has been violated, a large number of Azerbaijanis have become victims of the ethical cleansing implemented by Armenians. The president also rememnered that UNO have adopted four resolutions on unconditional withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from Azerbaijans occupied territories. Besides, the Council of Europe has officially confirmed that Azerbaijani territories have been occupied by Armenians. Azerbaijan requires that this conflict should be resolved within international norms.
Aliyev spelled out that the negotiations are being held within Prague format. This variant is available. Armenian side should demonstrate a constructive position and stop the occupant policy. Non-settlement of the conflict is a danger for all region, Azerbaijani president said.
He touched on the existing Azerbaijani-Slovenian economical relations. The sides are not satisfied with the results obtained by present. The mutual visits of officials and business people will change this situation.
Touching on the energy cooperation between Azerbaijan and European Union, Aliyev stressed that Azerbaijan turns into a large oil and gas supplying country. The gas that will be obtained from Shah Deniz field will be directeded mainly to Europe.
Also, the president of Azerbaijan met with the special representatives of active chairman of OSCE Peer Shevale, the president of European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Jane Limer and American co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group Mathew Bryza.
On 28 August the head of state received the Georgia vise-primer, state minister on integration to Europe and Euro-Atlantic organizations Georgi Baramidze. The Georgian minister stressed that Georgia will never forget the assistance of Azerbaijan rendered during energy deficit. Besides, it was stated at the meeting that the joint projects realized jointly by Azerbaijan and Georgia are directed towards the development of the region.
The President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev issued an order empowering Baku City Executive Power to install the memory plank dedicated to the architecture of Josef Goslavski in Baku in the building located in 11 Mirza Ibrahimov st.
The installation of the plank is established to perpetuate memory of Josef Goslavski who created series of architectural monuments in Baku.
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict
The POWs of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are exchanged at the mediation of the International Red Cross Committee, Trend Special Correspondent in Moscow reports quoting Anastasiya Isyuk, PR manager with Moscow Delegation of Red Cross Committee, answering the questions as to the reason why the public were not aware of the capture nearly 5,000 Azerbaijanis in Armenia.
В"Red Cross works with the Government in both the Countries, compiling reports and discussing these issues. These discussions are confidential and I am not able to comment on this figure, perhaps we have different figures to useВ", said Isyuk.
She also said the Committee does its best to remain unbiased and independent. В"Naturally, the fact that we can work in 185 countries world-wide, even in hot spots and hold discussions with conflicting parties, proves that we are impartial. We work based on these principles as these are our fundamentalsВ", said Isyuk.
At the moment, the list of the International Red Crescent Committee (IRCC) includes 4132 missing people in result of Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Trend reports with reference to the statement of Baku office of IRCC.
3286 out of them are Azerbaijanis, 834 Armenians and 11 citizens of other countries. The list was prepared on base of official data received from official bodies of Azerbaijan, Armenia and de-facto power of Nagorno-Karabakh. IRCC is continuing to collect more detailed data about these persons and plans to expand co-operation with Red Crescent Society of Azerbaijan and the State Committee for Work with Missing People and Military Captives. In the near future, IRCC will submit its database to the State Committee.
The parties in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will compromise as this is the only way to solve the problem. There may be no military solution, said Matthew Bryza, U.S. Co-Chairman of OSCE Minsk Group.
Bryza added that the Co-Chairmen delivered the parties new principles that might be called road map. These are the best offers, said Bryza, and the Co-Chairmen is waiting for proposals from Presidents and Societies.
The U.S. diplomat informed the journalists of the forthcoming meeting in Europe between Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia and suggested both the parties display their constructive opinions he has seen during his visit to Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Nearly 6500 illegal Azerbaijani refugees have inhabited in Germany who should be returned to their native land, German ambassador to Azerbaijan Per Christopher Stankina told journalists, Trend reports.
Azerbaijan is the third country among countries, of which illegal citizens should be returned. Unfortunately, these countries dont want to assist Germany in returning these persons.
The ambassador said that these illegal persons cerate serious problems for Germany.
Slovenia takes an interest in the settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within the framework of territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, chief of the Foreign Relations Department of the Executive Office of Azerbaijan President Novruz Mammadov told, Trend reports with reference to Lider TV.
According to him, the head of Slovenia paid a special attention to Nagorno-Karabakh conflict during Caspian-2008.
Besides, Mammadov commented on the arrival of the expert group for investigation of the reasons of the fires happened in Azerbaijans occupied territories. According to Mammadov, official Baku, by inviting the expert group, wants to liquidate the indifference of the international community towards this issue.
The reports about the meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers in Slovenia do not correspond to reality, Azerbaijani foreign minister Elmar Mammadyarov told ion August 31, Trend reports.
It was a meeting related to the program European good neighbourliness policy and the meeting was attended not only by the foreign minister of the two countries, Mammadyarov underlined.
Speaking about the upcoming meeting with Armenian foreign minister Vardan Oskanyan, Mammadyarov stressed that today he held a relevant telephone conversation with the French co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group Bernar Fase. He offered to hold the meeting on September 12-13 in Paris or September 14-15 in London. I expressed my consent to this meeting. At the moment, their format is being discussed. Ant several days later, we will contact them and specify the date and place of the meeting, Mammadyarov underlined.
Speaking about the reports of the personal representative of OSCE chairman Andzey Kasprzyk on the fires in Azerbaijans occupied territories, the minister stressed that this document once again confirms that the fact of fires exit and the separatists cannot afford to extinguish them.
OSCE offers that the international organizations are engaged in extinguishing the fires. It doesnt satisfy us. I wrote letters to then international organizations and offered to make joint efforts to prevent them and rehabilitate the land, the minister emphasized.
The arrival of the international experts in the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh is being discussed in level of co-chairs and chairman of OSCE and UNO.
These fires are very big damage and we are ready to co-operate with Armenian sides to prevent them, Mammadyarov stressed.
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said that as there many issues have been agreed on, now is the right time to solve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Trend reports. He was commenting on the alleged road plan, mentioned by the U.S. Ambassador Matthew Bryza, the OSCE Minks Group Co-chair.
However we should still continue talks on the more difficult issues, the Minister stressed.
Mammadyarov said that the plan involves defining the methods on the possible signing of an agreement. I do not regard it as a new principle of the negotiation process.
With regards to the opportunities for dispatching the Azerbaijani peacemakers to Lebanon, the Minister said that the issue should be studied separately. It is necessary to define the situation in Lebanon, as the question concerning the mandate of peacemakers has not been solved yet. I cannot say that Azerbaijan will dispatch its peacemakers there, but we are dealing with the issue, Mammadyarov stated.
Samed Seyidov, the head of the Azerbaijani delegation at the PACE, told Trend that a meeting of the PACE Ad Hoc Committee on Nagorno-Karabakh will be held in October 2006.
Seyidov said that the agenda of the meeting will include an issue on the first visit of the Ad Hoc Committee representatives to Azerbaijan. They will discuss an issue on a tour of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh by Rassel Johnston, the head of the Ad Hoc Committee. The visit is to take place by the end of 2006.
He stressed that the PACE autumn session will not discuss issues directly concerning Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani delegation will put forward an issue on fires in the Occupied Territory of Azerbaijan. The issue on fires will also be raised at special meetings and gatherings of the Committee, Seyidov added.
PACE reporters, Andreas Herkel and Tony Lloyd will visit Baku in November. They will produce a report of their visit and submit it to the Monitoring Committee.
Foreign policy
The meeting between Azeri President Ilahm Aliyev, President of Ukraine Victor Yutshchenko and President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili will be held in Poland by the end of 2006, Trend reports quoting Vilayat Guliyev, Azeri Ambassador to Poland.
Ambassador said in July 2006 Pole government performed with an initiative to hold the unofficial meeting of three presidents in Warsaw, but later it was delayed.
Guliyev said this meeting is on the agenda of Pole government. Azerbaijan is given special place at this meeting as the energy issues will be discussed there.
The preparation is being made for the official visit of Ukrainian President Victor Yutshchenko to Azerbaijan scheduled for September 7 to 8. Igor Kizima, temporary Charge Daffairs of Ukraine to Azerbaijan, told Trend the program of the visit and bilateral documents drafts are about to be completed .
On the first day of his visit, Yutshchenko is meeting with Azeri President Ilham Aliyev and speaker of Milli Medjlis Ogtay Asadov.
Further, the meeting with participation of both countries high officials will be held in President Administration. Later, the documents signing and press conference will be held.
Ukrainian diplomat said five documents would be put forward for signing. Presidents of both the countries will sign a Declaration. Apart from this, the following documents will be signed: Agreement between Foreign Ministers of Ukraine and Azerbaijan on preparation of diplomatic officers, Agreement between Agriculture Ministry of Azerbaijan and Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Policy of Ukraine on study and protection of plants, Agreement on Environment Protection, Agreement on co-operation between State Oil Company of Azerbaijan and National Oil&Gas Joint-Stock Company of Ukraine.
The program of Yutshchenkos visit also includes attending Baku Slavic University.
The CE representatives are planning a visit to Baku in early October, said Arif Mammadov, Azeri Ambassador to Benelux.
The Mission comprises representatives of Austria currently chairing in the CE, European Commission and, possibly, CE Chief Commissioner for Foreign Relations Xavier Solana, the EU Special Representative for South Caucasus Peter Semneby and U.K. Special Representative for South Caucasus Bryan Fall.
During the visit it is planned to discuss the Azeri Action Plan within the European Neighborhood Policy. В"Most probably talks on the Action Plan will be finalised during their visitВ", said the Ambassador. One more issue to be discussed, he said, will be the delivery of energy resources.
Kszistof Krajewski, Polish Ambassador to Azerbaijan, expressed his gratitude to the Azeri President Ilham Aliyev for his Order to honor the memory of outstanding Polish Architect Jozef Goslawski, Trend reports with reference to the Embassys Release.
The Head of State authorized for a memorial plaque to be placed on the building in Baku where the Architect lived. The delegation of the European Parliament is arriving in Azerbaijan at the end of the year to investigate Azeri historical monuments and demolished tombs, Trend reports quoting Arif Mammadov, Azeri Ambassador to Belgium and the E.U.The Ambassador said The Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan has drawn a list of the items demolished on Occupied Grounds. Once the list is submitted to the E.U. the delegation will then visit Azerbaijan.
Commenting on the statement made by the Armenian Foreign Ministry that Azerbaijan does not provide any conditions for the Euro-parliament to monitor demolished Armenian cultural and religious monuments in Nakhchivan, Mammadov said Azerbaijans main requirement in this respect was to lead the monitoring not only in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan demands that the first monitoring be performed for Azeri monuments in Armenia and on Occupied Grounds. Only then will Azerbaijan give permission to perform similar monitoring in Azerbaijan. The European Parliament supported this decision.
Mammadov said Azerbaijan had suggested the visit to take place alongside the session of the EU Inter-parliamentary Committee. The session should take place in Brussels in mid-November.
The official visit of Polish Foreign Minister Anna Fotiga to Azerbaijan has been delayed, Trend reports quoting Voiszech Gurezki, Advisor of the Polish Embassy.
Gurezki said the visit will take place in October and not in September as originally planned. As Ms Fotiga has recently been appointed, hers will be a familiarization visit
During the visit, it is planned to discuss mutual relations of both Countries.
Official visit of the Romanian President Tryan Basesk to Azerbaijan is planned for October, head of the Foreign Relations Department of the Azerbaijan Presidents Executive Office Novruz Mammadov exclusively told Trend.
According to him, a series of bilateral documents will be signed during the visit.
Earlier, Romanian ambassador to Azerbaijan Nikolay Ureke told Trend that projects of 7 documents are prepared between the sides. According to the ambassador, the documents cover economical and humanitarian spheres. They include project of agreement on cooperation in fight with terrorism, in the spheres of communications, agriculture, bank activity, etc.
Earlier, in his exclusive interview with Trend, Romanian President Tryan Basesk expressed his satisfaction with the high level of political relations with Azerbaijan. We have new proposals directed towards discussing the dynamic of bilateral economic relations. If we deeply study todays and future status of the bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Ukraine, then we can see that the economical relations should be extended, the President emphasized.
Political Life
Approximately 1692 observers have been registered in district election commissions in relation with the repeat, additional and new municipal elections scheduled for October 6, 2006, Trend reports with reference to the press-service of the Central Election Commission of Azerbaijan (CEC).
The elections will be held in 603 municipalities of 82 districts.
Candidatures of 4638 persons have been registered for participating in the upcoming municipal elections. At the moment, 4607 candidates will participate in the elections, with 250 women.
2126 out of the registered candidates are not members of any parties, 2202 from New Azerbaijan Party, 20 - Azerbaijan Popular Front Party, 23 Azerbaijan National Independence Party, 23 Civil Solidarity Party, 23 Musavat Party, 13 Umid Party, etc.
On September 1, New Azerbaijan Party (NAP) held a republic session, Trend has been tols by the press-service of NAP.
Executive secretary of NAP Ali Ahmadov delivered a report. He spoke abou sucesses and facing tasks of the party. According to him, the number of party members has increased by 15677 and reached 393746 over past six months.
Touching on the municipal election scheduled for October 6, Ahmadov said that it is impossible to rely on obtained successes of party and called the candidates of NAP to become active in the elections.
Discussions were held on the preparation to the elections and conducting of the next conference of the regional organizations of ANP. It was mentioned that the candidates of NAP have been registered in all election districts. The meeting of candidates in regions will start from September 2.
Also, it was tasked to upgrade organizational works in places, and serious preparation to 2008 presidential elections.
On August 29, the Council of Chairmen of Azadlig Political Block held a meeting.
After the meeting, co-chairman of the block Ali Karimli told journalist that discussions were held on the fact of violence against journalists over pars period, integration of Azerbaijan into European Union, problems of Georgian Azerbaijanis, court process on Haji Mammadov and his criminal band, as well as other issues, Trend reports.
The block decided to hold a round table on September 1 with the participation of community in relation with pressure on press.
Besides, it was decided to create a special commission for resolving the problems of Georgian Azerbaijanis in the sphere of getting education, land plots, etc.
Muasir Musavat Party changed the date of the third congress scheduled for September, Trend reports with reference to the pres-service of the party.
It was stated that although conferences were held in the regional departments of the party and 357 delegates were selected with the proposal of the chairman of Muasir Musavat Hafiz Hajiyev, the date of the congress has been changed.
The proposals of the chairman were discussed at the joint meeting of the Board and organizational committee on preparation of congress, and it was decided to take measures after the parliament of Azerbaijan adopts the law On political parties.
The visit of Ali Orujov, press secretary with the National Independence Party of Azerbaijan (NIPA), to Turkey is ending September 5. Orujov is making his visit to Turkey at the invitation of Ana Vatan Party, trend reports quoting Nazim Aleskerov, secretary for organization affairs, NIPA.
Aleskerov said during his visit Orujov would be meeting with officials of Ana Vatan and other political organizations of Turkey.
NIPa was established in June 1992. In February 2005 Etibar Mammadov resigned from the partys chairman position. At the congress of the same year he was elected the leader of the party. This year he was reelected the leader of the party, while Ayaz Rustamov was elected chairman. NIPA is a member of the International Democratic Union.
On September 1, Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (APFT) forwarded a protest letter to the Central Election Commission of Azerbaijan (CEC), deputy chairman of the party on organizational issues Hasan Karimov told journalists, Trend reports.
The reason is the non-participation of candidates from APFP in the repeat, additional and new municipal elections scheduled for October 6. More than 20 candidates have appealed to CEC on behalf of APFP.
Karimov stressed that no candidate on behalf of APFP will participate in the municipal elections. The candidates who joined the municipal elections on behalf of our party have no relations with APFP. They appealed to CEC, using their identity signed by deceased chairman of APFP Abulfaz Elchibay. Most of registered candidates are the members of Classic Popular Front Party and United Popular Front Party, he underlined.
Moreover, Karimov said that in the letter, they have given three-day period to CEC to resolve the question. If the question isnt resolved in a form satisfying us, we will appeal to the court, Karimov stressed.
He pointed out that the members of the party will be issued new identities.
APFP chaired by Ali Karimli is the member to Azadlig Block.
State building
On September 1, Defense Minister of Azerbaijan, colonel-general Safar Abiyev has met with the ambassador of the United Kingdom of the Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the country Lawrence Bristow. Bristow, speaking of the purpose of the meeting, has noted: After visit of the Duke of York, Prince Andrew to Azerbaijan, interest of the Great Britain to Azerbaijan has increased. He has noted that settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the major problem for Azerbaijan. We hope that this conflict will shortly find solution. The United Kingdom now takes big interest in resolution to this question.
Colonel-general Safar Abiyev has noted: Azerbaijan cooperates with the Great Britain both in the frame of the NATOs Individual Partnership Program" , and in a bilateral format. We know that the Great Britain also is interested in settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Azerbaijan gives great value to expansion of cooperation with the Great Britain.