Other News - Azerbaijan - gab

Other News - Azerbaijan
UNE TRENTAINE DE COMBATTANTS ISLAMISTES AZERIS TUES AU SEIN
DES GROUPES ARMES D'OPPOSITION EN SYRIE
/Aug 2/armenews.com/
Selon l'agence officielle de presse azérie APA, près de 60 combattants
Azéris se trouveraient actuellement parmi les forces d'opposition au régime
syrien. Elle précise qu'a ce jour, depuis le début de l'insurrection en
Syrie, une trentaine d'e combattants Azéris enrôles au sein des groupes
armes de l'opposition y a trouve la mort. Ces Azéris, venus d'Azerbaïdjan,
d'Afghanistan ou du Sud Caucase, pour la plupart proche du groupe islamiste
Djïl Al-Mouhajirin al-Ansar. Dans une vidéo diffusée sur internet, ces
islamistes Azéris appellent leurs frères d'Azerbaïdjan a venir prendre part
a la lutte contre le président syrien Bachar Al-Assad. Il y a quelques
mois, la présence de rebelles azéris était signalée près d'un quartier
arménien d'Alep.
Montserrat Caballe, Albano Carrisi, Konstantin Zatulin and
Peter Semneby on Azerbaijan's "black list"
/Aug 3/ARMINFO/by Emmanuil Mkrtchyan/
ArmInfo-Turan. The Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan has published the list of
the people who have visited "the country's occupied territories."
Turan reports that there are 335 people on the list, including a US
senator, parliamentarians from Germany, Slovakia, Iran, Russia, Australia,
Austria, France and the United Kingdom, journalists, students, artists,
representatives of international organizations.
Here you will find Spanish opera singer Montserrat Caballe, Italian pop
singer Albano Carrisi, Russian MP Konstantin Zatulin and the EU's former
special representative to the South Caucasus Peter Semneby.
All of them have been declared personae non grata in Azerbaijan.
To remind, the Azerbaijani authorities insist that all foreigners wishing
to visit Nagorno-Karabakh and "other occupied territories" request them for
permission. For the full list see
http://mfa.gov.az/files/file/Arzuolunmaz%20Shexslerin%20Siyahisi-2013.pdf.
MORE THAN 15 THOUSAND AZERBAIJANI RECEIVE TURKISH CITIZENSHIP
/Aug 8/Panorama.am/
15,604 Azerbaijani citizens were granted Turkish citizenship over the last
decade, reports Azerbaijani "Haqqin.az" website. According to the data of
the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Turkey, 124 thousand foreigners were
granted an ID of a Turkish citizen in the time period of 2003-2012. In
fact, the majority of applicants for the citizenship were residents of
Bulgaria - more than 44 thousand. Also, around 8,197 individuals were
deprived of Turkish citizenship for various reasons during the same time
period.
US Ambassador urges Azerbaijan to ensure fair elections
/Aug 5/news.am/
U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan Richard Morningstar has issued a statement on
upcoming presidential elections in the country, urging Azerbaijani
government to ensure a free and fair electoral process.
`Now that the active stage of the election season has begun, we call on the
government of Azerbaijan to ensure a free and fair electoral process that
reflects the will of the people,' the statement reads.
He said to guarantee an unbiased pre-election environment, the government
of Azerbaijan should make sure all political parties and interested groups
have equal access to the media, the freedom to register their candidates,
and the freedom to hold campaign events and regular party meetings in
venues across the country without interference.
Ambassador called to accelerate fair resolution of the legal proceedings
against youth activists, journalists, and political leaders, including
Ilgar Mammadov and Tofig Yagublu.
In his statement Morningstar noted that Azerbaijani authorities `should
register domestic election observers and permit them to monitor election
activities freely throughout the country.'
More than 15 thousand Azerbaijani receive Turkish citizenship
/Aug 9/Panorama.am/
15,604 Azerbaijani citizens were granted Turkish citizenship over the last
decade, reports Azerbaijani `Haqqin.az' website. According to the data of
the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Turkey, 124 thousand foreigners were
granted an ID of a Turkish citizen in the time period of 2003-2012. In
fact, the majority of applicants for the citizenship were residents of
Bulgaria - more than 44 thousand. Also, around 8,197 individuals were
deprived of Turkish citizenship for various reasons during the same time
period.
Azerbaijani flag ignored during the meeting of Iranian
President and Speaker of Azerbaijani Parliament
/Aug 9/Panorama.am/
Another curious incident happened with the flag of Azerbaijan. The newlyelected Iranian president Hassan Rouhani took part in a number of meetings
with the heads of foreign delegations right after his inauguration. The
Azerbaijani flag was not displayed during the meeting of the Iranian
President Hassan Rouhani and the Chairman of Azerbaijani Parliament Octay
Asadov.
And this is not the first such incident. The Azerbaijani flag was flying
upside down during the official visit of the Azerbaijani Minister of
Defense Safar Abiyev to Islamic Republic of Iran last year. The scene was
quickly captured by the Iranian media lenses.
Moreover, a similar attitude to the state symbols of Azerbaijan was
recorded in other countries as well. During the 48th Munich Security
Conference in early February of 2012, more specifically at the meeting of
the US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and the President of Azerbaijan
Ilham Aliyev, the colors of the raised flag did not match those of the
corresponding Azerbaijani state symbol.
While the flag raised in Munich was composed of blue, red, and baby blue
color lines, the correct colors of the official Azerbaijani flag are blue,
red, and green. The flag colors were also misplaced earlier, at the meeting
of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and President of the European Commission
José Manuel Barroso.
DEPUIS 20 ANS, L'AZERBAIDJAN A ACQUIS 321 CHARS, 400 SYSTEMES
D'ARTILLERIE, 64 AVIONS DE COMBAT
/Aug 12/armenews.com/
Entre les années 1992-2012, l’Azerbaïdjan a acheté des différents pays 321
chars, 264 véhicules de combat, 400 systèmes d’artillerie et 21 295
missiles et lanceurs de roquette, selon le registre des armes classiques de
l’ONU selon l’agence de presse azérie APA.
Dans cette période l’aviation a obtenu 64 avions de formation et de combat
et 24 hélicoptères de combat.
La liste ne comprend pas des systèmes, d’artillerie, des drones achetées
par l’Azerbaïdjan au cours des dernières années à Israël et à la Turquie,
ainsi que des chars et des véhicules de combat, dont l’importation a
commencé au début de 2013 en vertu de la signature d’un contrat avec la
Russie.
Selon le registre, dans la période de référence, l’Ukraine a vendu le plus
grand nombre de véhicules militaires à l’Azerbaïdjan. Bakou aurait acquis
de ce pays 198 chars de combat (y compris des T-72 et T-55), 173
transporteurs blindés, 294 systèmes d’artillerie, 37 avions de combat et de
formation, 12 hélicoptères, 95 systèmes de missiles.
La deuxième place dans la liste est la Russie. Depuis 20 ans, ce pays a
vendu à l’Azerbaïdjan 62 chars, 24 véhicules blindés, 18 unités d’obusiers,
12 hélicoptères et 1.200 missiles. La liste ne comprend pas deux divisions
de systèmes S -300 PMU-2 Favorit, ainsi qu’entre 2008-2012, des
hélicoptères de transport Ka-32 et Mi-17V, achetés par l’Azerbaïdjan à la
Russie.
SCORES OF AZERIS FIGHTING AMONG REBELS IN SYRIA AND ELSEWHERE
/Aug 15/asbarez.com/
Azeri fighters are members of a sabotage unit called Jaish al-Muhajireen
wal-Ansar
BAKU-The number of Azeris known to be fighting in the armed opposition
against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad was revealed on August 1.
Azeri news sources, citing Syrian opposition Web sites, report that there
are 60 Azerbaijanis among the ranks of the many different armed rebel
groups battling the Syrian government army.
The sources also reported that some 30 Azeris have been killed during
clashes.
Furthermore, fighters have come not only from Azerbaijan, but also from
Afghanistan (from among the fighting ranks of the Taliban), Russia (from
the Northern Caucasus), and other countries.
According to the same source, the great majority of the Azerbaijani
fighters are members of a sabotage unit called Jaish al-Muhajireen walAnsar, whose leader is probably an Azerbaijani, Abu Yahan.
All the same, conflict analyst Arif Yunus revealed back on July 11 that
there are more than 300 Azerbaijani fighters in Syria, Afghanistan and
Pakistan, from which 100 are in Syria. News sources in Azerbaijan with an
oppositionist slant wrote in the middle of July, "There are 400
Azerbaijanis fighting among the terrorist groups in Syria, Afghanistan, and
Pakistan, of which 3 are women."