Azerbaijan

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s September 2-3 visit to Azerbaijan yielded a big energy deal, as the Russian state-controlled conglomerate Gazprom secured an agreement to dramatically increase its purchases of Azerbaijani natural gas.

It’s been almost four months since flooding in Azerbaijan’s Sabirabad Region displaced tens of thousands of residents. Now, amid slow-paced reconstruction efforts, a popular tide of anger and resentment appears to be rising.

Let Our Fame be Great: Journeys Among the Defiant People of the Caucasus
By Oliver Bullough
Basic Books
528pp

CELEBILER, Azerbaijan -- In this small, dusty village in central Azerbaijan, daily life for the local women begins at dawn and ends at sunset.

What happens in between, say several Celebiler women, is nonstop labor.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul ended a two-day official visit to Baku on August 17 with the signing of a strategic partnership agreement, but the details remain a guessing game. Local analysts say that they are left to conclude that the trip, coming a few days before Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s visit to Armenia, was meant mostly for consultations.

Russia’s reported plans to sell two of its S-300 Favorit air-defense systems to Azerbaijan are seen as a done deal in Baku, where analysts argue that the systems could be put to good use protecting the country’s extensive energy extraction projects and pipeline networks.

BAKU -- On the drive between Baku's international airport and the capital center, travelers are met by a brigade of sleek roadside signs advertising a company called SW Holding.

But as innocuous as the posters may appear, they represent a company that enjoys a near-complete monopoly over every aspect of airline service.

Longtime Azerbaijani ally Turkey appears to be taking on a larger role in supporting the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, an Azerbaijani exclave sandwiched between Armenia and Iran. The first steps in this intensified cooperation are taking shape just months after plans for rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia went into cold storage.

Matthew Bryza, President Obama's controversial nominee to be the next American ambassador to Azerbaijan, had his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill on July 22. He defended himself against allegations of bias in favor of Baku and asserted he would be an even-handed advocate of US policy in the Caucasus. His critics did not appear reassured, however.

The saga of how Azerbaijan lost control of the separatist territory of Nagorno-Karabakh revolves around issues of ethnicity and culture. But it also involves a breed of horse.