Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan are at it again, feuding over a lucrative patch of the Caspian Sea. Russia would likely be the chief beneficiary of Caspian discord, if it continues.
When it comes to Azerbaijan and music, Eurovision – and, now, Jennifer Lopez – have largely hogged the outside world’s attention. But practitioners of mugam, an ancient Azerbaijani form of musical poetry set to percussion and strings, feel no sense of threat. Western pop music and mugam – the one about glamour, the other about ghazals – can peacefully coexist, they say.
Recent legislative efforts in Azerbaijan to protect the privacy of President Ilham Aliyev and his family are coming at the expense of investors, both foreign and domestic.
Did Armenia and Azerbaijan make war in early June to promote peace? Some analysts believe the recent sharp escalation of violence along the Nagorno-Karabakh contact line was specifically intended to get international mediators’ attention.
Azerbaijan has hosted the Eurovision Song Contest and has obtained a seat on the United Nations Security Council. Now officials in Baku seem intent on raising the country’s profile as an international donor.
Like any exacting stage manager, the Azerbaijani government has labored hard to adjust the lights and perk up the props for Baku’s international debut as the host of Eurovision 2012. But the painstaking preparations did not just involve the Azerbaijani capital’s buildings and infrastructure. They also involved the distribution of Eurovision tickets.
With two weeks to go until Azerbaijan hosts the Eurovision 2012 Song Contest, official preparations are wrapping up in Baku. But the Azerbaijani government is not the only party getting ready for the event. Civil society activists are hard at work, too.
The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan is looking to become an international energy producer. And in its first move beyond the Caspian Basin, SOCAR is turning to Israel.
A pending court case is refocusing attention on the issue of religious freedom in Azerbaijan. Officials are seeking to revoke the registration of a small Christian community in Baku. If successful, it would mark the first closure of what had once been an officially recognized denomination, since new registration procedures came into force in 2009.
Azerbaijan and Turkey are showing that even for the closest of strategic allies it’s not always smooth sailing. And it’s not especially a surprise that energy issues are what’s causing the two cultural cousins to bicker.
