Azerbaijan may boast a billion-dollar-plus annual defense budget and a professed commitment to military reforms, but the deaths of soldiers in non-combat-related incidents are raising questions about the government’s commitment to remaking the country’s armed forces.
The recent discovery of a sizable, new natural gas field in the Caspian Sea is giving officials in Azerbaijan additional reason to cheer. But the discovery also is highlighting a dilemma for Baku – one in which the abundance of gas is currently offset by a dearth of export capacity.
Policymakers in Azerbaijan are facing a dilemma: can an enemy of a friend be a friend? Specifically, can Baku maintain cordial relations with both Turkey and Israel at the same time?
There is a Spanish proverb that goes: Del dicho al hecho, hay mucho trecho, or, roughly translated, it’s easier said than done. This saying seems to apply to Uruguay’s reported readiness to recognize the independence of the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh territory.
In the years immediately following the collapse of the Soviet Union, ethnic Azeris in Georgia clamored to return to their titular homeland. But now, thanks in part to strong bilateral relations, the trend is changing: ethnic Azeris still in Georgia are staying put, and thousand who made their way to Azerbaijan are even opting to return.
Azerbaijan’s days of explosive growth, driven by rising energy production, appear to be over. Baku is now emphasizing economic diversification, but the early returns are mixed as to whether non-energy sectors can place Azerbaijan in a stable growth trajectory.
With nine months to go before Baku hosts the Eurovision pop-music competition, transparency concerns are arising about Azerbaijani government expenditures on the event.
With more than a year to go before the expiration of Russia’s lease for Azerbaijan’s Gabala radar station, Baku and Moscow are already haggling about a renewal, EurasiaNet.org has learned. Amid Russia’s ongoing tussle with Washington over a European anti-missile defense system, Azerbaijan is expected to try and squeeze Moscow for more cash in order to extend the lease.
In a sign of religion’s growing influence in the South Caucasus, the founding of an organization to represent Georgia’s Muslim population has sparked an emotional face-off with the Soviet-era body for the region’s Muslims, the Baku-based Caucasus Muslim Board.
Azerbaijan’s cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization may not be progressing at a brisk clip, but some local analysts believe that the country’s accession to the Non-Aligned Movement last month put an even bigger question mark over the future of Azerbaijan’s Euro-Atlantic integration.
