Azerbaijan has toned down its rhetoric about shooting down planes that fly over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. But Baku remains at loggerheads with Armenia and Karabakh separatists over plans to reopen the region’s airport.
With energy exports providing plenty of spare cash, Azerbaijan is taking steps to produce Israeli-designed spy planes. Local analysts say the venture reflects Baku’s desire to become a major arms exporter to the South Caucasus, Central Asia and Middle East.
Even with no specifics yet available for Azerbaijan’s “day of rage,” the government is persisting with a crackdown on youth group activists and Facebook users in the run-up to unsanctioned youth demonstrations expected for March 11.
Nearly one month into Azerbaijan’s anti-corruption crackdown, both the government and general public appear puzzled about how far the campaign will actually go. But amidst the uncertainties, some signs of real change are beginning to emerge – a phenomenon that is encouraging popular expectations.
Amid ongoing protests in Egypt, a US State Department warning about a terrorist threat “against American interests” in Azerbaijan has placed the government in Baku in an awkward situation. Senior members of the governing Yeni Azerbaijan Party have criticized the US action, while law enforcement agencies have questioned the basis for the alert.
Energy-rich Azerbaijan is becoming a regional magnet for illegal labor migrants. The government is intent on containing the trend, but a recent Constitutional Court decision to overturn stiff fines for employing illegal migrants is injecting an element of uncertainty into the issue.
Unlike its neighbors, Azerbaijan has long shied away from close partnerships with either the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or the Russia-dominated Collective Security Organization. A recent military compact with Turkey, however, suggests that Baku may be preparing to change that strategic game plan.
The recent arrest of the leader of the outlawed Islamic Party of Azerbaijan is raising questions about the future role of Islam in Azerbaijani politics. Analysts in Baku differ on how much influence the Islamic Party has, but many share the belief that Islam could form the basis for a new generation of opposition activists.
Azerbaijan’s unofficial ban on Islamic head coverings for girls in public schools is stoking an increasingly emotional debate over how Azeri culture reconciles re-emerging Shi’ite Muslim beliefs with Soviet-era secularist practices.
