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Azerbaijan

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Screenshots of Azerbaijani state news agency Azertac’s coverage of Georgian politics and elections.
2024 Georgian Parliamentary Elections

Azerbaijani state media cover Georgian Dream’s pre-election campaign

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Over the last month, Azerbaijan’s official government news agency Azertac has published multiple articles focusing on ethnic Azerbaijani candidates running for the ruling Georgian Dream party, while failing to provide a platform for Azerbaijani opposition candidates.  On 16 October, Azertac interviewed Georgian Dream MP Zaur Darghalli, who said that his party had guaranteed stability in Georgia, and elaborated on how it was able to keep the peace for the last 12 years.  ‘These elections are

Mirhafiz Jafarzade. Courtesy photo.
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan sentences Talysh activist to 16 years in prison for treason

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Ethnic Talysh activist Mirhafiz Jafarzade, who advocated for the creation of Talysh school textbooks in Azerbaijan, has been sentenced to 16 years in prison on charges of treason.  Jafarzade, who is also a Russian citizen, was found guilty of treason in the form of espionage on Thursday. Jafarzade was detained by the authorities in November 2022. That day, pro-government media reported that the trial had determined that Jafarzade worked ‘in secret cooperation with foreign special services

Cars at a standstill on the Lachin Corridor, as the population of Nagorno-Karabakh flees to Armenia. Photo: Marut Vanyan/OC Media.
Armenia

Russia praises Azerbaijan’s ‘constructive’ approach to return of Nagorno-Karabakh refugees

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Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has said Azerbaijan is taking ‘constructive’ actions to facilitate the right to return of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians, as evidence mounts of the demolition of residential and cultural heritage buildings in Nagorno-Karabakh.  ‘We have repeatedly commented on and emphasised the constructive steps taken by Baku to provide the population that left their native places with the opportunity to return there’, Zakharova said during a press briefing o

Image via Civilnet.
Armenia

Peace talks flounder as Armenia pushes for deal with Azerbaijan before COP29

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Peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan appear to be at a standstill as Armenia continues to push for an agreement to be signed ahead of November’s COP29 summit in Baku. On Tuesday, Sargis Khandanyan, an MP from Armenia’s ruling Civil Contract party, told Armenpress that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan offered to organise a meeting to conclude and sign a peace agreement ahead of the summit, which is scheduled to be held in Baku between 11–22 November. He said that Pashinyan made the offer

Azerbaijan's Defence Ministry. Official photo.
Armenia–Azerbaijan Conflict

Azerbaijan instructs army to stay on high alert 

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Azerbaijan’s Defence Minister Zakir Hasanov has instructed the country’s armed forces to stay on ‘high alert’ to prevent ‘provocations of the revanchist forces’, as peace talks with Armenia continue to flounder. Hasanov held a meeting with high-ranking military officials on 12 October, during which he instructed troops ‘to maintain the combat capability at a constant high level, increase vigilance, as well as to be ready to take preventive measures against all possible provocations of revanchi

Afgan Sadygov. Photo via Sakartvelos Ambebi.
Afgan Sadigov

Detained Azerbaijani journalist transferred to Georgia prison hospital following hunger strike

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Detained Azerbaijani journalist Afgan Sadigov has been transferred to a prison hospital in Georgia on his 17th day of hunger strike. Sadigov has been in extradition custody in Gldani prison in Tbilisi since 4 August.  Sadigova told Netgazeti on Tuesday that she was informed about her husband’s transfer to the hospital late Monday night. ‘I asked [to] talk to my husband, so I could hear his voice’, she said, adding that she was denied permission. ‘They called me late at night, but I don’

The Azerbaijan parliament in-session on 30 September 2024. Official image.
Azerbaijan

MPs demand Azerbaijan cut military ties with US

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Forty-three Azerbaijani MPs have appealed to Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov to ‘review’ the country’s relationship with the US, including pulling out of several military agreements.  The MPs signed the statement on 5 October demanding Bayramov terminate the Joint Declaration on Future Military and Defense Cooperation, signed in 1997, and the Agreement on the Acquisition of Equipment and Mutual Services, signed in 2013. They also demanded an immediate stop to any ongoing negotiations on

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