ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN CONFLICT

Azerbaijan blasts world powers over backing hostile neighbor
Azerbaijan has directed pounding criticism at the superpowers over supporting arch-foe Armenia, blaming the international community for failing to do enough to resolve the nearly two-decade-long Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict.
First Vice-Speaker Ziyafat Asgarov has said settling the dispute while maintaining Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity does not meet any other country’s interests. Azerbaijan is cooperating with the West in several large-scale energy projects but has not yet seen any benefits from this partnership in terms of resolving the Garabagh conflict, its most pressing problem, he told an international conference on South Caucasus security in Baku on Friday.
Further, Asgarov said the world’s leading policymakers are treating the issue with a double standard. He emphasized that during unrest in the Balkans, NATO promptly moved to solve the problem, while the Garabagh conflict was assigned to the mediating OSCE Minsk Group whose efforts have been unsuccessful for nearly two decades.
“The Minsk Group has accomplished nothing over 18 years. Is the world community waiting for Upper Garabagh to fall into Palestine’s state? International law has been left helpless at Armenia’s hands,” the vice-speaker said.
Commenting on the reasoning that the Armenian community is strong in the world’s leading countries, Asgarov said that “if US policy depends on the Armenian diaspora, this is ridiculous and I don’t want to believe that.”
According to Asgarov, international forces calling on Azerbaijan to seek a peaceful solution to the Garabagh conflict, actually, have no intention to assist the country.
“A NATO Parliamentary Assembly official has told me that no one wants to abandon Christian Armenia and help Muslim Azerbaijan,” Asgarov said.
Addressing international experts attending the conference, the vice-speaker said that, “if international law does not work, the leading countries should declare this from the UN rostrum.”
“That way Azerbaijan will know what to do. The international community has been insistently discouraging us from tackling a military solution of the conflict. But you should know that if Azerbaijan seeks to launch war, it won’t ask for permission from the United States, Russia, France [the co-chairs of the mediating OSCE Minsk Group] or other leading powers. This will be a decision of the Azerbaijani people and their president,” Asgarov said.
Ethnic Armenians in Upper Garabagh, backed by Armenia, declared so-called independence in fighting that erupted as the Soviet Union headed towards its 1991 collapse. The Armenians invaded Upper Garabagh and seven surrounding Azeri districts before a cease-fire was declared in 1994. Some 30,000 people were killed and a million Azeris ousted from their homes as a result of the Armenian aggression. The Armenian armed forces continue occupying a part of Azerbaijani land, despite four UN resolutions calling for their unconditional pullout.
Similar harsh criticism of the world community came from Novruz Mammadov, the head of the Presidential Administration’s international relations department. He blamed the West over its failing to aid the country while supporting hostile Armenia.
“Despite financial and moral support to Armenia, which occupies Azerbaijan’s territory and Upper Garabagh, we have seen no substantial support from the U.S…The point is that, though we have been subjected to Armenia’s aggression, it has received $2 billion in the meantime, while we have not received a dime.”
Mammadov noted that, instead of providing assistance, the West has been reproaching Azerbaijan over human rights and other issues.
He said Azerbaijan will defend its intransigent position on the Garabagh conflict till the end and there is no need to pressure Baku in any manner.
“They say both inside the country and abroad that if Azerbaijan pursued democratic reform more swiftly, Western attitude would be different. But I don’t think this assertion is right, because we have hundreds of other facts at hand. Let’s just refer to the events involving Afghanistan in recent days. The world community, the presidents of 27 states convened and talked about providing assistance to Afghanistan, but no tough stance is being put forward over the occupied Azerbaijani territories.
“Let’s say that there is a dispute over the Upper Garabagh territory. How about the seven districts around Garabagh? Why isn’t the world community demanding an immediate end to the Armenian occupation of that land?” Mammadov asked.
Touching on the agreement signed by Turkey and Armenia to reopen the two countries’ shared border, which has long been shut, Mammadov said Western diplomats often say they are unable and have no time to discuss certain issues, but they had unexpectedly gathered in Switzerland for the signing of the Ankara-Yerevan protocols, and the documents were signed at the top level.
Turkey and Armenia face decades of enmity. Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 following the Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani territory and past genocide claims. On October 10, in Zurich, the two governments signed two protocols to establish diplomatic relations and reopen their borders in a bid to normalize their strained relations. The agreement has triggered a cool-down in Baku-Ankara relations, though the documents require parliamentary approval before taking effect, and Turkish officials have repeatedly made clear that Ankara could mend ties with Yerevan and open the border only after the Garabagh conflict has been fairly resolved.
Regarding the recent arrest of two bloggers in Azerbaijan, which was harshly criticized by international organizations, Mammadov said the West, and US media in particular, has begun watching this issue even more intensely than the Garabagh conflict, which is seen as a tool to pressure Azerbaijan.
The Presidential Administration official called on Western diplomats to “seriously think about Azerbaijan.” He said the country could play the role of a substantial mediator between the East and West and the Christian and Islamic worlds.
Mammadov said that, according to a public opinion poll conducted by the BBC radio in Arab countries, eight out of every ten people hate America. “The U.S. should seriously think about this survey,” he added.
International analysts and rapporteurs have tried to dismiss the strongly-worded criticism of their countries, shifting the focus to the Russia-Georgia conflict.
“Russia has shown that it is ignoring, and will continue to ignore, international law,” claimed Vladimir Socor, a senior scholar at the Jamestown Foundation.
To substantiate his opinion suggesting that Azerbaijan is not the only country facing the inaction of international law, Socor referred to the brief war fought by Russia and Georgia in 2008, when no steps were taken to defend Georgia’s territorial integrity despite support for Tbilisi by the West and the world community as a whole.
Speaking about the Garabagh conflict, Socor suggested that its settlement and the planned opening of the Turkey-Armenia border should be addressed not in parallel, but “synchronously.”
“Undoubtedly, the process of reopening the border should proceed along with the Garabagh settlement. But what is President Obama doing? Unfortunately, he is trying to disrupt this balance. Ratification of the Turkish-Armenian protocols and the Garabagh conflict settlement should not just proceed in parallel, but should be intertwined and proceed synchronously. This means that every step relating to the protocols issue should be backed up by a solution of the Garabagh problem. Undoubtedly, Turkey is trying to adhere to this very principle and, no matter how hard it is for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, he will approve the needed decision. I hope that after Erdogan’s visit to the U.S. in December and his consultations with US leaders, the White House will begin employing a policy of synchronizing the protocols’ ratification with the Garabagh settlement.”
Turkey and Armenia face decades of enmity. Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 due to Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani territory and past genocide claims. On October 10, in Zurich, the two governments signed two protocols to establish diplomatic relations and reopen their borders in a bid to normalize their strained relations.
Oksana Antonenko of Britain’s International Institute for Strategic Studies made clear that the world community does not want war to again erupt in the South Caucasus region. She said last year’s armed conflict between Russia and Georgia in South Ossetia had adversely affected the situation in the region. On the other hand, the turbulent events had broken the ice over settlement of the Garabagh issue, Antonenko believes.
The international conference, entitled “Security challenges in the South Caucasus: realities and prospects for regional development,” was organized by the Strategic Research Center under the Azerbaijani President as part of a project being implemented jointly with the British institute.
The magnitude of the event is illustrated by the fact that it was joined by representatives of three influential think-tanks –John Hopkins University, the Heritage Foundation and the Jamestown Foundation. Reports on security issues and settling conflicts in post-Soviet states were delivered by leading analysts from a number of countries, including Britain, Belgium, Germany, Iran, Turkey, Georgia, and Russia.


ECONOMICS

Singaporean firm to build shipyard in Azerbaijan
Singapore’s Keppel Offshore & Marine will build and commission a shipyard near the Azerbaijani state energy firm SOCAR’s Deep Water Jacket Factory named after Heydar Aliyev, according to an agreement signed in Baku on Friday.
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed with the Singaporean company by SOCAR and the Azerbaijan Investment Company (AIC). SOCAR holds a 70 percent stake in the initial stage of the project, while AIC holds 30 percent. Keppel Offshore & Marine intends to buy a 10 percent stake within the next three months and another 10 percent over the next three years.
The plant is to be built using existing infrastructure, which has reduced the initial estimated cost of the project. According to the preliminary feasibility study, $400 million was required to construct the facility, but the latest estimates have put the figure at $300 million to $350 million.
SOCAR will finance 30 percent of the project cost, while the rest will be covered by outside sources.
According to Economic Development Minister Shahin Mustafayev, the plant will be commissioned two to two and a half years after the start of construction operations, which are due to begin in late 2009 to early 2010. The shipyard will be equipped to up-to-date standards.
“The plant will be able to provide vessels both to the Caspian oil fleet and border services, the ministry of defense and other companies and entities operating in Azerbaijan,” Mustafayev said.
The shipyard will compliment the project to build a new oil terminal and port in the Garadagh district outside Baku. Kazakhstan’s oil will be delivered through the terminal for further transit through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, which transports Azerbaijan’s crude to world markets through Georgia and Turkey.
The enterprise is expected to have no competition in the region and it may take orders for building ships not only from domestic customers but also from other foreign countries.
Keppel Offshore & Marine is one of the largest offshore and marine groups in the world. The Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Keppel Corporation, was established in 2002.


OIL & GAS

SOCAR exec dismisses reports on turning down Nabucco
The Azeri state oil company SOCAR has dismissed reports claiming that Azerbaijan plans to turn down a proposed energy partnership with Europe.
Elshad Nasirov, SOCAR Vice-President, told journalists that the reports circulated by Russia’s Lenta.ru news website and the Bloomberg news agency distorted his earlier statement by claiming that the South Caucasus republic could refuse to take part in the Western-backed Nabucco pipeline project and redirect supplies of its gas to Asian markets.
“If there is no Western route for bringing hefty revenues to the country, Azerbaijan does not consider this as a taboo for accessing Eastern energy markets. In other words, we do not rule out the options of accessing either Western or Eastern markets.”
The SOCAR official said that, just as in past years, exporting natural gas to EU countries remains a priority for Azerbaijan.
“The European market is extremely lucrative because prices are determined here, not in the capital of any country but in the market proper,” Nasirov said.
He also said SOCAR was interested in refining its oil in areas closer to European markets, which would boost the country’s profits, adding that this could be done in any European country.
The numerous reports about Azerbaijan’s alleged plan to turn down gas supplies to Europe came after a setback in talks between Azerbaijan and Turkey, which is a major consumer of the South Caucasus republic’s gas and a potential transit state. Ankara demands that SOCAR offer a lower price for gas, which Baku refuses to do. The differences are actually playing into Moscow’s hands due to their undermining confidence in the Nabucco project, analysts say.
Turkey is buying SOCAR’s gas for $120 per 1,000 cubic meters, but pays as much as $250 for Russian fuel.
The Russian daily Vremya Novostey reported earlier that Russia, which previously signed a contract on gas deliveries with SOCAR, will be paying $190 for Azeri gas. Though the volume is rather insignificant – only 500 million cubic meters a year - it could be increased in the future if Baku and Moscow deem this necessary.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in October that talks on gas deliveries with Turkey were deadlocked, that Turkey is refusing to pay world-market prices for Azerbaijan’s gas and seeking a high fee for the transit of fuel. President Aliyev also warned that the country could seek other buyers of its gas, such as Russia and Iran.
Baku’s options include joining a gas pipeline project from Turkmenistan through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to China, whose growing economy requires more and more energy resources. In fact, Turkmenistan has already decided to redirect part of its gas exports to China and increase the majority of its gas exports to Iran.
The 3,300-kilometer Nabucco pipeline, which is to pump gas via Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Austria, is expected to come online in 2014. The conduit will carry 31 billion cubic meters of gas annually, when fully operational. But according to Lenta.ru, sources of gas to fill the pipeline have yet to be found. Until recently, Azerbaijan had been considered the only country that could supply fuel, but its capacities do not suffice to fully fill the conduit, the report claimed.
Nabucco is deemed as a rival route for the Moscow-backed South Stream pipeline, which is being built by the Russian gas behemoth Gazprom and Italy's ENI.

Warning
A US official has urged Azerbaijan and Turkey to agree on the price of gas to be transported through the Nabucco pipeline, warning that energy companies will otherwise seek alternate options. Turkish news agencies quoted US Special Envoy for Eurasian Energy, Richard Morningstar, as saying that the issue of finding sources of fuel for the Western-backed pipeline remains on the agenda.
“It is crystal clear that first gas delivery will come from Azerbaijan,” Morningstar told the European Policy Center think-tank. “But there is an issue that needs to be resolved straight away here. Why can’t Turkey and Azerbaijan agree upon the price of gas and its transit? We strongly encourage both countries to come to an agreement, because they have to agree to ensure further reliance on Nabucco and the confidence of companies joining the project. In our opinion they will, but they are moving slowly. In my view, both countries have to keep in mind that this agreement meets their strategic interests.”
According to Morningstar, if Azerbaijan and Turkey fail to reach agreement, energy companies and participating countries will move to consider other options.
“These alternatives could be delivering liquid and compressed gas to Europe across the Black Sea via White Stream. All options should and will be worked on. But the priority issue is trying to reach an Azerbaijan-Turkey accord. This will turn Turkey into a very powerful transit state for transporting Caucasus and Central Asian gas to Europe,” said Morningstar.
He added that other potential suppliers for Nabucco are Turkmenistan and Iraq, noting that Washington does not favor, however, Iran’s becoming part of the Southern Corridor.
Meanwhile, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan questioned the feasibility of the Nabucco project, saying finding sources of supplies remains a challenge. “There are three components of the Nabucco project – suppliers, transit states and consumer nations. The project, which has six partners, currently lacks a solid framework on the supply issue,” Erdogan told a news conference in Italy.
“Though only 15bn cubic meters are required at the initial stage, supplying this volume is still under a question mark,” he said.
“Turkey is not a supplier. The European Union is seeking to transport gas via Nabucco from Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan during this stage. However, there are problems with the transit of Turkmen gas through Iran and the Caspian basin. On the other hand, the EU does not approve of transporting gas through Russian territory.”
Erdogan said, further, that Nabucco is not an alternative to the Russian-backed South Stream pipeline as these two projects compliment one another. Neither project will fully meet Europe’s needs for gas, he said.
“For this reason, Turkey will continue playing the role of a transit state in these projects,” Erdogan added.


POLITICS

Azerbaijan dismisses ‘refusal to grant NATO air space’
Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov has dismissed an Associated Press report claiming that Baku had refused to open up air space to Turkmenistan for the delivery of NATO cargo to Afghanistan.
He said the report had no merit, as thousands of aircraft head toward Afghanistan above Azerbaijan’s territory.
“All NATO states carry out flights through Azerbaijan with permission any time. We grant one-year authorization for such flights to some countries. There are no problems or difficulties in this area,” the deputy minister said.
Azimov noted, further, that talks have recently been underway with NATO on sending AWACS surveillance aircraft to Afghanistan through Azerbaijan. However, Baku has yet to respond to this proposal. Moreover, dispatching such planes requires an agreement among all countries granting access to their air space.
“This issue does not depend on Azerbaijan alone. It must be resolved by all countries lying along the route – from Turkey all the way to Afghanistan, including Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan,” Azimov said.*

NATO urged to provide security guarantees to its allies
NATO should provide security guarantees not only to its members but also its current allies, Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov has said.
Azimov spoke at a conference entitled, “NATO’s new strategic concept: allies’ contribution to debate,” in Baku last week, saying the Euro-Atlantic region’s security depends on a concerted effort of the alliance’s member states and partners, otherwise there could be adverse consequences for the bloc’s future “architecture.”
“I suggest signing bilateral agreements between NATO and its partners. Along with responsibilities and obligations of both sides, such agreements should reflect security guarantees for the partner states.

Alleged nuclear reactors delivery to Armenia to be scrutinized
Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov has said he was unaware of transporting reactors to Armenia’s nuclear power plant through Turkey’s territory, but Baku would scrutinize reports to that end.
Further, Azimov said the presence of nuclear reactors in Armenia poses a threat to the region, noting that Azerbaijan and other regional states, as well as the European Union, have previously called upon Yerevan to take action in this respect for many years.
“The EU is demanding a shutdown of the atomic power plant, taking into account the very low safety measures used in maintaining the nuclear reactors and high seismic activity in the region and in Armenia. Russia has devised a plan jointly with Armenia that envisions re-equipping or repairing the reactors. The reactors are presently managed and overseen by Russia.
“You can look at it this way: supplying reactors producing nuclear energy that are located in Armenia and controlled by Russia is a bilateral affair between these two countries. If Russia wants to do this work, we can view this only positively,” Azimov said.
He said that whether or not the reactors are delivered to Armenia through Turkey’s territory is a technical issue, but added: “Given that the Turkey-Armenia border remains shut, this transit should be viewed as an exclusive case.”
Hulusi Kilic, Turkey’s Ambassador in Baku, has labeled as false the reports on the reactors’ transfer via his country. “If the Turkey-Armenia border is closed, there can’t be transit either,” he said.
Armenia and Turkey have been at odds and the border between the two countries has been closed since 1993.
Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict for over a decade.

REGION

Russia lowers price of gas sold to Armenia
Russia has lowered the price of natural gas it sells to Armenia, Armenian Energy Minister Armen Movsisian has said.
According to Movsisian, beginning April 1, 2010 the price will be $180 per 1,000 cubic meters instead of the previous $200.
The South Caucasus republic has been buying Russian gas since this past April for $154, including the Value Added Tax (VAT).

OIL & GAS

BP Azerbaijan releases three-quarterly results
Oil giant BP, which operates Azerbaijan’s major Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) fields in the Caspian Sea, produced more than 224 million barrels (more than 30 million tons or 822,100 barrels a day) from the fields during the first three quarters of 2009, the company said.
Of the 822,100 barrel daily average production, 105,300 b/d came from Chirag, 185,800 b/d from Central Azeri, 275,200 b/d from West Azeri, 139,400 b/d from East Azeri and 116,400 b/d from the Deep Water Gunashli platform.
During the this period, ACG spent about $540 million in operating expenditure and $723 million in capital expenditure. For the full year BP expects to spend about $839 million in operating expenditure and $1,639 million in capital expenditure on ACG activities.

Associated gas
Since the beginning of 2009, BP Azerbaijan has also exceeded nearly two-fold the projection on the delivery of associated gas produced from the ACG fields to Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR.
The company delivered about 392 million standard cubic feet, or 11.1 million cubic meters per day. Instead of the planned total of 1.45 billion cubic meters, around 3 billion cubic meters were delivered during the first three quarters of this year.
ACG participating interests are: BP (operator – 34.1%), Chevron (10.2%), SOCAR (10%), INPEX (10%), Statoil (8.6%), ExxonMobil (8%), TPAO (6.8%), Devon (5.6%), ITOCHU (3.9%), and Hess (2.7%).

Shahdaniz output
BP Azerbaijan’s production from Shahdaniz, Azerbaijan’s largest gas field in the Caspian Sea, is expected to be 8.6 billion cubic meters of gas per year and about 45,000 barrels of condensate per day during Stage 1 of the project, as new platform-drilled wells are brought on stream over the next few years.
The field continued to produce steadily from four wells to off-take points in Azerbaijan, Georgia and the Turkish border during the first three quarters of 2009. The gas from Shahdaniz Stage 1 continues to be sold to Azerbaijan, Georgia’s GOGC, Turkish BOTAS and the BTC pipeline consortium.
The plan for 2009 is to produce 7.5 billion cubic meters of gas and 1.9 million tons of condensate.
During this period, the field produced 4.4 billion cubic meters of gas and 1.2 million tons of condensate, or 16.3 million cubic meters of gas per day, and more than 34,000 barrels of condensate per day.
Since the start of Shahdaniz production in late 2006 till the end of the third quarter 2009 about 31 million barrels (about 3.9 million tons) of Shahdaniz condensate were exported via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) main export pipeline which transports Azerbaijan’s crude to world markets through Georgia and Turkey. By November 9 about 32.4 million barrels (about 4.1 million tons) of condensate were exported via BTC.
During the first nine months of 2009, BP Azerbaijan spent $114 million in operating expenditure and $255 million in capital expenditure on Shahdaniz activities. For the entire year the company is planning to spend $322m in operating expenditure and $369m in capital expenditure on the project.
Shahdaniz participating interests are: BP (operator – 25.5%), Statoil (25.5%), SOCAR (10%), LUKOIL (10%), NICO (10%), Total (10%), and TPAO (9%).

Total exec: Shahdaniz transit talks with Turkey ‘difficult’
Transit of natural gas from phase 2 of Azerbaijan's Shahdaniz field in the Caspian Sea could be rerouted via Russia if already-difficult talks with Turkey fail, the major French oil producer, Total SA's senior vice-president for Central Asia, Arnaud Breuillac, told Dow Jones Newswires in an exclusive interview.
Current discussions with the Turkish government about the transit of natural gas from the second phase of the project are "quite difficult", Breuillac said, with disagreements over price also becoming an obstacle to progress. Turkey is demanding prices as low as those negotiated during the first phase, even though market conditions have changed and prices are higher now.
Total holds a 10% interest in Shahdaniz, which is developed by a consortium including operator BP, Norway's Statoil, Russia's Lukoil, Turkey's TPAO and the Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR.
Turkey buys 6 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year from the first phase of Shahdaniz development, which produces a peak of 8 billion cubic meters of gas annually. The upper-limit of the gas price is set at $120 per 1,000 cubic meters, which is lower than international prices.
Turkey's position as a final destination for second phase Shahdaniz gas was also preventing an agreement. "(Turkey) doesn't need all the gas that will be produced during the second phase ... A part should transit (the country)," Breuillac said, but Turkey is reluctant.
"The Turks must understand that if they don't accept that part of the gas transits (through Turkey), it won't then transit through their territory but will go to Russia or even to Iran instead," Breuillac said.
SOCAR recently signed a deal with Russia's state-controlled Gazprom OAO for gas from Shahdaniz which would see gas pipelines to Russia upgraded, Breuillac noted.
He stressed there wouldn't "in any case" be a repeat of the commercial exclusivity agreed with Turkey for Shahdaniz's first phase.
Despite the challenges, the start of the second phase of Shahdaniz remains on track for 2016, Breuillac said.
Breuillac, who met with national oil group SOCAR's president Rovnag Abdullayev in Azerbaijan last week, said that Shahdaniz's second phase is expected to produce twice as much as the first phase, with a total estimated production of around 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year.

TAP transit fees will be lower than Nabucco’s: energy exec
“Fees for transporting gas through the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) will be lower than a 3300km new pipeline such as Nabucco," said Robert Klein, Managing Director for TAP.
This week, the German RWE Company - one of the participants to the Nabucco project – released a comparative analysis of the Southern Corridor project saying that the Nabucco project -- which seeks to export Caspian and Central Asian gas to Europe -- is the most effective one in terms of tariffs for transportation and costs to deliver gas from sources to the market. According to a RWE report, the fees for transporting 1,000 cubic meters of gas per 100 kilometers of TAP is €6.2 and via Nabucco - €1.7.
According to Klein, who was quoted by the TAP project website, TAP's total pipeline length is 520km. "In addition, TAP will use existing pipeline infrastructure to transport gas from well head to market. As a result and when calculated accurately, TAP's tariff, as well as its total cost of transport, would be lower than a 3300km newly built pipeline such as Nabucco," the report said.
TAP is expected to transport gas from the Caspian region and the Middle East to Europe. The pipeline will originate in Greece, cross Albania’s territory and the Adriatic Sea, and onward to Italy.


ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN CONFLICT
Turkish reporter denies her controversial statement on Garabagh
The Turkish journalist who visited Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh, an Azerbaijani region under Armenian occupation, has dismissed Armenian media reports that quoted her as saying that the region is Armenian land, an allegation that has sparked ire in Azerbaijan.
Nagehan Alci, a writer for the Akhsham newspaper, speaking in Istanbul, told Radio Liberty’s Armenian service that she had not said Upper Garabagh is “100 percent Armenian land.”
According to Alci, her interview with the separatist regime’s public television channel had been distorted.
“I said we had come there to see and cover what’s going on. We witnessed that, today, this is an Armenian land, an Armenian country, because 100 percent of its population are Armenians. Though it is not internationally recognized, there is an Armenian government there today,” the reporter alleged.
Alci added that the TV channel employees cut out the word “today” from her statement, trying “to hide which tense she was talking in.”
Following the journalist’s visit to the occupied territories without Baku’s authorization, she was included in the country’s list of “personas non grata.” But the Akhsham editorial office has confirmed that it had not instructed Alci to visit the region.
Upper Garabagh is an historical Azerbaijani territory. Armenians were settled there in the early 19th century. Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict over the mountainous region for over a decade. OSCE-brokered peace talks kicked off after a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a shaky cease-fire in 1994. Armenia continues to occupy Upper Garabagh and seven adjacent Azerbaijani districts in defiance of international law.

POLITICS

PACE appoints new co-rapporteur
Maltese lawmaker Joe Debono Grech has been appointed a new co-rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Monitoring Committee for Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani PACE delegation head, Samad Seyidov, said.
"The voting was objective. We are pleased with this choice," Seyidov said.
According to Seyidov, Grech was elected with 18 votes. Another candidate, Gerd Janne Kristoffersen, a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party who was backed by the Socialist lawmakers represented by Andreas Gross, received 12 votes.
The former co-rapporteur, Bulgaria’s Evguenia Jivkova, resigned from the post this past June. She did not stand in this year’s parliamentary elections in her country and has shifted to working in business.

Saakashvili’s spokesman APPOINTED envoy to Azerbaijan
The Georgian parliament has endorsed Ivane Noniashvili’s appointment as the country’s ambassador to Azerbaijan.
Noniashvili has served as the spokesman for Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s administration since 2006.
The post has remained vacant since the former envoy, Nikolos Natbiladze, was appointed Georgia’s ambassador to Spain in September.

ECONOMICS

Iran to make "Azerbaijan" cars
Iran is expected to tackle manufacturing cars of the "Azerbaijan" brand in 2010, according to Iranian Vice President Mohammad Rahimi.
“All nations living in Iran are dear to President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, but the Azerbaijani people are dearer, and the president cares for them more,” he was quoted by Mehr news agency as saying at the opening of a cement plant in Tabriz.
“One of the promises made by President Ahmadinejad during his visit to Tabriz will soon be implemented, and that promise is to launch production of high-quality "Azerbaijan" automobiles,” Rahimi said.
According to Rahimi, the cars will be manufactured by the Iran Khodro company.

MISCELLANEOUS

Turkish businessman Kabakci dies
Well-known Turkish businessman Nahid Kabakci, who headed the major Ramko Inshaat construction company, has died in Azerbaijan, according to law enforcement sources.
The prosecutor’s office of the Yasamal district of Baku was notified last Wednesday that Kabakci, a 60-year-old Turkish national, has passed away at the Natavan Business Center where he lived and worked. Forensic experts have arrived at a preliminary conclusion that his death had been caused by a heart attack overnight. The investigation has also revealed that Kabakci had consumed a singificant amount of alcohol the previous night. Final conclusions about the businessman’s demise will be made after the medical report is finalized.
Kabakci is said to have undergone heart surgery several years ago.
The businessman had worked in Azerbaijan for many years. His company has built a number of major facilities in Baku, including the Hyatt Regency hotel, oil giant BP’s office and the Natavan Business Center. Kabakci was also the first organizer of the Best Model of Azerbaijan contest.