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BAKU. August 31, 2010: Turan Information Agency reports that the members of the pro-government “Modern Musavat” Party held a picket in front of the OSCE Baku Office. The party demanded to call back the head of the OSCE Baku Office Bilge Cankered, according to the head of the party Hafiz Hajiyev.

Hajiyev said that “the OSCE Baku Office is preparing plans for making a coup on the eve of parliamentary elections.” For this purpose “secret meetings with some radical opposition groups have been held”, Hajiyev said. Hafiz Hajiyev and his “Modern Musavat Party” have often been used as an agent-provocateurs by the ruling regime in Azerbaijan whenever it needed to verbally attack or defame its political opponents, international organizations holding critical positions about the policies of the Azerbaijani government, and journalists who write critical articles about the Azerbaijani government. In this instance, Hafiz Hajiyev’s staging of a protest action followed the round-table discussion between the Azerbaijani government and opposition parties organized by the Baku office of the OSCE. Apparently, the Azerbaijani government is unhappy with the OSCE decision to hold such round-table discussions.

BAKU. August 25, 2010: The imprisoned journalist Eynulla Fatullayev has brought an action against the Office of the Attorney General in Baku, Elchin Sadikhov, Fatullayev’s lawyer told Turan.

Fatullayev’s lawyer said the claim was submitted to the Sabail District Court. The plaintiff claims that the OAG of Baku violated the principle of presumption of innocence when it made statements about Eynulla Fatullayev’s culpability prior to the court verdict on his case.  The OAG had made that statement on February 2, 2010.

BAKU. August 24, 2010: Today, during an OSCE organized conference on “The role of mass media at the upcoming parliamentary elections,” an interesting exchange of accusations took place between Ali Hasanov, the chief of the public-political department of the Presidential Administration and Isa Gambar, leader of Musavat party. The mini-debate started with Ali Hasanov accusing the opposition media of waging a black PR war on the Azeri government. “The opposition started the black PR... They write whatever they want. Writing that the son of so and so minister grilled and eat a bear. It is a shame! Tell the newspapers you founded to stop writing such things,” said Ali Hasanov facing Isa Gambar.

BAKU. August 24, 2010: “The role of mass media at the upcoming parliamentary elections” was the topic of the roundtable organized by the OSCE Baku Office today, with participation of the representatives of Central Election Commission (CEC) and Azerbaijan’s authorities, as well as heads of the political parties and mass media.   Mass media is free in the coverage of all stages of the election campaign, said Ali Hasanov, the chief of the public-political department of the Presidential Administration.   “There are no restrictions imposed by the government, and mass media can cover the competition among the candidates, organize their debates”, Hasanov noted.  epresentatives of the opposition who participated in the OSCE activity said they did not trust the statements of the Azeri government officials about the democratic conditions during the parliamentary elections. “Here representatives of authorities speak the right things, but in fact, everything is quite the opposite. Everybody knows that the authorities are going to falsify the elections again,” said Isa Gambar, leader of Musavat Party. It is absurd that the authorities refuse to give time for candidates on the state TV.

BAKU. August 23, 2010: Ceremony of commemorating of the memory of Abulfaz Elchibey, the leader of the national-democratic movement in Azerbaijan, took place on Saturday at the headquarters of Musavat Party.

It was noted that Elchibey was one of the prominent figures in Azerbaijan’s modern history, and he played a great role in restoration of Azerbaijan’s independence. “That event became a victory of Azerbaijan’s national-democratic forces and of Azerbaijani people,” said Arif Hajili, head of Central Office of Musavat Party.

BAKU. August 20, 2010: The Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA) is considering holding its annual party congress in the light of the venue restrictions imposed by the unwillingness of the Azerbaijani government to provide the party with the space to hold an activity.  The intial date of the PFPA Congress was  August  21, but it was postponed for September, the leader of the PFPA  Ali Karimli  told  Turan and the Internet TV "Objective TV".

BAKU. August 12, 2010: The jailed journalist Eynulla Fatullayev has decided to run for the parliament from jail. This information was passed to Turan News Agency through Fatullayev’s lawyer Elchin Sadigov. Eynulla Fatullayev plans to engage in an active election campaign. Eynulla Fatullayev’s campaign slogans are “Down With YAPartheid!” and “For Your and My Freedom.” The first slogan uses the name of the ruling Yeni(new in English) Azerbaijan Party (YAP), by likening the YAP regime to apartheid. The second slogan was the motto of the Monitor magazine, a courageous independent publication which continued criticizing the Azerbaijani government until its editor-in-chief Elmar Huseynov was shot dead in front of his apartment on March 2, 2005. Eynulla Fatullayev’s decision to run a parliamentary campaign against the Azerbaijani government coincides with the time when the pro-government media in Azerbaijan actively attacks Eynulla Fatullayev (Azerireport).

YEREVAN. August 11, 2010: 45 Armenian public organizations have sent a letter to the Armenian President, Serzh Sarkisian, demanding he prohibit construction of a tourist complex in Khosrov reserve, reports the Turan News Agency. The Armenian government has given permission for the construction and provided 116 hectares to a  firm little known in Armenia - “Gilan.”  At a press conference in Yerevan, representatives of public organizations said they were not able to find out who is behind the construction, or the name of the owner. However, it is clear that an ordinary person would not be able to carry out construction in the reserve.

The interesting detail in this scandal is that Gilan Holding is a financial empire closely associated with an Azeri oligarch-minister – Kamaladdin Heydarov. Kamalaadin Heydarov, currently the minister for Emergency Situations, has led the customs office of Azerbaijan for a long time and is widely believed to have accumulated billions of dollars of wealth through corrupt schemes.

BAKU. August 10, 2010: The Azeri Service of the RFE/RL conducted a journalist investigation which uncovered a huge business owned by Arzu Aliyeva, daughter of the Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev. RFE/RL reports that Silk Way Holding, a corporation which is advertised extensively at the Baku Airport, attracted their attention as an example of a shady business. Upon conducting the journalist investigation, the RFE/RL found out that the founders of the Silk Way Bank, one of the companies of the Silk Way (SW) Holding, include two names – Arzu Aliyeva Ilham qizi and Zarifa Hamzayeva Kamil qizi. The only other registered founder of the Silk Way Bank is Silk Way Airlines company. The journalist investigation shows that Arzu Aliyeva is the twenty one year daughter of the Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev, and Zarifa Hamzayeva is the wife of Jahangir Asgarov, the president of AZAL, the state airline company of Azerbaijan.

BAKU. August 9, 2010: The newspaper Yeni Musavat reported that on the eve of the upcoming parliamentary elections in November, certain preparations are going to forward the candidacy of Anar Mammadov, the playboy son of Ziya Mammadov, the Minister of Transportation. Ziya Mammadov’s name has been frequenting the independent Azeri media in connection with the multi-million dollar corruption schemes. Anar Mammadov himself became notorious after ordering to slaughter a bear in a cage so that he could taste its grilled meat.The media reported that Anar Mammadov had paid one million U.S. dollar for that adventure. The newspaper Yeni Musavat reports that Anar Mammadov is preparing to run for the national parliament from Ujar region of Azerbaijan (Azerireport).