The Voice of Mirza Xazar

EurasiaNet: STATE MEDIA EMBROILED IN GAY BASHING CONTROVERSY (AZERBAIJAN)

Mirza Khazar — Wed, 07 May 2008 07:50:00 -0400

Mina Muradova EurasiaNet, Eurasia Insight May 6, 20008 Controversy is enveloping state-controlled media outlets in Azerbaijan after the broadcast of a television program that alleges Ali Karimli, one of the government's most vocal critics, is a homosexual. Karimli supporters maintain that the broadcast is designed to discredit him as a potential presidential candidate in the autumn election. Opposition leaders see the film as the de facto sequel to a broadcast aired earlier in April about a knife attack on Agil Khalil, a reporter for the Azadlig (Freedom) newspaper, a publication with ties to the Popular Front of Azerbaijan, the opposition party headed by Karimli. Prior to the attack, Khalil had alleged senior city government officials were selling city-owned land privately to construction companies. In February, Khalil was badly beaten by national security officers, and, later, stabbed by unknown assailants. In early April, the state-run AzTV and the pro-government Lider TV broadcast a 30-minute tape that claimed Khalil's alleged homosexual lover stabbed the journalist in a fit of jealousy. The reporter denies the allegations, which were roundly condemned by international human rights observers. A similar claim has now emerged against Karimli. On April 22, Lider TV broadcast a 40-minute program that presented both Karimli and Khalil as the alleged representatives of a "sexual minority." "Agil Khalil not only shares the same personality as Ali Karimli, but he also shares the same color," the program's narrator alleges, making a reference to "goluboi" (light blue), the colloquial Russian expression for a gay man. "It looks like the inclination toward [this] sexual minority is a weakness of Ali Karimliâ€™s and his circle." The program cites a "list of people with whom Agil Khalil has friendly relationships" to substantiate its claims. The broadcast added that Kerimli supposedly "directed" Khalilâ€™s "youthful passion in the wrong direction." Fuad Mustafayev, deputy head of the Popular Front, contends that the broadcast was defamatory and intentionally styled to inflict political damage on the opposition. To underscore the political intent of the program, Mustafayev added, it was rebroadcast a second time on April 29, Karimli's birthday. Other Baku observers agree that the programming was politically motivated. "Once again, it shows the immorality of the authorities," charged pro-opposition political analyst Zardusht Alizade. "They are using electronic media they control to frighten and to discourage not only their political opponents, but also potential voters. It is a lesson to others." As yet, there has been no international reaction to the broadcasts concerning Karimli. Meanwhile, representatives of President Ilham Aliyev's administration vigorously deny any coordinated effort to discredit Kerimli. "There is no black PR," insisted Ali Hasanov, a top presidential aide. "If it existed, the opposition media would be on the top of this," Hasanov told reporters on April 25. "Whether pro-government or opposition, journalists should always respect people's honor and dignity." At first glance, there would seem to be little reason for such a vicious personal attack on Karimli. Azerbaijan's opposition, never robust, has weakened since the 2005 parliamentary elections. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. In addition, the consensus among observers is that Aliyev should cruise to victory in the autumn presidential vote. Partisans of the Popular Front, arguably one of the best known and organized of Azerbaijan's opposition parties, claim that the television program is designed to encourage the party to boycott the presidential election. Under the present circumstances, opposition leaders say they feel disinclined to participate. "There are no conditions for an election campaign; in particular, there is no real freedom of assembly, while freedom of speech is dramatically limited," the Popular Front's Mustafayev complained to EurasiaNet. "Under the current conditions, it is naÃ¬ve to think about democratic elections in Azerbaijan. It is a farce, a tragicomedy and we do not want to contribute to this by our participation [in the elections]." Former presidential advisor Eldar Namazov, now an opposition leader running for president, sees a broader purpose behind the broadcasts. "A smear campaign against opponents like this is used to prevent an outburst of people's political and social [welfare] frustrations," suggested Namazov. To date, aside from Namazov, only one other nominee has been officially designated to contest the October 15 election. On May 5, in an unusual twist on international election practices, Defense Minister Safar Abiyev nominated Aliyev for reelection. Five opposition parties are expected to eventually nominate candidates. An opposition party boycott, said Hasanov, would have little impact on the campaign. "The participation or non-participation in the election is the business of each party," the Trend news agency quoted Hasanov as saying on April 23. "There will be enough candidates taking part in the elections." Editor's Note: Mina Muradova is a freelance reporter based in Baku. Posted May 6, 2008 Â© Eurasianet http://www.eurasianet.org URL: http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav050608.shtml

Testing hypotheses of language replacement in the Caucasus: evidence from the Y-chromosome

Mirza Khazar — Fri, 02 May 2008 14:00:23 -0400

Nasidze, I., T. Sarkisian, A. Kerimov, and M. Stoneking. 2003. Testing hypotheses of language replacement in the Caucasus: evidence from the Y-chromosome. Human Genetics 112: 255-261.

Abstract:

A previous analysis of mtDNA variation in the Caucasus found that Indo-European-speaking Armenians and Turkic-speaking Azerbaijanians were more closely related genetically to other Caucasus populations (who speak Caucasian languages) than to other Indo-European or Turkic groups, respectively. Armenian and Azerbaijanian therefore represent language replacements, possibly via elite dominance involving primarily male migrants, in which case genetic relationships of Armenians and Azerbaijanians based on the Y-chromosome should more closely reflect their linguistic relationships. We therefore analyzed 11 bi-allelic Y-chromosome markers in 389 males from eight populations, representing all major linguistic groups in the Caucasus. As with the mtDNA study, based on the Y-chromosome Armenians and Azerbaijanians are more closely-related genetically to their geographic neighbors in the Caucasus than to their linguistic neighbors elsewhere. However, whereas the mtDNA results show that Caucasian groups are more closely related genetically to European than to Near Eastern groups, by contrast the Y-chromosome shows a closer genetic relationship with the Near East than with Europe.

PDF here: http://www.eva.mpg.de/genetics/pdf/Y-paper.pdf

IRFS PRESS RELEASE ON PERSECUTION OF JOURNALISTS IN AZERBAIJAN

Mirza Khazar — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:43:06 -0400

23 April 2008

Baku, Azerbaijan

JOURNALIST APPEALS TO PRESS COUNCIL ABOUT DEATH THREAT
GANIMAT ZAHID WILL ATTEND APPELLATE COURT HEARING
PARDONED JOURNALIST CALLED TO POLICE DEPARTMENT
"GUN SAHAR" NEWSPAPER EMPLOYEE INTERROGATED BY PROSECUTOR
COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE CHAIRMAN VISITS MUSHFIG HUSEYNOV IN PRISON
PARENTS OF IMPRISONED JOURNALIST WANT THEIR SON PARDONED
COURT TRIAL BETWEEN ANS AND "GUNDALIK AZERBAIJAN" CONTINUE
ONE DAY GIVEN FOR PLAINTIFF IN CAUSE ON INSULT TO MAKE UP HIS MIND
JOURNALISTS SHOULD BE RELEASED BY SUMMER SESSION OF PACE
CRIMES AGAINST JOURNALISTS' IDENTITY SHOULD NOT GO UNPUNISHED
"AGO" GROUP REVEALS REPORT ABOUT AZERBAIJAN

JOURNALIST APPEALS TO PRESS COUNCIL ABOUT DEATH THREAT

"Bizim Yol" Newspaper correspondent Natig Adilov told the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety today that he has appealed to the Press Council about the threatening phone calls he received.

According to Adilov, the Press Council is aware of the threats, and told him that it will inform the Ministry of Interior and other law enforcement agencies.

Recall that Adilov received two threatening phone calls, one on 21 April and one on 22 April, from the phone number (050)224-0315. In the calls an unknown person threatened to kill him.

An employee from IRFS tried to call the number from which Adilov reported receiving the threatening calls, however the person who answered the phone directed inappropriate expressions at Adilov, called the journalist is a "blackmailer," and said that the he plans to appeal to the prosecutor about this matter.

GANIMAT ZAHID WILL ATTEND APPELLATE COURT HEARING

Imprisoned "Azadlig" Newspaper Editor-in-Chief Ganimat (Zahidov) Zahid will participate in the Appellate Court hearing on his appeal. Defense lawyer Alaif Hasanov told this to the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety yesterday (22 April). Hasanov stated that although G. Zahid does not expect a fair decision from the Appellate Court, he decided to participate in the hearing after some consultations. A. Hasanov added that G. Zahid's health is normal and he is satisfied with the conditions of his detainment.

Recall that "Azadlig" Newspaper Editor-in-Chief Ganimat Zahid filed an appeal against the decision adopted by Yasamal District Court. The complaint will be considered on 25 April in rgw Baku Appellate Court under the chairmanship of Judge Abid Abdinbayov.

PARDONED JOURNALIST CALLED TO POLICE DEPARTMENT

Today (April 23) "Senet" Newspaper Chief Editor Samir Sadagetoglu was called to the Lankeran Police Department. Sadgetoglu told the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety, "I am frequently disturbed by the Lankeran Police. Today I went to the city police department. There, they told me that they received a complaint about me. When I demanded to see the complaint, they said that there was no written complaint, simply the police were taking a statement from someone about a written complaint, and in statement my name was mentioned. The police refused to tell me exactly who gave this statement. After this, investigator Fuad Aliyev said that I needed to come back in the afternoon. I came to the police department at that time, however because the investigator was not there, I have to return tomorrow at 10 a.m."

The journalist also said, "When I was in prison my home was attacked. After this, they called my home and threatened my family. Despite appeals to the police department about this from me and my family, there has been no result."

"GUN SAHAR" NEWSPAPER EMPLOYEE INTERROGATED BY PROSECUTOR

Today another journalist was drawn into the investigation process related to the beating of "Azadlig" Newspaper correspondent Agil Khalil. "Gun Sahar" Newspaper correspondent Namat Huseynli was called to the Chief Prosecutors Department for the Investigation of Grave Crimes by investigator Ali Guliyev, and interrogated for two hours there. "Gun Sahar" Chief Editor Gabil Abbasoglu told this to the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety. He said, "The phone number of our employee was on a list of phone numbers of people who called Agil after he was beat. Huseynli was called to the department to gather information about this."

COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE CHAIRMAN VISITS MUSHFIG HUSEYNOV IN PRISON

Chairman of the Committee Against Torture Elchin Behbudov visited imprisoned "Bizim Yol" Newspaper correspondent Mushfig Huseynov in Prison #2. Behbudov told this to the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety.

"I came to the prison at the journalist's request," said Behbudov. "His condition is normal. He has no complaints about the condition of his detainment or prison administrators. He has a slight cold and is receiving treatment." According to Behbudov, during the meeting the prison chief said that his staff wanted to put the journalist in the treatment facility, but the journalist himself refused this.

PARENTS OF IMPRISONED JOURNALIST WANT THEIR SON PARDONED

Imprisoned "Bizim Yol" Newspaper employee Mushfig Huseynov's parents, his mother Rena Huseynova and his father Tofig Huseynov, have sent an appeal to the president asking for their son to be pardoned. The Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety was told this by the journalist's family.

COURT TRIAL BETWEEN ANS AND "GUNDALIK AZERBAIJAN" CONTINUE

Today (23 April) a hearing was supposed to take place in the Baku Appellate Court under the chairmanship of judge Rashadat Agayev on the appeal filed against the decision adopted by the lower first instance court on "Gundalik Azerbaijan" Newspaper's lawsuit against ANS Independent Broadcasting and Media Company. The hearing was postponed until 14 May at 11:00 a.m. because no representative from the newspaper came to court.

"Gundalik Azerbaijan" Newspaper editor Shahvalad Chobanoglu told the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety that they weren't informed about this hearing or the motive of the case.

ONE DAY GIVEN FOR PLAINTIFF IN CAUSE ON INSULT TO MAKE UP HIS MIND

Today (April 23) in the Yasamal District Court, under the chairmanship of Judge Ragib Gurbanov, a hearing on Azerbaijan Publishing House Major Editor Ilham Sadigov's lawsuit against "Azadilg" Newspaper and newspaper reader/freelance writer Elmira Tofiggizi was held.

Ilham Sadigov and defense lawyer Elchin Sadigov participated in the hearing.

During the hearing, the judge declared that the trial will be renewed. While the plaintiff did not protest against this, defense lawyer Elchin Sadigov did. After this the judge gave the plaintiff time to determine his demands. E. Sadigov also protested against this.

"Civil Procedural Code Article 14.2 shows that the demand of the claim cannot be changed," said E. Sadigov. "If this occurs it is a law violation."

Then the judge scheduled the next hearing on this case for 24 April at 9:30 a.m.

Recall that I. Sadigov filed a lawsuit over a critical article published in "Azadlig" Newspaper and written by Elmira Tofiggizi about a publication about "Koroglu" that the Publishing House's Major Editor wrote. I. Sadigov is seeking the institution of separate 20,000 AZN fines against both Tofiggizi and "Azadlig" Newspaper.

JOURNALISTS SHOULD BE RELEASED BY SUMMER SESSION OF PACE

"We are not for a PACE special co-rapporteur on political prisoners in Azerbaijan," said Novella Jafaroglu, a member of Monitoring Group of Human Rights Organizations that participated in the spring session of PACE. She stated this during a press conference conducted today (23 April) on the results of her trip.

According to APA, human rights defenders met with the co-rapporteurs on Azerbaijan Andreas Herkel and Yevgeniya Jivkova, Council of Europe's Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammerberg, the Secretary of the Venice Commission Janni Bukikkio, and members of "AGO" group.

According to N. Jafaroglu, she talked during the event and participated in discussions about the situation of speech freedom and the imprisoned journalists.

Human rights defender Saida Gojamanli talked about the decision adopted by PACE on Armenia and said that this is a message to Azerbaijan. "Azerbaijan should take steps toward the resolution of existing problems by the June session. If ill prisoners and imprisoned journalists are not released by that date, the issue to appoint a special co-rapporteur on political prisoners in Azerbaijan might be discussed," she said. She added that during meetings discussions took place about "Azadlig" newspaper journalist Agil Khalil.

CRIMES AGAINST JOURNALISTS' IDENTITY SHOULD NOT GO UNPUNISHED

"No crime directed against the identity of journalists should be left unpunished," assistant chairperson of Azerbaijan's representative board in PACE Gultakin Hajiyeva said during a talk with journalists in which she expressed her opinion about the current situation of the Azerbaijani media.

"But in connection with this, I accept today's situation of Azerbaijani journalism with heartache, and I think every professional journalist will agree with me that Azerbaijani journalism is in a miserable state. Today there's no professional journalism in Azerbaijan," she said. She added that the government is not conducting a campaign against the opposition and independent media. "The government never has conducted and never will conduct a black PR campaign against anybody, any press organ or any opposition representatives," Hajiyeva said.

"AGO" GROUP REVEALS REPORT ABOUT AZERBAIJAN

PACE's monitoring group "AGO" is alarmed about the situation of the media in Azerbaijan. This is noted in the report that "AGO" Group unveiled yesterday (22 April), based on a visit the group made to the region recently to see how Azerbaijan is fulfilling its commitments to PACE.

The report will be submitted to the Council of Europe Ministry Committee today (23 April). The political prisoner problem and the current situation of speech and press freedom in Azerbaijan are comprehensively reflected in the document.

According to APA, the group considers the hunger-strike of the imprisoned journalists was alarming. The group also suggests that Azerbaijani Government take important steps to ensure the independence of the National TV and Radio Council.

Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS)

Address: 8 R. Behbudov St., Apt. 85/86, Baku, Azerbaijan

Tel: (+99 412) 418-0334, E-mail: irfs.az@gmail.com

Website: www.irfs.az, Skype: irfs.az

IRFS PRESS RELEASE ON PERSECUTION OF JOURNALISTS IN AZERBAIJAN

Mirza Khazar — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:43:06 -0400

23 April 2008

Baku, Azerbaijan

JOURNALIST APPEALS TO PRESS COUNCIL ABOUT DEATH THREAT

"Bizim Yol" Newspaper correspondent Natig Adilov told the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety today that he has appealed to the Press Council about the threatening phone calls he received.

According to Adilov, the Press Council is aware of the threats, and told him that it will inform the Ministry of Interior and other law enforcement agencies.

Recall that Adilov received two threatening phone calls, one on 21 April and one on 22 April, from the phone number (050)224-0315. In the calls an unknown person threatened to kill him.

GANIMAT ZAHID WILL ATTEND APPELLATE COURT HEARING

PARDONED JOURNALIST CALLED TO POLICE DEPARTMENT

"GUN SAHAR" NEWSPAPER EMPLOYEE INTERROGATED BY PROSECUTOR

COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE CHAIRMAN VISITS MUSHFIG HUSEYNOV IN PRISON

PARENTS OF IMPRISONED JOURNALIST WANT THEIR SON PARDONED

COURT TRIAL BETWEEN ANS AND "GUNDALIK AZERBAIJAN" CONTINUE

"Gundalik Azerbaijan" Newspaper editor Shahvalad Chobanoglu told the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety that they weren't informed about this hearing or the motive of the case.

ONE DAY GIVEN FOR PLAINTIFF IN CAUSE ON INSULT TO MAKE UP HIS MIND

Ilham Sadigov and defense lawyer Elchin Sadigov participated in the hearing.

"Civil Procedural Code Article 14.2 shows that the demand of the claim cannot be changed," said E. Sadigov. "If this occurs it is a law violation."

Then the judge scheduled the next hearing on this case for 24 April at 9:30 a.m.

JOURNALISTS SHOULD BE RELEASED BY SUMMER SESSION OF PACE

According to N. Jafaroglu, she talked during the event and participated in discussions about the situation of speech freedom and the imprisoned journalists.

CRIMES AGAINST JOURNALISTS' IDENTITY SHOULD NOT GO UNPUNISHED

"AGO" GROUP REVEALS REPORT ABOUT AZERBAIJAN

Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS)

Address: 8 R. Behbudov St., Apt. 85/86, Baku, Azerbaijan

Tel: (+99 412) 418-0334, E-mail: irfs.az@gmail.com

Website: www.irfs.az, Skype: irfs.az

Ms Rugeyye Lisani, wife of the famous Iranian Azerbaijani human rights activist Abbas Lisani is arrested

Mirza Khazar — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 08:22:51 -0400

Iranian secret police (Ettelaat) came to the house of Abbas Lisani at 1.30 am on April 12, with no arrest warrant, searched the house, arrested Ms Rugeyye Lisani and seized her computer .

Ettelaat officers had reportedly used force during the search and arrest of Ms Lisani.

Ms Lisani had been threatened with arrest in number of occasions for reporting about tortures, used against her husband.

Mr Lisani is serving his prison term in Yazd province of Iran. In May 2006 Mr Lisani led the protest action for cultural rights in Ardebil city of Iran. He was sentenced to 18 months prison term for organization of May rallies and 12 months for organization of the gathering at Babek's castle - the annual cultural festival, attended by thousands of Azeris - in 2003 and 2004.

Her arrest is believed to serve as a pressure to Mr Abbas Lisani.

Ms Lisani is mother of 12 years girl Sevda and two boys of 10 and 9 years - Atilla and Oktay.

Ivan Simic: Government & Organized Crime, A History of Co-existence

Mirza Khazar — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 15:47:00 -0400

A government is the organization which is the governing authority of a political unit, also the ruling power in a political society, and the apparatus through which a governing body functions and exercises authority. Government have the authority to make laws, to arbitrate disputes, to issue administrative decisions, and a monopoly in authorizing force. A State, depending on size can have local, regional and national government. There are many types of governments, such as: Monarchy, Despotism, Dictatorship, Oligarchy, Plutocracy, Democracy, Theocracy, and Anarchy. A Government depending on type can by headed by politicians, monarchs, dictators, group of people (families), wealthy class, and religious elite. History does not have the exact date of the formation of the first governments, though; it holds some records of formation of very first governments 3000 years ago. Organized crime or criminal organizations are groups or operations run by controversial individuals most commonly for the purpose of generating a financial profit and social power (influence). Organized crime, however defined, is characterized by a few basic qualities including durability over time, diversified interests, hierarchical structure, capital accumulation, reinvestment, access to political protection and the use of violence to protect interests. The best known criminal organizations are: Cosa Nostra commonly known as Mafia, the Russian Mafia, the Japanese Yakuza, the Chinese Triads, the Colombian and the Mexican drug cartel, the Chechen Mafia, and young Mara Salvatrucha, among others. History has it, that the first sign of organized crime was seen 3000 years ago. It is important to make a distinction between organized crime (criminal organizations) and terrorist organizations, military organizations, political and paramilitary organizations, such as: Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, IRA, Irgun, among others. In relation, we should not forget the Nuremberg Trials in Germany, famous for prosecution of leadership of Nazi Germany. The best known was the Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal (IMT) in 1945. On this trial followed were indicted as criminal organizations: the Nationalsozialismus Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDP), the Nazi party - National Socialist German Workers Party. the Schutzstaffel (SS), Protective Squadron – military organization. the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), Security Service – intelligence service of SS and NSDP. the Gestapo, secret state police. the Sturmabteilung (SA), Storm Division – paramilitary organization. the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW), Supreme Command of the Armed Forces. This concept of criminal organizations was, and still continues to be controversial, and it was not used in International Human Rights Law since then. Throughout history there has been constant struggle, but also connection between governments and organized crime. In addition, many world famous political and military leaders have been accused of running their countries like criminal organizations, for instance: Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong, Nicolae Ceausescu, Idi Amin Dada, Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno, Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, among others. For many top government politicians is believed to grow enormous wealth by running a kleptrocracy, a government that extends the personal wealth and political power of government officials and the ruling class at the expense of the population. Few years ago an unofficial list has been released of the people for who is believed to be the most self-enriching political leaders, top of which are: Suharto (former President of Indonesia/$15-$35 billion USD), Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralín Marcos (former President of the Philippines/$5-$10 billion USD), Mobutu Sese Seko Nkuku Ngbendu wa Za Banga (former President of Zaire/$5 billion USD), among many others. What make governments and organized crime to be so connected? Governments have Head of States, Leaders, military, laws, taxes, customs, punishments; governments control States and go into wars, among others. On the other side criminal organizations (organized crime) has bosses, dons, families, soldiers, gangs, codes and outs, a protection racket and extortion, punishments, they also control territories and small cities, and they also go into wars with other criminal organizations, and governments, among others. Looking at these examples we can see that there is many similarities in structure of government and organized crime. Many governments have been involved in criminal activities trough politicians, such as: weapons sales, narcotics, international loans, confiscation of private property, and corruption. A socio-political phenomenon called "Political corruption" is visible in all forms of governments, and includes extortion, nepotism, bribery, cronyism, patronage, graft and embezzlement. Global corruption is estimated at one trillion US Dollars, which is equal to what organized crime makes per year around the world. According to history, ancient civilizations like Summer, Indus Valley Civilization, Babylon, Maya Civilization, Yellow River, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and Ancient Rome had governments, military, Laws, and crimes. The Summer Civilization had the first ever written code of Law, and it was written by the ruler Urukagina who was best known for his reforms to combat corruption. Later King Ur-Nammu wrote "the Code of Ur-Nammu", which is oldest surviving code of Law in the world. His code of Law is considered remarkably advanced, and the capital crimes of murder, robbery, adultery and rape were punished with death. Many people mostly historians believe that organized crime emerged from piracy and banditry in 17th century or from some famous warriors and conquers earlier, however, if we look at this ancient Laws, we can see that organized crime and crime generally existed long before piracy and banditry period, even Julius Cesar was kidnapped and held prisoner in 75BC by Cilician pirates, he was later released when requested ransom was paid. Afterwards, Cesar raised fleet and captured the pirates, pirates was first imprisoned and later crucified on his authority. Pertinent historical question: so, what was formed first and what did set up the model for other; a government or organized crime? It is evident that crime and organized crime existed long before the formation of the first government. Governments implemented Laws because of the crime activities that were visible in their society, in relation to that; we can say that crime is older than the first Law and government. If tree of more individuals organize them self's to commit a crime, that crime is characterized as organized crime. It was very hard, for example, in Twenty-fourth Century BC to distinguish between what was right and what was wrong, however, people held something deep inside of themselves for centuries of human evolution, and that is the sense for righteousness on which civilisations were able to build their respective society. Did governments learned from organized crime or did organized crime learned from governments? They learned from each other, government's establishers applied some of the main principles of criminal organizations structure for the greater cause. In fact, many Laws and Government bodies were made because of crime activities. Criminal organizations followed the evolution of governments and learned to be more effective in criminal activities. Throughout history crime walked along governments, it was present in every known society, including dynasties, imperialism, colonialism, monarchism, communism, socialism, and modern democracy. In the contemporary world criminal organizations are still successful in their business. Some governments, on the other hand, cannot be distinguished from organized crime because of their inherent corruption and lawlessness in their activities. Today, many world governments, the United Nations and various law enforcement agencies are fighting criminal organizations and corruption, but as long as we have politicians and government official behaving like criminals and taking bribes, criminal organizations will continue to grow. Ivan Simic Belgrade, Serbia ************************************ Ivan Simic was born in Belgrade, Serbia and an Economics graduate. For the past decade, Simic has worked in various fields: business, diplomacy, and government. A prolific writer, Simic has written many articles and critiques or supported theories concerning global issues and international relations. Travel GuideView Map | Search the Web

Ivan Simic: Government & Organized Crime, A History of Co-existence

Mirza Khazar — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 09:47:00 -0400

Organized crime, however defined, is characterized by a few basic qualities including durability over time, diversified interests, hierarchical structure, capital accumulation, reinvestment, access to political protection and the use of violence to protect interests. The best known criminal organizations are: Cosa Nostra commonly known as Mafia, the Russian Mafia, the Japanese Yakuza, the Chinese Triads, the Colombian and the Mexican drug cartel, the Chechen Mafia, and young Mara Salvatrucha, among others. History has it, that the first sign of organized crime was seen 3000 years ago. It is important to make a distinction between organized crime (criminal organizations) and terrorist organizations, military organizations, political and paramilitary organizations, such as: Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, IRA, Irgun, among others. In relation, we should not forget the Nuremberg Trials in Germany, famous for prosecution of leadership of Nazi Germany.

The best known was the Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal (IMT) in 1945. On this trial followed were indicted as criminal organizations: the Nationalsozialismus Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDP), the Nazi party - National Socialist German Workers Party. the Schutzstaffel (SS), Protective Squadron – military organization. the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), Security Service – intelligence service of SS and NSDP. the Gestapo, secret state police. the Sturmabteilung (SA), Storm Division – paramilitary organization. the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW), Supreme Command of the Armed Forces. This concept of criminal organizations was, and still continues to be controversial, and it was not used in International Human Rights Law since then.

Throughout history there has been constant struggle, but also connection between governments and organized crime. In addition, many world famous political and military leaders have been accused of running their countries like criminal organizations, for instance: Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong, Nicolae Ceausescu, Idi Amin Dada, Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno, Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, among others. For many top government politicians is believed to grow enormous wealth by running a kleptrocracy, a government that extends the personal wealth and political power of government officials and the ruling class at the expense of the population. Few years ago an unofficial list has been released of the people for who is believed to be the most self-enriching political leaders, top of which are:

Suharto (former President of Indonesia/$15-$35 billion USD),

Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralín Marcos (former President of the Philippines/$5-$10 billion USD),

Mobutu Sese Seko Nkuku Ngbendu wa Za Banga (former President of Zaire/$5 billion USD), among many others.

What make governments and organized crime to be so connected?

Governments have Head of States, Leaders, military, laws, taxes, customs, punishments; governments control States and go into wars, among others. On the other side criminal organizations (organized crime) has bosses, dons, families, soldiers, gangs, codes and outs, a protection racket and extortion, punishments, they also control territories and small cities, and they also go into wars with other criminal organizations, and governments, among others. Looking at these examples we can see that there is many similarities in structure of government and organized crime. Many governments have been involved in criminal activities trough politicians, such as: weapons sales, narcotics, international loans, confiscation of private property, and corruption.

A socio-political phenomenon called "Political corruption" is visible in all forms of governments, and includes extortion, nepotism, bribery, cronyism, patronage, graft and embezzlement. Global corruption is estimated at one trillion US Dollars, which is equal to what organized crime makes per year around the world. According to history, ancient civilizations like Summer, Indus Valley Civilization, Babylon, Maya Civilization, Yellow River, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and Ancient Rome had governments, military, Laws, and crimes. The Summer Civilization had the first ever written code of Law, and it was written by the ruler Urukagina who was best known for his reforms to combat corruption. Later King Ur-Nammu wrote "the Code of Ur-Nammu", which is oldest surviving code of Law in the world. His code of Law is considered remarkably advanced, and the capital crimes of murder, robbery, adultery and rape were punished with death.

Many people mostly historians believe that organized crime emerged from piracy and banditry in 17th century or from some famous warriors and conquers earlier, however, if we look at this ancient Laws, we can see that organized crime and crime generally existed long before piracy and banditry period, even Julius Cesar was kidnapped and held prisoner in 75BC by Cilician pirates, he was later released when requested ransom was paid. Afterwards, Cesar raised fleet and captured the pirates, pirates was first imprisoned and later crucified on his authority. Pertinent historical question: so, what was formed first and what did set up the model for other; a government or organized crime? It is evident that crime and organized crime existed long before the formation of the first government.

Governments implemented Laws because of the crime activities that were visible in their society, in relation to that; we can say that crime is older than the first Law and government. If tree of more individuals organize them self's to commit a crime, that crime is characterized as organized crime. It was very hard, for example, in Twenty-fourth Century BC to distinguish between what was right and what was wrong, however, people held something deep inside of themselves for centuries of human evolution, and that is the sense for righteousness on which civilisations were able to build their respective society. Did governments learned from organized crime or did organized crime learned from governments? They learned from each other, government's establishers applied some of the main principles of criminal organizations structure for the greater cause. In fact, many Laws and Government bodies were made because of crime activities.

Criminal organizations followed the evolution of governments and learned to be more effective in criminal activities. Throughout history crime walked along governments, it was present in every known society, including dynasties, imperialism, colonialism, monarchism, communism, socialism, and modern democracy. In the contemporary world criminal organizations are still successful in their business. Some governments, on the other hand, cannot be distinguished from organized crime because of their inherent corruption and lawlessness in their activities. Today, many world governments, the United Nations and various law enforcement agencies are fighting criminal organizations and corruption, but as long as we have politicians and government official behaving like criminals and taking bribes, criminal organizations will continue to grow.

Ivan Simic Belgrade, Serbia

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Ivan Simic was born in Belgrade, Serbia and an Economics graduate. For the past decade, Simic has worked in various fields: business, diplomacy, and government. A prolific writer, Simic has written many articles and critiques or supported theories concerning global issues and international relations. Travel GuideView Map | Search the Web

Mr. Simic contributed this article for the newspaper "The Voice of Mirza Khazar".

Anybody still hesitating to call Azerbaijan a british colony invaded by ?

Mirza Khazar — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:15:23 -0400

http://www.day.az/news/society/113797.html (sorry in russian)
British even don't lt azerbaijanis into the pub and give it an
interesting name. this is what we shall call "Engslih thank you" after
they have taken out of Azerbaijan just last year 15 billion USD (10 bln
in profits, 5 billion in capital repatriation, around 200 million in
salaries to garbage british expats working for BP), after british vote
almost in favor of armenians.

Anybody still hesitating to call Azerbaijan a british colony invaded by
british expats?
********************************

As for being "colony" for British or Americans or French, so these guys did not come themselves. We invited them, we created conditions for them, we gave them fantastic opportunities allowing them to hire Indian, Filipino, Romanian to work in Azerbaijan while hundreds of local specialists run away. So why are we crying now?

Anar

Alexander Zaitchik: There Will Be Krov

Mirza Khazar — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 09:03:35 -0400

There Will Be Krov
BY ALEXANDER ZAITCHIK
04.02.2008 | TRAVEL
BAKU, AZERBAIJAN -- This is it, I thought. I've found it. The Holy Post-Soviet Travel Grail. . .
I stood atop a massive concrete block, several feet off the ground deep in the Balakhani oil fields, just north of Baku, the seaside capital of Azerbaijan, just voted the world's most polluted city.

Before me the rolling hills of the city dump smoldered, churning enough fume across the horizon to erase the city skyline. Behind the shrouded Baku apartment blocs I knew spread an improbably blue Caspian Sea. But the Caspian felt like several planets away as I surveyed a deathscape of trash fires, abandoned oil derricks, ghost processing plants, and crumbling concrete structures with no obvious purpose. In every direction, garbage, oil pipes, and the decaying carcasses of Baku street dogs and other mammalian vermin who came here to scavenge and never left.

For connoisseurs of a distinctly Soviet desolation, Balakhani on a rainy day is a kind of travel delicacy, a place of aching and otherworldly Tarkovskyan beauty. Adding a wholly satisfying Azeri touch to the scene is a billboard on the road into this wasteland. Featuring the logo of the Heydar Aliyev Fund, named after Azerbaijan's former KGB chief and first post-communist dictator, the sign declares: "Come everyone plant a tree."
In Azerbaijan there's no reason to choose between laughter and tears. The cursed nation of eight million demands both. An ex-Soviet petro-state with a nominally Shia populaton, Azerbaijan sits on a small but strategically valuable isthmus between Russia and Iran. One-third of Azeris live in hard poverty. Transparency International's corruption index places the country between Belarus and Nigeria. If people know anything about Azerbaijan, it is likely one of three things: that it has a lot of offshore oil; that the 2003 power hand-off from Heydar Aliyev to his son Ilham was the first dynastic succession in the post-Soviet space; and that Baku is routinely ranked the most polluted city on earth.
This isn't exactly a dream troika for the national tourist bureau, and few foreigners outside the oil biz ever visit Azerbaijan. Even expats based in the South Caucuses avoid the country if they can. Every foreign press desk save AFP and most NGO's working in the region are based in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, which has become the Prague of Transcaucasia. The foreigners in Baku are thus an almost uniformly oily lot, just as they were a century ago, before the Red Army showed up to nationalize the oil fields and scatter the oil barons to Europe, Turkey, and Iran.

Sit on a bench along the posh shopping boulevards in downtown Baku and you'll soon spot the only two species of western Baku expat: the well-heeled consultant talking oil jargon to his Blackberry, and the Cockney-accented offshore rig worker. Both gather in the same British pubs at night to drink ale, watch rugby, and trade stories about the Russified Shia whores who are as much a part of the oil economy as BP. It is arguably the most depressing expat scene in the world. Even the Riyadh compound rats have clear skies and breathable air.

* * * *

If there's one other thing people might know about Azerbaijan, it is the face of its president, Ilham Aliyev, the ultimate Borat president. He's also the actual Borat president. In the Sacha Ben Cohen film, it is Aliyev's portrait that appears during the credits as a stand-in for Nursultan Nazarbayev, the real president of Kazakhstan.

Ilham Aliyev is the shlubby only son of Heydar, a former KGB chief who consolidated power in the early 90s and handed it off to his son on his deathbed in 2003. Originally touted as a reformer, Illham has proven even more iron-fisted than his father. Since his ascension to power, all opposition parties not sanctioned by the government have lost their offices; all major forums for open public discussion have been shut down or harassed into submission. "Heydar, an ex-KGB chief, was strong enough to ignore the opposition mostly," says Khadija Ismayilova, an Azeri correspondent for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. "People remembered his Soviet-era corruption and expected nothing less. But the son is insecure and more sensitive to criticism. He comes down harder."

At the time of his death, the Cult of Heydar was already approaching tin-can Mao proportions in Azerbaijan, and the son continues to feed the myth of the father. Statues depicting the "Father of Azerbaijan" are still being built in eponymous parks throughout the country. Every city and town has a Heydar Aliyev Prospekt. Signs and billboards line highways and announce entry into towns with Aliyev's chin-stroking aphorisms (or "wise admonitions" according to an official Azeri site). Among them, each funny for different reasons: One cannot relate great policy to tiny senses and little profits … All our natural riches belong to the people, and no one has the right to misuse them … It is impossible to hide truth … One's pulse should throb in accordance with one's Motherland … In general the mankind has been existing and developing by creating and building-constructing … We cannot use strength against nature.

In 1999, while still alive, Heydar built a museum in honor of himself. It will soon be joined by a futuristic Heydar Aliyev Cultural Center in downtown Baku. Designed by trendy all-star London architect Zaha Hadid, the building is scheduled to open in 2009 featuring a concert hall, a library, an Aliyev family museum and -- in a classic Azeri touch -- underground parking for no less than 1,350 cars. (Traffic-choked Baku was a pioneer of car culture during the first oil boom; today Azeri kids drive around in mechanized toy cars in Baku's few open spaces.) The announcement of the tender for this Cult of Personality palace led architecture critic Hrag Vartanian to ask, "Is Zaha Hadid the new Leni Riefenstahl?" But more about Azerbaijan's human rights record in a minute.

Museums Azeris can choose to avoid. Not so the ubiquitous presidential billboards. They are everywhere in Azerbaijan, most of them faded by time and pollution to resemble the pages of a 1970s Intourist catalogue of Black Sea resorts. Dominating the country's roads are hundreds of massive signs displaying Heydar Aliyev in various poses. Sometimes he is alone, sometimes he is shown having a serious discussion with his son and successor, Ilham. The multi-generational billboards depict the duo wading into adoring crowds (Heydar first); discussing the glorious future of Azerbaijan in front of power plants; and contemplating unknown subjects requiring subtle and sensitive minds, possibly the mystery of the obvious cheapness of Ilham's gold watch. Despite their riches, both presidents seem to share an affinity for cheap suits. The son's sense of style especially appears to have been molded by his playboy years in Turkish casinos.

Recently a new billboard has begun to pop up outside the capital that has lit up the Azeri blogosphere and sent Azerbaijan's opposition into a deep depression. It shows not two Aliyevs, but three. Trailing behind Ilham is the little boy-dictator-in-waiting, Heydar Jr., a kind of Damien figure who may be the world's first non-Tibetan figurehead to warrant his own pre-pubescent secession propaganda. The text leaves little doubt about the message: "Independent Azerbaijan's yesterday, today and future!!!"

In clumsy, Borat-like public relations efforts, Ilham does his best to project a cosmopolitan image. Any meeting with visiting foreigners is heavily publicized in the state media. When a freelancer with Forbes interviewed Aliyev shortly after he assumed power, the leading pro-government daily plastered its front page with an image of the president being interviewed by the young journalist. And when Herbie Hancock headlined the 2006 Baku Jazz Festival, the following year's program opened with a two-page spread of Hancock and Aliyev sitting on couches with painfully forced smiles on their faces. The text beneath the photo read: "Herbie Hancock: 'Your president is a very nice guy!'"

* * * *

Someone else who thinks Aliyev is a very nice guy is Dick Cheney.
The U.S. Vice President's links to Azerbaijan date back to 1993, when the newly ensconced Heydar Aliyev made it a foreign policy priority to cultivate ties with politically connected world of Texas Oil. It was a natural alliance, one with a cultural element on top of the obvious political and economic logic. Houston and Baku are two of the world's greatest oil capitals, and two cities which deserve the "asshole of the [fill in large geographical location here]" moniker more than just about any place on earth. They are official "sister cities." A team from Houston is currently advising the Azeri government on a planned Museum of Oil in Baku, based on the one in Texas.

Fully aroused by rumors of Saudi-levels of crude in the Caspian, Texas Oil was eager to return Aliyev's embrace. A friendship was established in 1993 and cemented in 1994, the year Aliyev inaugurated Azerbaijan's post-Soviet oil boom by signing the so-called "Contract of the Century" with western majors. As Aliyev hoped, Houston was the key to unlocking to deeper cooperation with Washington. As David Case recounted in a 2004 Mother Jones article:
Amoco helped [Aliyev] score his first meeting with President Clinton, and oil companies pushed for a resumption of U.S. aid to his government (which Congress had cut off during the war with Armenia). A pantheon of U.S. policymakers-turned-consultants also chipped in on behalf of the regime—men such as Brent Scowcroft, James Baker, and Zbigniew Brzezinski, as well as then-Halliburton CEO Dick Cheney and [Dick] Armitage, whose clients at the time included several Western companies looking to profit from the oil rush.
Texas Oil did end up profiting from this oil rush, but it wasn't a U.S. company that won the lion's share. After the dust settled on the Azeri Caspian carve-up, BP emerged the biggest foreign player in Baku. They got there with a lobbying effort famous in the annals of oil for its bottomless entertainment expense account. According to a 2007 Daily Mail expose (which the paper pulled from its site the next day under pressure from Downing Street) the company, under the direction of Lord Brown and MI6, spent 45 million pounds sterling over a whore-and-caviar fueled four-month period to sweeten up Aliyev and his poorly tailored cronies. BP's "make big party time with you" approach to Baku's Power Borats paid off. There is now a chippy on the city's main shopping boulevard, just around the corner from O'Malley's Irish pub and its locally famous Yorkshire pudding. "The government doesn't deal with countries," an Iranian café owner told me. "It deals with oil companies. And BP has the biggest embassy."

At the time of BP and Texas Oil's slobbering courting of Baku, Caspian oil deposits were said to be large enough to shake the world, or at least OPEC. As CEO of Halliburton 1998, Dick Cheney articulated the conventional wisdom when he said, "I cannot think of a time when we have had a region emerge as suddenly to become as strategically significant as the Caspian."

That was then, anyway. These days the only place you'll find the region at the center of world events is in the new Xbox game "Frontline: Fuel of War" where American teenagers battle Russian and Chinese troops for control of Caspian oil in 2024. According to gaming critics, the game sucks, and not just because the makers missed a golden pun opportunity by not calling it "The New Great Game."

What happened to all those hundreds of billions of promised barrels? As a Hungarian oil analyst explained to me during an Aeroflot delay at Heydar Aliyev airport, everyone understood the Caspian was being hyped from the beginning. "There was [utility] in making the world think there was more oil than there was," he said. The Caspian nation regimes wanted to make the West drool so much it forgot all about human rights and corruption; the oil companies wanted inflated proven-reserves numbers in order to jack up their stock prices. Win-win.

At its height, the Caspian hype-machine was a thing to behold. There was a time when you couldn't open a newspaper or magazine without reading an article about how the Caspian basin was a second Saudi Arabia with 200-plus billion recoverable barrels. But the reality turned out to be closer to North Sea Junior. To the extent estimates can be trusted, Azerbaijan's share of the Caspian booty is now estimated at between seven and 13 billion barrels. Hardly an OPEC-busting number, even when you figure in Kazakhstan's Kashagan field, the largest Caspian field with nine to 16 billion barrels. "Azerbaijan and the rest of them are incremental suppliers, that's all," explained the Hungarian analyst. "They aren't going to swing things or significantly relax growing tightness in supply."

Among other things, all the 90s hype resulted in excess pipeline capacity, of which the heralded (and expensive) Baku-Ceyhan pipeline is a major part. The Clinton administration's high-priority accomplishment will, when all's said and done, wind up vastly underused, even when the Caspian fields are pumping at full speed in 15 years or so. But so much rhetoric was spewed for so long that when the day came in 2005 to smash the ceremonial bottle against Baku-Ceyhan, U.S. energy secretary Samuel Bodman felt obligated to continue the farce, declaring it "a day that will change the world."

The "deep state" links developed between Houston, Washington, and Baku during the heady early 90s are kept alive today through the Council of Advisors to the U.S.–Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce, since 1996 the central forum for conducting serious U.S.-Azeri business. Past and present USACC board members include the above names, plus Henry Kissinger, John Sununu, and Richard Perle.

Most of the USACC's business is low-key and conducted in private. But occasionally the group will bring out the black ties and notify the media. In December of 2006, the group hosted a lavish dinner at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington for Mehriban Aliyeva, the First Lady of Azerbaijan. The evening was co-chaired by former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker, with a keynote address delivered by Senator Richard Lugar, who was present to receive the USACC Freedom Support Award.

To understand why the existence of a USACC Freedom Support Award is a sick joke on par with the "plant a tree" sign in the Balakhani oil fields, you have to zoom way in from the bird's eye view of the Grand Chessboard and leave the executive suites of the oil majors. You have to talk to an Azeri who is tired of being robbed by the country's bloodthirsty Borats to pay for ugly steel-and-glass monuments to the memory of Heydar Aliyev.

* * * *

There is no shortage of examples to illustrate the sad state of freedom and human rights in Azerbaijan. There is Heydar Aliyev's one-time rival, Rasul Guliyev, forced into exile in 1996. There are the opposition party activists who have had their offices shut down and are routinely beaten, jailed, and, according to Human Rights Watch, tortured. Increasingly, there are the journalists who are jailed and assaulted for doing their job.
In the run-up to the presidential election this October that Aliyev is certain to win, an already appalling human rights situation is getting worse for Azeri journalists. The parties allowed to participate (besides the ruling New Azerbaijan Party) are, as in Russia, assigned by the government.

At the end of 2007, nine reporters and editors were sitting in jails, mostly for the "crime" of satire or alleged libel. Five were recently released, but four remain behind bars on what are widely believed to be false or trumped-up charges. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Azerbaijan is "the leading jailer of journalists in Europe and Central Asia." That's quite an accomplishment considering the neighborhood, one that suggests the thought experiment of imagining Dick Cheney co-emceeing a black-tie dinner in honor of Ludmila Putin, with U.S. Senator Sam Brownback on hand to accept a U.S.-Russia Chamber of Commerce Freedom Support Award.

The last few months have seen an acceleration of unsavory incidents that are beginning to raise the profile of Azerbaijan in human rights circles. Most prominent among them, a reporter for the Azadlyq newspaper, Agil Khalil, was stabbed in the chest and left in serious condition while reporting on a shady land deal involving government officials. As with a similar case last year in which the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Gyundelik Azerbaijan barely escaped an assassination attempt, no police investigation has been opened.
Accoring to Baku-based journalist Rovshan Ismayilov, the attempted murder was "most probably" carried out by "some forces within the government," possibly in contemptuous response to a recent State Department human rights report critical of Azerbaijan.
"The stabbing of Agil Khalil is part of campaign of repression about the Azerbaijani press," says Emin Huseynov, Chairman of the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety in Baku. "Every March before an election there is an attack on the press. Before the 2005 parliamentary elections, the editor of the Monitor Journal was murdered. The government wants to instill fear and prevent dissident thinking."

Huseynov also does not discount the possibility that the attack on Khalil was intended as a message to the West. "It is interesting that just two days before [the stabbing] the U.S. released is annual report on human rights practices," he said. "There is something to the theory that after such reports are released, attacks like this take place as retribution, to make the point that such reports [accomplish] nothing, and that our government has no obligation to listen to other countries."

Along with direct violence, the Alieyv regime is fond of other methods familiar to watchers of post-Soviet petro-states. Fitting a pattern, earlier this month a Baku Court sentenced the editor-in-chief of the opposition newspaper Azadlyq ("Freedom") to four years imprisonment for "hooliganism and causing damage to the health of a person" after he allegedly insulted a woman in the street. The judgment was read in a closed session. The case echoed the punishment handed to two journalists from the independent newspaper Nota Bene, who were found guilty of defamation in February and sentenced to two-year imprisonment and 18-months corrective labor, respectively, after they published articles relating to corruption within the Interior Ministry.

According to local activists, the state also targets businesses associated with opposition media outlets. In January 2008, the printing house Chap Evi, which prints media critical of the Azerbaijani government, was subjected to an unscheduled tax inspection without explanation.

The West is not deaf to the growing calls by Azeri activists for global condemnation. When Kahlil was stabbed, the U.S. ambassador in Baku visited him in the hospital and called for an investigation. But opposition activists are beginning to plead for more than just words.
"The Western embassies here have been increasingly vocal about problems in the areas of press freedom and freedom of expression, but it would be more effective if they took more concrete steps like sanctions," says Huseynov. Last year a group of civil society figures appealed without success to the EU to get them to enact targeted sanctions of the sort they approved against Belarus, such as limiting the travel of certain corrupt officials and freezing their foreign bank accounts.

As Huseynov and most Azeri opposition activists would admit, this is unlikely to happen so long as Azerbaijan remains a friendly oil supplier sandwiched between Russia and Iran. There is also the question of the West's ability to influence local politics here. When Western governments increased the human rights heat on Uzbekistan's Islam Karimov after the 2005 massacre of protesters in Andijan, he fought back. Tashkent threw the Americans out of a key airbase, withdrew from a regional NATO-mentored military alliance, and joined the Moscow-led SCTO. To top it off, Karimov only tightened the human rights abuse screws.

"The oil has an impact on the political situation. Western countries have been very vocal in their criticism of Belarus and Russia, but very careful about Azerbaijan," says Khadija Ismayilova, the Azeri correspondent for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. "The government is also adept at playing the West and Russia off each other."

Whether or not the West decides to make more noise about human rights abuses in Azerbaijan, as it has elsewhere in the ex-USSR, there are signs that the Aliyev regime may not care about foreign cash or opinion the way he and his father used to. In 2006 the Turkish Electricity Company Barmek had its investment in Baku's electric grid nationalized by the Azeri government. That same year, the Dutch metal company Fondel was kicked out of the country. Foreigners have also been stripped of their shares in AzPetrol.
"Slowly, the power of Azerbaijan's oligarchs is increasing," says Huseynov. "Soon they will fear no one."

This article was first posted in the eXile.

Alexander Zaitchik co-founded Freezerbox in 1998. He lives in Moscow.

http://www.freezerbox.com

Rovshan Ismayilov: EVALUATING THE RADICAL ISLAMIC SECURITY THREAT (AZERBAIJAN)

Mirza Khazar — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 14:27:52 -0500

AZERBAIJAN: EVALUATING THE RADICAL ISLAMIC SECURITY THREAT
Rovshan Ismayilov: 11/30/07

The recent arrests of suspected Islamic radicals in Azerbaijan have spurred concern about possible terrorism incidents. Political analysts in Baku tend to downplay the threat. Meanwhile, moderate Islamic religious leaders contend that government security sweeps have created an “atmosphere of fear” among mainstream believers.

The terrorism scare began in late October, when the Ministry of National Security announced the break up of an Islamic militant group that had been plotting attacks against foreign targets in Baku. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. The announcement prompted the brief closure of US and British diplomatic offices in Baku. Some group members who evaded arrest during the initial October 27 raid, carried out an attack against a Lukoil gas station three days later. The last member of the group at large, identified as Bakhtiar Orujov, was ultimately taken into custody November 20.

On November 6, authorities detained eight Islamic militants affiliated with a second group, including a foreigner, identified only as Abu Jafar, who was characterized in a ministry statement as an operative affiliated with the al Qaeda international terrorist organization. The arrests came after security forces engaged in a cat-and-mouse-like search for more than a month, painstakingly sifting information that finally led them to a safe house in Sumgayit, where the militants were seized.

The fact that the ringleader of the first group was a military officer, Lt. Kamran Asadov, prompted widespread concern that radical Islamic ideology, termed by many in Azerbaijan as Wahhabism, is gaining a foothold in state structures. On November 30, Eldar Safarov, chief spokesman for the Defense Ministry, adamantly denied that the military had become a hotbed of militant Islamic sentiment. “There are no radical religious groups under the title Wahhabism in Azerbaijani military units,” the Trend news agency quoted Safarov as saying. At the same time, he noted that the Defense Ministry had “reinforced measures” to prevent the infiltration of radical Islamic ideology into the military.

Since the first announcement about arrests in late October, government officials have sought to project a sense of normalcy and continuity. “There is total stability in Azerbaijan and law-enforcement agencies are keeping the situation under control. Not only foreign embassies, but all citizens have no problems with security threats,” Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov said at press conference on October 30.

The arrests began shortly after a sudden visit to Baku by CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden to Azerbaijan. Many local experts believe the CIA director may have shared information with Azerbaijani law-enforcement agencies that enabled them to launch the security operations. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Azerbaijani broadcast and print media outlets have devoted lots of attention to the arrests of suspected Wahhabis. Baku-based political analysts are urging caution in evaluating the security threat, suggesting that local media may be exaggerating the danger. One Baku expert, Rasim Musabekov, said the greatest threat perhaps was that a clampdown on suspected radicals would result in the restriction of civil liberties. Musabekov specifically worried that steps to heighten surveillance could end up imposing burdens on the legitimate expression of spiritual beliefs by those “who express their religious feelings in different forms from others.”

Recent events appear to have rendered Islamic leaders at Azerbaijani mosques with conservative reputations more sensitive to outside scrutiny. When queried about the arrests of militants, Gamet Suleymanov – the imam of the Abu-Bekr Mosque in central Baku, once described by a government official as a “den of Wahhabis” – refused to comment. “I have nothing to do with it,” Suleymanov said.

Meanwhile, Ilgar Ibrahimoglu, the imam at Baku’s Juma mosque, accused authorities of casting a net too broadly, thereby ensnaring devout believers along with a few militants. Security forces had created an “atmosphere of fear” among devout believers, the imam said. “Religious people of Sumgayit city have lived in fear during the last weeks. The Ministry for National Security conducted operations there, but residents were kept in the dark,” added Ibrahimoglu, an outspoken defender of religious rights in Azerbaijan. In 2004, he led resistance to government efforts to close the Juma Mosque, which is known for its progressive social activities. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Law-enforcement agencies instituted heightened security procedures in the wake of the arrests. Heavily armed police patrols were stationed at check points along the country’s main roads and around the outskirts of Baku, stopping vehicles and conducting searches.

Editor’s Note: Rovshan Ismayilov is a freelance journalist based in Baku.

(source: www.eurasianet.org)