Timeline Azerbaijan
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Azerbaijan is about the size of Maine.
(WSJ, 10/24/00, p.A12)
730 Khazar
commander Barjik led Khazar troops through the Darial Pass
to invade Azerbaijan. At the Battle of Ardabil, the Khazars defeated an
entire Arab army. The Battle of Ardabil lasted three days, and resulted
in the death of a major Arab general named Jarrah. The Khazars then
conquered Azerbaijan and Armenia and northern Iraq for a brief time.
(TJOK, pages 160-161)
c1000 Turkic-speaking people wrote
in Runic, the official script.
(WSJ, 10/24/00, p.A12)
1177 Lal Shahbaz Qalandar (d.1274)
was born as Seyyed Shah Hussain Marandi in Marand (near the city of
Tabriz) in Azerbaijan (at this time a part of Iran). He is also known
as Shaikh Hussain Marandi. He migrated to Sindh and settled in Sehwan
and was buried there. He was a Sufi in the regions that lie in the
Sindh province of Pakistan.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahbaz_Qalander)
1274 Lal Shahbaz Qalandar
(b.1177), born as Seyyed Shah Hussain Marandi in Marand (near the city
of Tabriz) in Azerbaijan (then part of Iran), died in Sindh (later part
of Pakistan). He had migrated to Sindh and settled in Sehwan and was
buried there. He is also known as Shaikh Hussain Marandi. He was a Shia
Sufi in the regions that lie in the Sindh province of Pakistan.
{Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Sufi}
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahbaz_Qalander)(Econ, 12/20/08, p.73)
1900 At the turn of the century
51% of the world’s oil came from Azerbaijan.
(SFC, 8/12/98, p.A10)
1918 May 28, Tatars declared
Azerbaijan, in Russian Caucasus, independent.
(HN, 5/28/98)
1920 Apr 28, Azerbaijan joined the
USSR. The Red Army invaded Azerbaijan and turned the country into a
Soviet Republic.
(HN, 4/28/98)(CO, Grolier’s Amer. Acad. Enc./
Azerbaijan)
1921 The borders of Armenia were
gerrymandered when the Caucasus territories were made part of the
Soviet Union. This made the area of Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous
enclave of mostly Armenians surrounded by Azerbaijan dependent on
Moscow. The site of Ani, former capital of Armenia, was ceded to Turkey.
(SFC, 2/4/98, p.C2)(WSJ, 3/18/98, p.A18)(Econ,
6/17/06, p.59)
1923 May 10, Geidar Aliev (Heydar
Aliyev, d.2003), later KGB general, Communist Party chief and
Azerbaijan president, was born in Nakhichevan.
(AP, 12/12/03)(SFC, 12/13/03, p.A20)
1926 In Azerbaijan the region’s
1st Turkology Congress convened in Baku to discuss the alphabet issue.
They chose the Latin alphabet for all Turkic-speaking peoples by a
101-7 vote.
(WSJ, 10/24/00, p.A12)
1927 Mar 27, Mstislav Leopold
Rostropovich, cellist, conductor, was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, USSR.
(MC, 3/27/02)(Internet)
1936 Dec 5, Armenian SSR,
Azerbaijan SSR, Georgian SSR, Kazakh SSR & Kirghiz SSR became
constituent republics of Soviet Union.
(MC, 12/5/01)
1961 Dec 24, Ilham Geidar oglu
Aliev, appointed PM in 2003, was born.
(AP, 8/16/03)
1975 The Bakkonditzioner
air-conditioning manufacturer opened in Baku, Azerbaijan, USSR.
(WSJ, 8/30/96, p.A4)
1985 Nov 9, Gary Kasparov became
the world chess champion. He was born in 1963 in Azerbaijan to an
Armenian mother and a Jewish father.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#Early_career)
1987 Aliyev resigned from the
Soviet Politburo government.
(WSJ, 12/18/96, p.A21)
1988 Feb 28, Ethnic unrest broke
out between Armenians and Azerbaijanis in the city of Sumgait. There
was an anti-Armenian pogrom in the town of Sumgait. A national
awakening occurred in Azerbaijan when conflict erupted over the
Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, included by the Soviets in the
Republic of Azerbaijan. The Armenian population in Nagorno-Karabakh
began fighting for independence.
(WSJ, 8/7/96, p.A15)(AP, 2/28/98)(SFC, 11/27/96,
p.A13)(WSJ, 5/14/97, p.A22)
1988 May 21, The Soviet news
agency Tass reported that the Communist Party leaders of Armenia and
Azerbaijan had been dismissed after fresh outbreaks of ethnic tensions
in the two southern Soviet republics.
(AP, 5/21/98)
1988 Jul 7, The European
Parliament adopted a resolution condemning brutalities against
Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.
(www.armeniaforeignministry.com/pr_04/040227sumgait.html)
1988 Jul 14, The Soviet press
agency Tass reported that Azerbaijan has rejected an attempt by
Nagorno-Karabakh, a predominantly Armenian enclave, to secede and join
Armenia. Some 200,000 demonstrated in Soviet Armenia for the
incorporation of Nagorno-Karabakh.
(http://tinyurl.com/n6dfc)
1988 Nov 24, A state of emergency
was declared in the cities of Kirovabad and Nakhichevan.
(WSJ, 8/7/96, p.A15)
1990 Jan 15, Soviet leader
Gorbachev and the Soviet Presidium declared a state of emergency in
parts of Azerbaijan and Armenia in the wake of escalating ethnic
violence.
(AP, 1/15/00)
1990 Jan 16, The Soviet Union sent
more than 11,000 reinforcements to the Caucasus to halt a civil war
between Armenians and Azerbaijanis.
(AP, 1/16/00)
1990 Jan 20, The Soviets attacked
Baku, leaving dozens dead and wounded. Gen’l. Lebed led Russian forces
in Baku to crush the nationalist Azeri Popular Front. 62 civilians were
killed and more than 200 wounded when the Soviet army stormed into the
city of Baku to end what Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev called
fratricidal killing between Muslim Azerbaijanis and Christian Armenians.
(WSJ, 12/18/96, p.A21)(CO, Grolier’s Amer. Acad.
Enc./ Azerbaijan)(WSJ, 8/7/96, p.A15)(AP, 1/20/00)
1990 Jan 21, Azerbaijan Pres.
Aliyev made his first public appearance since his 1987 resignation from
the Soviet Politburo. He broke the information blackout and urged
int’l. condemnation of the Soviet attack. Mutinous military cadets
fired on troops patrolling the capital during a crackdown on a
nationalist uprising.
(WSJ, 12/18/96, p.A21)(AP, 1/21/00)
1990 Jan 22, Up to 2 million
Azerbaijanis marched through the republic's capital to mourn those
killed when Soviet troops put down a nationalist revolt.
(AP, 1/22/00)
2006 May 23, Iran’s government
closed one of the country's top three newspapers, detaining its editor
and cartoonist for publishing a caricature that caused members of
Iran's Azeri minority to riot in protest.
(AP, 5/23/06)
1991 Aug 30, Azerbaijan declared
its independence, joining the stampede of republics seeking to secede
from the Soviet Union.
(AP, 8/29/01)
1991 Armenia gained independence
and was immediately involved in a territorial dispute with Azerbaijan
over the Nagorny Karabagh region.
(COE / Armenia)(WSJ, 5/2/97, p.A15)
1992 Feb 11, US Secretary of State
James A. Baker III, on a tour of six former Soviet republics, visited
Armenia, where he heard an appeal from the republic's president for
U.S. help in resolving a bloody feud with neighboring Azerbaijan.
(AP, 2/11/02)
1992 Feb 14, The former Soviet
republics of Ukraine, Moldova and Azerbaijan rejected a proposal for a
unified army, sharply rebuffing Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin.
(AP, 2/14/02)
1992 In Azerbaijan Abulfez
Elchibey, a pro-Turkish nationalist, came to power. Ayaz Mutalibov was
deposed amid economic turmoil and losses in a war with Armenia.
(WSJ, 7/21/98, p.A12)(SFC, 9/6/02, p.A16)
1992 The Azerbaijanis under a new
nationalist government tried to reconquer Nagorno-Karabakh, but were
soon repulsed.
(WSJ, 3/18/98, p.A18)
1992 Azerbaijan adopted a
34-character Latin alphabet based on Turkey’s script to replace the
Russian style Cyrillic.
(WSJ, 10/24/00, p.A12)
1993 Jun 15, In Azerbaijan former
Communist party chief Geidar Aliyev (1923-2003) became head of
parliament. A fifth of Azerbaijan was controlled by Armenian
insurgents when Abulfaz Elchibey was ousted from the presidency and
replaced by former Communist party chief Geidar Aliyev. Under Aliyev
Azerbaijan joined the Commonwealth of Independent States in Sept.
(CO, Grolier’s Amer. Acad. Enc./ Azerbaijan)
1993 Sep, Azerbaijan joined the
Commonwealth of Independent States.
(CO, Grolier’s Amer. Acad. Enc./ Azerbaijan)
1993 Oct, Geidar Aliyev was
elected president of Azerbaijan with 98.9% of the official vote. The
main opposition Popular Front party boycotted the vote.
(SFC, 12/13/03, p.A20)
1994 May, A cease-fire was
declared between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan Pres. Geidar Aliyev
negotiated a cease-fire with Armenian forces in the conflict over
Nagorno-Karabakh. More than 35,000 people had died in 6 years of
fighting.
(WSJ, 5/14/97, p.A22)(WSJ, 3/18/98, p.A18)(SFC,
12/13/03, p.A20)
1994 British Petroleum (BP)
acquired a 34% stake in the “Azeri, Chirag and Deepwater Gunashli”
(ACG) oil project, a deal that became known as the contract of the
century. This relaunched Baku, Azerbaijan, as a major oil town.
(Econ, 6/11/05, p.62)
1995 Oct, A subway train fire
killed 300 and injured 270 in the capital, Baku.
(WSJ, 10/30/95, p.A-1)
1995 Ayaz Mutalibov allegedly
orchestrated a failed coup attempt.
(SFC, 9/6/02, p.A16)
1996 Nov 26, Separatists in
Nagorno-Karabakh elected their first president, Robert Kocharian,
despite opposition from Azerbaijan.
(SFC, 11/27/96, p.A13)
1996 Dec, The Lisbon Summit of
Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe chose Azerbaijan’s
argument for territorial integrity over Armenia’s argument for
self-determination in Nagorno-Karabakh.
(WSJ, 3/18/98, p.A18)
1996 Elmar Huseinov founded the
Monitor Magazine to expose the abuses of the regime of Pres. Heydar
Aliyev.
(SFC, 4/26/99, p.A12)
1997 Sep 2, Ethnic Armenians in
Nagorno-Karabakh elected Arkady Gukasian as president with an 89% vote.
Azerbaijan called the vote invalid.
(SFC, 9/3/97, p.C3)
1997 Oct 2, A helicopter with 20
passengers crashed near an offshore oil platform and no survivors were
found.
(SFC, 10/4/97, p.A10)
1997 Ayaz Mutalibov allegedly
orchestrated another failed coup attempt.
(SFC, 9/6/02, p.A16)
1997 Former Soviet republics
(Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Moldova) formed Guuam to
seek cooperation outside Russian influence.
(WSJ, 3/4/05, p.A13)
1997 Viktor Kozeny, a Czech
businessman, purchased vouchers from Azeri citizens that were
exchangeable for state-owned companies. He planned to exchange them for
control of Socar, a state-owned oil company. The 40 cent vouchers were
sold to investors in the US for $25 each. Kozeny was sued for fraud in
2000, but he asserted that the money went to Pres. Heydar Aliyev and
his son Ilham Aliyev to make the deal work.
(WSJ, 9/7/00, p.A18)
1997 The Central Asia Regional
Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program was initiated. The 8-member group
included Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Mongolia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
(www.adb.org/CAREC/default.asp)
1998 Feb 26, Azerbaijan accused
Armenia of launching fresh attacks over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh.
(WSJ, 2/27/98, p.A1)
1998 Mar, The prosecutor-general
informed Eldar Zeynalov, director of the human rights center, that
there were no political prisoners in Azerbaijan, in contradiction of
Zeynalov’s published article that there were 750 political
prisoners. Zeynalov was warned that if wrote otherwise, he would
be thrown into jail.
(SFC, 3/20/98, p.A12)
1998 Jul 13, Suret Huseinov, a
former prime minister, went on trial for treason.
(SFC, 8/13/98, p.A11)
1998 Sep 10, US wrestler Sam
Henson took first place in the World Wrestling Championships in Iran.
He defeated Namik Abdullavev of Azerbaijan. Iranians stood for the US
anthem for the first time in 19 years.
(SFC, 9/11/98, p.D4)
1998 Oct 11, In Azerbaijan Pres.
Heydar Aliyev (75) was re-elected for another 5 year term with 76% of
the vote. His nearest rival, Etibar Mamedov, won 12%.
(SFC, 10/12/98, p.A12)(WSJ, 10/16/98, p.A1)
1998 Oct 29, Five nations endorsed
the oil pipeline from the Caspian to the Mediterranean Sea. Turkey,
Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakstan and Uzbekistan committed to the 1,080
mile conduit with a push from the US.
(SFC, 10/30/98, p.A14)
1998 Thomas Golz published
“Azerbaijan Diary: A Rogue Reporter’s Adventures in an Oil-Rich,
War-Torn, Post-Soviet Republic.” It was about his experiences there
during the 1991-1992 political changes.
(WSJ, 7/21/98, p.A12)
1999 Jan 8, In Azerbaijan the
first part of an oil pipeline across Georgia to the Black Sea was
opened.
(SFC, 1/9/99, p.A14)
1999 Jan 31, It was reported that
Vafa Gulkuzade, chief foreign affairs advisor, had asserted that the
country needed a military protector. He said Turkish or American
military bases would be welcomed.
(SFEC, 1/31/99, p.A20)
1999 Apr 1, A oil pipeline from
Baku to the Georgian Black Sea port of Supsa was to begin operating.
(SFC, 10/27/98, p.B5)
1999 Jun 22, Azerbaijan planned to
become a major exporter of gas following the discovery at the Shah
Deniz offshore field that could contain as much as 700 billion cubic
meters of natural gas.
(WSJ, 6/23/99, p.A23)
1999 Nov 17, Azerbaijan, Georgia,
Turkey agreed to a US-backed plan for a Caspian oil pipeline from Baku
to Ceyhan to be completed in 2004. The 1st shipment was made in 2006.
(SFC, 11/18/99, p.C6)(AFP, 6/4/06)
2000 Nov 5, Parliamentary
elections were noted to be rife with fraud. Pres. Aliyev’s son was
proposed as parliament speaker.
(WSJ, 11/6/00, p.A1)
2000 Nov 25, In Azerbaijan an
earthquake hit Baku and at least 3 people were killed. 20 people died
of heart attacks.
(SSFC, 11/26/00, p.D6)(WSJ, 11/27/00, p.A1)
2001 cApr 5, Presidents Robert
Kocharian of Armenia and Heydar Aliyev of Azerbaijan met in Key West,
Fla., for negotiations on Nagorno-Karabakh. A new $2.7 billion oil
pipeline from Baku to Ceyhan, Turkey, was expected to pass just north
of the area. Halliburton Co., was a finalist in engineering bids for
the line and Vice President Chaney was the former chief executive of
Halliburton. National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice formerly served
on the Board of Directors for Chevron, a player in the pipeline bid.
(SFC, 4/4/01, p.A10)
2001 Five men, supporters of Ayaz
Mutalibov, were arrested for plotting to overthrow the government. In
2002 they were sentenced to prison terms of 5-10 years.
(SFC, 9/6/02, p.A16)
2002 May 22, Pope John Paul (82)
arrived in Azerbaijan for a 2-day visit before continuing on to
Bulgaria. He hope to improve relations with the Muslim and Christian
Orthodox believers.
(WSJ, 5/22/02, p.A1)(SFC, 5/23/02, p.A1)
2002 Jun 9, Azerbaijan and Russia
signed a bilateral accord on the oil-rich Caspian Sea.
(WSJ, 6/7/02, p.A8)
2002 Jun, Ahmed al-Darbi (26), an
alleged Al-Qaida terrorist, was captured at the airport in Baku,
Azerbaijan. In 2009 an affidavid was relased describing what followed.
Several weeks after his capture he was taken blindfolded to the US base
in Bagram, Afghanistan, through which many if not most of the
Guantanamo detainees have passed. Al-Darbi was held for eight months at
Bagram. For the first two weeks, he was kept in isolation when not
being interrogated. Later he went through a litany of harsh tactics,
including being kicked and dragged around a room by US troops while
music blared in the background. At times, he was forced to kneel with
his hands cuffed above his head through the night and repeatedly
interrogated, often while hooded. He also describes a process in which
he was hooded, shaken violently and subjected to water poured over his
head.
(AP, 8/9/09)
2002 Aug 24, Azerbaijani voters
overwhelmingly approved changes to the constitution in a referendum the
opposition charged was marred by fraud.
(AP, 8/25/02)
2002 Nov 23, Azerbaijan Pres.
Geidar Aliev said that he and Armenian Pres. Robert Kocharian have
agreed to seek a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
(AP, 11/23/02)
2003 Aug 4, Azerbaijan's
parliament named ailing President Geidar Aliev's son, Ilham Geidar oglu
Aliev (b.1961), as PM.
(AP, 8/4/03)
2003 Oct 12, In Baku, Azerbaijan,
some 50,000 people protested Pres. Aliev's attempt to transfer power to
his son in upcoming elections.
(SFC, 10/13/03, p.A11)
2003 Oct 15, Azerbaijan held
presidential elections.
(WSJ, 10/15/03, p.A1)
2003 Oct 16, In Azerbaijan rioting
protesters clashed with police in the capital, Baku, after Ilham Aliev
was elected to succeed his father as president. At least 2 people were
reported killed. The vote was marred by fraud. Closest rival Isa Gambar
had 11% of the vote.
(AP, 10/16/03)(SFC, 10/16/03, p.A3)(ST, 10/17/03,
p.A14)
2003 Oct 31, Ilham Aliev was
inaugurated as Azerbaijan's new president, succeeding his ailing father
as leader of the oil-rich former Soviet republic.
(AP, 10/31/03)
2003 Dec 12, Former Azerbaijani
Pres. Geidar Aliev (Heydar Aliyev, b.1923), a former KGB general and
Communist Party chief who brought stability to a nation plagued by
insurgencies, died at the Cleveland Clinic.
(AP, 12/12/03)(SFC, 12/13/03, p.A20)
2004 May 18, An Azerbaijani cargo
plane crashed in a forest after taking off from an airport in China's
northwest, killing its seven-member crew.
(AP, 5/18/04)
2004 Jun 2, The Azerbaijani Fuel
and Energy Minister said that $3.4 billion would be invested by 2006 in
the first phase of development of the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil field.
(AP, 6/2/04)
2004 Jun 14, Azerbaijan Fatulla
Huseynov (67), an opposition party leader known for his bold military
exploits in the war over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, was shot and
killed in Baku.
(AP, 6/14/04)
2004 Nov 6, In Baku, Azerbaijan, a
gas explosion tore through a two-story apartment building, trapping
residents under the debris. At least 4 people were killed.
(AP, 11/6/04)
2004 Transparency Int’l. ranked
Azerbaijan 140th out of 146 countries in terms of corruption.
(Econ, 11/20/04, p.54)
2005 Mar 2, In Azerbaijan Elmar
Huseinov, founder and editor of the opposition magazine Monitor, was
shot to death in the entryway of his Baku apartment building.
(AP, 3/3/05)
2005 May 21, Azerbaijani
protesters demanding free elections were beaten back by police, who
arrested dozens as they broke up a banned rally.
(AP, 5/21/05)
2005 May 25, In Azerbaijan
officials opened the first section of a $3.6 billion, 1,100-mile
pipeline that will carry Caspian Sea oil to Western markets. The
presidents of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Turkey were on hand
for the ceremony at the Sangachal oil terminal.
(AP, 5/25/05)(WSJ, 5/25/05, p.B2)
2005 Jun 4, Thousands of
opposition protesters chanted "Freedom!" and carried pictures of
President Bush as they marched across Azerbaijan's capital, urging the
government of this U.S. ally to step down and allow free parliamentary
elections this year.
(AP, 6/4/05)
2005 Jun 15, Armenia said
Azerbaijan was stockpiling more arms than permitted by treaty.
(WSJ, 6/16/05, p.A1)
2005 Jun 18, In Azerbaijan
thousands of demonstrators chanting "Freedom" and carrying portraits of
President Bush marched across Baku, demanding the resignation of the
government and free parliamentary elections.
(AP, 6/18/05)
2005 Sep 10, In Azerbaijan more
than 2,000 orange-clad opposition members rallied in Baku, demanding
that President Ilhan Aliev resign and that authorities ensure that
parliamentary elections in November are free and fair.
(AP, 9/11/05)
2005 Sep 23, A US embassy official
said the US is to help its Caspian Sea ally Azerbaijan build a radar
station on its border with Iran and another near Russia.
(AP, 9/23/05)
2005 Oct 9, Riot police in
Azerbaijan scattered hundreds of opposition supporters protesting in
Baku in defiance of a ban, beating some with truncheons and dragging
several away as tensions mounted ahead of parliamentary elections next
month.
(AP, 10/9/05)
2005 Oct 17, An Azerbaijani
opposition leader was arrested in Ukraine and scores of his supporters
were detained by police. Tensions rose in Azerbaijan in the run-up to
next month's parliamentary election.
(AP, 10/17/05)
2005 Oct 21, Authorities in
Azerbaijan said a 2nd former government minister was arrested on
charges of involvement in a coup plot against President Ilham Aliev,
deepening political tensions ahead of next month's key parliamentary
elections.
(AP, 10/21/05)
2005 Oct 25, Azerbaijan's
President Ilham Aliyev ordered steps to ensure a November 6
parliamentary vote is fair after Washington voiced concern over a
police crackdown in the oil-producing ex-Soviet state.
(AP, 10/25/05)
2005 Nov 4, In Azerbaijan
thousands of government supporters rallied in Baku on the last day of
campaigning for this weekend's parliamentary elections, while opponents
kept out of sight to avoid confrontations with police.
(AP, 11/4/05)
2005 Nov 6, The head of
Azerbaijan's ruling party declared victory in a parliamentary election,
with 63 seats. Azerbaijan's president pledged parliamentary elections
would be followed by further democratic reform, but his political
opponents alleged there were voting violations that could taint the
results.
(AP, 11/6/05)(Reuters, 11/6/05)(Econ, 11/12/05, p.55)
2005 Nov 7, Azerbaijan's
opposition rejected the results of weekend parliamentary elections,
calling them rigged and vowing to overturn the outcome of voting that
foreign observers said fell short of international standards.
(AP, 11/7/05)
2005 Nov 8, Azerbaijan's election
commission annulled the results of the weekend parliamentary vote in
two districts and ordered a recount in another, while the ruling party
claimed victory.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 9, Thousands of people
rallied in Baku, Azerbaijan, to demand free elections, answering a call
by the opposition movement following weekend parliamentary balloting
that international observers said was flawed.
(AP, 11/9/05)
2005 Nov 9, In Azerbaijan Pres.
Ilham Aliev fired two regional governors for interfering with the count
from last weekend's parliamentary elections.
(AP, 11/10/05)
2005 Nov 13, Around 20,000
opposition supporters demonstrated on the outskirts of the Azeri
capital Baku to demand that the government resign if it refuses to
re-run parliamentary elections held a week ago.
(AP, 11/13/05)
2005 Nov 14, President Ilham Aliev
fired a third regional governor for alleged interference in
Azerbaijan's parliamentary elections, reacting sternly to Western
charges of voting irregularities.
(AP, 11/14/05)
2005 Nov 19, Thousands of people
gathered in a Baku square as Azerbaijan's opposition parties protested
against disputed parliamentary elections, the latest rally in a
campaign that has made little headway.
(AP, 11/19/05)
2005 Nov 26, In Azerbaijan
truncheon-wielding police in riot gear beat opposition protesters who
gathered in Baku shouting "Freedom!" and demanding a revote of disputed
parliamentary elections.
(AP, 11/26/05)
2005 Dec 23, An Azerbaijani
Airlines An-140 twin-engine turboprop crashed on the Caspian Sea coast
and all 18 passengers and five crew were killed. Equipment failure was
suspected.
(AP, 12/24/05)
2006 Jan 22, Georgia began
receiving natural gas late in the day from Azerbaijan following
explosions on pipelines in southern Russia that cut off delivery of gas
to Georgia and its neighbor Armenia during a cold snap.
(AP, 1/23/06)
2006 Feb 10, The presidents of
Armenia and Azerbaijan negotiated one-on-one on ways to end the 18-year
conflict over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, but reached no
conclusion and planned more talks.
(AP, 2/10/06)
2006 Feb 10, Azerbaijan’s Health
Ministry said a British laboratory had confirmed the H5N1 strain of
bird flu in wild ducks and swans on its Absheron Peninsula. WHO said 88
people have died from bird flu since 2003.
(SFC, 2/11/06, p.A8)
2006 Feb 11, The presidents of
Armenia and Azerbaijan failed to reach agreement after two days of
talks on how to end the bloody conflict over the enclave of
Nagorno-Karabakh.
(AP, 2/11/06)
2006 Mar 6-2006 Mar 7, Armenian
and Azerbaijani forces exchanged heavy gunfire and mortars at several
points along their border in the most serious fighting in months.
(AP, 3/7/06)
2006 Mar 14, The WHO said it
believed test results showing three young women in Azerbaijan had died
of bird flu were reliable, but it awaited final confirmation from a
British laboratory.
(AP, 3/14/06)
2006 Mar 15, Officials in
Azerbaijan said a dog had died of bird flu in Baku on Mar 9. 3 human
victims, who died over the past few weeks, were thought to have been
infected through contact with birds.
(AP, 3/15/06)
2006 Mar 21, The WHO said 5 people
had died of bird flu in Azerbaijan, raising the worldwide death toll
from the H5N1 strain to 103.
(SFC, 3/22/06, p.A4)
2006 May 23, Iran’s government
closed one of the country's top three newspapers, detaining its editor
and cartoonist for publishing a caricature that caused members of
Iran's Azeri minority to riot in protest.
(AP, 5/23/06)
2006 May 28, A new $4 billion
pipeline from Baku, via Georgia to Ceyhan, Turkey, began pumping oil.
(Econ, 6/3/06, p.48)
2006 Jun 3, The long-awaited first
shipment of Caspian oil from the new Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline
got on its way from a Turkish port.
(AFP, 6/4/06)
2006 Jun 8, In Azerbaijan the
Presidents Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Valdas Adamkus of Lithuania
met in the presence of the two countries’ delegations following a
one-on-one meeting.
(http://tinyurl.com/ffjol)
2006 Jun 14, Azerbaijan and
Armenia promised to continue talks over Nagorno-Karabakh despite two
failed efforts this year by the Caucasus nations' presidents to resolve
the status of the disputed enclave.
(AP, 6/14/06)
2006 Jul 13, The presidents of
Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia formally opened a pipeline designed to
bypass Russia and bring Caspian oil to Europe, a route that President
Bush said would bolster global energy security.
(AP, 7/13/06)
2006 Oct 25, Azerbaijan’s
broadcasting chief said government authorities will bar Azerbaijan
broadcasters from airing programs of the Voice of America, the BBC and
Radio Liberty starting next year.
(AP, 10/25/06)
2006 Nov 10, Asian nations reached
their first international agreement to implement what has been dubbed
the "Iron Silk Road." Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China, Indonesia,
Iran, Kazakhstan, Laos, Russia, South Korea, Turkey and seven other
nations agreed to meet at least every two years to identify vital rail
routes, coordinate standards and financing and plan upgrades and
expansions, among other measures. The UN first conceived the
Trans-Asian Railway Network in 1960.
(AP, 11/10/06)
2006 Nov 24, Authorities cut off
broadcasts from Azerbaijan's first independent TV station and ordered
the eviction of opposition newspapers and organizations from their
offices in the capital, moves government opponents called part of a
campaign to silence dissent.
(AP, 11/24/06)
2006 Dec 11, In Azerbaijan
authorities said they would allow a top independent TV station back on
the air, but warned that it would have to bid for a broadcasting
license next year.
(AP, 12/11/06)
2007 Feb 10, Azerbaijan’s
population, at about 8 million, was mostly Shia Muslim.
(Econ, 2/10/07, p.49)
2007 Mar 19, In Azerbaijan 2
journalists accused of inciting religious hatred with an article that
criticized Islam went on trial, both accusing authorities of waging a
politically motivated prosecution.
(AP, 3/19/07)
2007 May 4, Two Azerbaijani
journalists were convicted and sentenced to prison for inciting hatred
with an article criticizing Islam.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 Jun 7, Russian President
Vladimir Putin, bitterly opposed to a US missile shield in Europe, told
President Bush that Moscow would drop its objections if the radar-based
system were installed in Azerbaijan.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 8, Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov said that Azerbaijan is ready to consider proposed joint
US-Russian use of a radar facility in the country as part of a missile
defense system.
(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 17, Iran said it had
received indications from Russia's president that he would not follow
through with an offer to allow the US to use a radar station in
neighboring Azerbaijan for missile defense against Tehran.
(AP, 6/17/07)
2007 Jun 19, Georgia border agents
blocked a car trying to smuggle radioactive plutonium and beryllium
from Azerbaijan.
(WSJ, 6/20/07, p.A1)
2007 Jul 19, The
Armenian-controlled breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh held a
presidential election amid a rumbling dispute with Azerbaijan over the
mountainous enclave's unrecognized independence.
(AP, 7/19/07)
2007 Jul 20, An election committee
said Bako Saakian, Nagorno-Karabakh's former security chief, won the
presidency of the Armenian-controlled breakaway region with 85% of the
vote.
(AP, 7/20/07)
2007 Aug 28, In Azerbaijan a
16-story high-rise under construction in Baku collapsed killing at
least 12 people and leaving others trapped in the rubble. The head of
the construction company and another company executive were arrested.
They began construction of the building in 2002 without authorization.
(SFC, 8/29/07, p.A3)(AP, 8/31/07)
2007 Sep 4, A skirmish near the
disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh killed two Azerbaijani soldiers
and three Armenian troops.
(AP, 9/5/07)
2007 Sep 7, Bako Saakian, the
former security chief of Nagorno-Karabakh, was sworn as the new
president of the Armenian-controlled breakaway region.
(AP, 9/7/07)
2007 Oct 10, Ministers from
Azerbaijan, Georgia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine signed a deal to
build an oil pipeline linking the Black and Baltic seas.
(WSJ, 10/11/07, p.A18)
2007 Oct 29, In Azerbaijan the US
and British embassies suspended operations in Baku, where the
government said it thwarted a radical Islamic group's plot to conduct a
"large-scale horrifying terror attack" against diplomatic missions and
government buildings. One suspect was killed and several others were
detained in a weekend sweep in village outside the capital.
(AP, 10/29/07)
2007 Oct 30,
An Azerbaijani newspaper editor was sentenced to 8 1/2 years in
prison over an article alleging that the former Soviet republic could
support a US attack on neighboring Iran. The Court for Grave Crimes
convicted Eynulla Fatullayev, the founder and editor of two independent
newspapers that stopped publication this spring amid government
pressure, on charges of making a terrorist threat and inciting
interethnic conflict.
(AP, 10/30/07)
2007 Nov 21, The presidents of
Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey launched the construction of a railroad
that will link ex-Soviet republics in the Caucasus and Central Asia
with Europe, bypassing Russia.
(AP, 11/21/07)
2007 Dec 28, Azerbaijan's
president issued a decree granting amnesty to 119 prison inmates,
including several journalists whose convictions drew protests from
international rights groups.
(AP, 12/28/07)
2008 Mar 4, Ethnic Armenian and
Azerbaijani forces exchanged fire for hours near the disputed territory
of Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan warned it could try to reclaim the
disputed region. Soldiers were killed and wounded on both sides. Radio
Free Europe/Radio Liberty said in a statement that its two Armenian
affiliates halted the broadcasts to comply with an emergency decree
that allows media to only report news that is sanctioned by the
government.
(AP, 3/5/08)(WSJ, 3/5/08, p.A1)
2008 Mar 14, The UN General
Assembly adopted a resolution demanding the "immediate, complete and
unconditional" withdrawal of all Armenian forces from Azerbaijan's
territory in a vote in which more than 100 countries abstained.
(AFP, 3/15/08)
2008 Mar 15, Azerbaijan warned it
would review relations with France, Russia and the US after they voted
against a UN resolution calling on Armenia to pull out of Azerbaijani
territory.
(AFP, 3/15/08)
2008 March 29, Azerbaijan customs
halted a shipment of Russian equipment for Iran’s first nuclear power
plant. The equipment was released May 1.
(WSJ, 5/2/08, p.A8)
2008 Sep 3, US Vice President Dick
Cheney assured Azerbaijan of America's "abiding interest" in the
region's stability. It was the first stop on a tour of three ex-Soviet
republics that are wary of Russia's intentions after its war with
Georgia last month.
(AP, 9/4/08)
2008 Oct 15, Authorities in
Azerbaijan said turnout was high in a presidential election boycotted
by the opposition and almost certain to return Ilham Aliyev for a
second term in the oil-producing state. President Ilham Aliyev had 89%
of the vote with 70% of precincts reporting.
(AP, 10/15/08)(AP, 10/16/08)
2008 Oct 25, Muslim Magomayev
(66), an Azeri-born Soviet-era opera and pop singer, died in Moscow.
His fame was at its peak in the 1960s and 70s.
(AP, 10/25/08)
2008 Nov 2, The leaders of Armenia
and Azerbaijan agreed to intensify talks to end a 20-year conflict over
the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
(AP, 11/2/08)
2008 Nov 14, Azerbaijan lawmakers
voted 86-1 to back President Ilham Aliev's request to withdraw the 150
troops serving as part of the US-led coalition in Iraq.
(AP, 11/14/08)
2008 Dec 26, Azerbaijan's
parliament voted to hold a referendum next year on constitutional
changes that could allow incumbent President Ilham Aliyev to stay in
power when his current mandate runs out.
(AFP, 12/26/08)
2009 Jan 20, The head of US
Central Command said the US has struck deals with Russia and
neighboring countries allowing it to transport supplies to American
troops in Afghanistan through their territory. US officials have said
that one likely route is overland from Russia through Kazakhstan and on
through Uzbekistan using trucks and trains. Another possible route is
via Azerbaijan across the Caspian Sea to the Kazakh port of Aktau and
then through Uzbekistan.
(AP, 1/20/09)
2009 Feb 11, In Azerbaijan a
gunman fatally shot air force chief Lt. Gen. Rail Rzayev (63) outside
his home. He had represented Azerbaijan in talks with Russia and the US
on Moscow's 2007 proposal to make a Soviet-built radar station in
Azerbaijan.
(AP, 2/11/09)
2009 Mar 18, Azerbaijan citizens
overwhelmingly voted to scrap presidential term limits in the oil-rich
country courted by Russia and the West. Opposition leaders claimed the
constitutional referendum was rigged and vowed to dispute the outcome
in court. A small European observer mission said, however, that the
vote was transparent and it had seen no violations.
(AP, 3/19/09)
2009 Apr 30, In Azerbaijan
Georgian citizen Farda Gadyrov (20) opened fire at the prestigious oil
industry academy in Baku, killing 12 people and wounding 13 before
turning the gun on himself.
(Reuters, 4/30/09)(AP, 5/1/09)
2009 May 7, The European Union
extended its hand to former Soviet republics, holding a summit to draw
them closer into the EU orbit despite Russia's deep misgivings.
Presidents, premiers and their deputies from 33 nations signed an
agreement meant to extend the EU's political and economic ties. The six
ex-Soviet republics to whom the partnership would apply are Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.
(AP, 5/7/09)
2009 Jul 8, Azerbaijan police
arrested Adnan Hadzhizade, a video blogger and member of the "OL!"
opposition movement, and Emin Milli, a youth activist who also runs an
Internet TV program, after a fight in a Baku cafe with two unknown men.
Both were charged with hooliganism. A Baku court decision soon ordered
two months of pretrial detention for Milli and Hadzhizade, which
prompted criticism from international journalism advocates.
(AP, 7/14/09)
2009 Jul 31, UN human rights
experts asked Azerbaijan to stop curbing free speech and to protect
journalists from harassment, violence and even murder.
(Reuters, 7/31/09)
2010 Feb 12 In Azerbaijan
lawmakers revised the country’s media laws to forbid journalists from
filming, recording or photographing subjects without their permission.
(SSFC, 2/14/10, p.A4)
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Subject = Azerbaijan
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