The OSCE’s year-end conference spotlighted the ineffectiveness of the “Minsk Group’s” co-chairs – Russia, the United States, and France – to mediate a solution to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. The OSCE is the only international forum officially authorized to mediate a solution to this conflict. The... MORE

Azerbaijan’s October 24 election as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council continues to remain an important headline both within the country and across the region. The majority of analysts agree that this will strengthen the country’s international standing and image, while empowering it... MORE

The Izmir agreements on the transit of Azerbaijani gas to Europe through Turkish pipelines (see EDM, November 1) and the BP-proposed South-East European Pipeline for gas (see EDM, November 2) raise some major, as yet unanswered questions. At first sight, they seriously complicate the outlook... MORE

Azerbaijan and the Shah Deniz gas producers’ consortium have just signed bilateral agreements with Turkey on gas transit to Europe (see EDM, November 1). Meanwhile, the Shah Deniz consortium is nearing a final decision to select a pipeline route, out of four options, through Turkey... MORE

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev have co-chaired the first meeting of the High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council (HLSCC) in Turkey’s Aegean city of Izmir. The HLSCC, which follows on the partnership model Turkey has been seeking to develop with neighboring... MORE

On October 25 in Izmir, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, witnessed the signing of agreements on the delivery and transit of Azerbaijani gas to Turkey and onward to European Union territory (Trend, Anatolia news agency, Platts Commodity News, October... MORE

The September 29-30, Eastern Partnership summit in Warsaw was another typically EU empty diplomatic soirée. The Viktor Yanukovych administration has ignored Western criticism of political repression and the EU has put all its eggs into the Ukraine basket to show success in the Eastern Partnership,... MORE

On October 3, Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliev met the head of Dagestan’s government, Magomedsalam Magomedov, in Makhachkala. “The degree of the terrorist threat testifies that Dagestan is in the worst state [compared with] the other republics of the North Caucasian Federal District,” Nurgaliev concluded... MORE

To reduce its dependence on expensive Russian natural gas, Ukraine proposes to import Azerbaijani liquefied natural gas (LNG) via Georgia and across the Black Sea to Ukraine. Recent gas discoveries in Azerbaijan, and the reactivation of the Turkmenistan-Azerbaijan gas pipeline project, encourage a growing number... MORE

The last several months have been full of good news for the national oil company of Azerbaijan. As the country prepares to celebrate the anniversary of the “Contract of the Century” (the main oil contract signed in 1994 between Azerbaijan and a consortium of western... MORE