Azerbaijani president visits southern districts

Ilham Aliyev

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev visited the southern districts of Salyan and Bilasuvar on 29 April.

The president opened a cold-storage warehouse complex in Salyan. The complex will employ 150 people on a permanent basis and 300 seasonal workers.

The head of state met the public in Salyan District and was briefed about important projects in the area. On behalf of the Salyan public and business community, Hasiran Usubov thanked the head of state for his attention to the district.

Aliyev opened the Salyan electricity substation and high-voltage power transmission lines. The president of the Azerenerji joint-stock company, Etibar Pirverdiyev, said construction of the 220-kW Salyan substation and the 330

Azerbaijan's Defence Ministry stokes war of words with Armenia

The Defence Ministry in Baku has issued a statement talking up Azerbaijan's military capacity and accusing the Armenians of running scared.

It is the latest in a tit-for-tat exchange of comments which began with a meeting at the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry, chaired by President Aliyev.

'The well-grounded statements made by Mr President, Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev at the meeting of the Defence Ministry on 23 April, Minister Safar Abiyev’s report to the head of state that the army is ready to fight and other statements prompted a wide response not only in the region, but also in the whole world,' Defence Ministry spokesman Lt-Col Eldar Sabiroglu said in the statement issued today.

He described the meeting last Friday as very significant.

'No doubt the results of the meeting will be seen. If Azerbaijan starts to liberate the occupied lands, Armenia will inevitably be defeated. The provision of our army with modern weapons, military vehicles, the combat spirit of our soldiers, the

Hamas man Mahmoud al-Zahar denounces Shalit cartoon

A leader of the Palestinian movement Hamas has condemned an animation released by its military wing about captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, BBC reported.

The three-minute long cartoon, posted on the YouTube website, implies that Staff Sergeant Gilad Shalit could die before being released by Hamas.

But Mahmoud al-Zahar has denounced the cartoon, saying "we have not and will not kill captive Israeli soldiers".

Negotiations to secure the release of Sgt Shalit have stalled since December.

Almost four years ago Sgt Shalit, then a 19-year-old corporal, was captured in a cross-border raid and taken back to the Gaza Strip, where

Turkish foreign minister, PM's responses to Obama 'complementary'

Ahmet Davutoglu

Ahmet Davutoglu has denied any contradiction between his reaction to Barack Obama's 24 April speech and the response of the Turkish prime minister.

After answering questions from MPs in parliament on Monday, Davutoglu told reporters in Ankara that, on the contrary, their reactions complemented each other.

Erdogan said on Saturday that Obama's statement showed he was sensitive about Turkey's concerns, welcoming Obama's avoidance of the word 'genocide'.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Saturday, criticizing Obama's message.

The ministry said, 'We deeply regret this statement which reflects an incorrect and one-sided political perception.'

Davutoglu also criticized Obama's message, saying it was not right and was unacceptable.

Some columnists raised criticism about Erdogan and Davutoglu's reactions

Delays in Baku-Tbilisi trains

The delays have occurred in the timetable of domestic trains.

Accoridng to spokesman for the Azerbaijan State Railway Company Nadir Azmammadov, the delay is mostly recorded in the schedule of trains by the Baku-Tbilisi route.

He said the problems with the trains is caused with long lasting rainfalls observed in this direction.

'Due to the favorable weather conditions, the restrictions have been set  on the speed of trains to prevent possible problems during movement', Azmammadov noted.

ANS PRESS

Source: News.Az - Latest news from Azerbaijan

Obama avoids any mention of "genocide" again

Barack Obama

President Barack Obama calls it "one of the worst atrocities" of the 20th century.

President Barack Obama calls it "one of the worst atrocities" of the 20th century - the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, AP reports.

Saturday marks the 95th anniversary of the start of the slaughter in 1915, and Obama is taking time to remember "this solemn day."

A White House statement issued while Obama spends the weekend in Asheville, N.C., calls the killings "a devastating chapter" in Armenian history.

A deal between Turkey and Armenia to establish diplomatic ties and reopen their border collapsed on Thursday

Turkish-Armenian relations and Azerbaijan

Novruz Mammadov

News.Az reprints from Today's Zaman an article by Novruz Mammadov, foreign relations department head at Azerbaijan's presidential administration.

Recently, the Turkish media have widely discussed Azerbaijan’s role in Turkish-Armenian relations.

Many commentators argue that in order to become a global player Turkey must mend ties with Armenia, and they accuse Azerbaijan of thwarting this process. Some even claim that Turkey has made its foreign policy hostage to Azerbaijan’s demands. Most of these arguments do not reflect reality.

Over the last two decades, the major impediments in Turkish-Armenian relations have been the Armenian campaign for the recognition of the genocide claims and Armenia’s refusal to publicly recognize the Turkish border. Turkey’s decision to close its border with Armenia in 1993 in response to the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding Azerbaijani territories by Armenian forces set another milestone in relations. On the other hand, under the influence of their Armenian lobbies, the US and European countries have made significant efforts to help Armenia, ignoring its continuing occupation of Azerbaijani territories. Recently, the US has been using the possible recognition of the Armenian genocide claims as a threat to pressure Turkey to open the border without any preconditions.

Three main arguments are used to compel

No change in NATO's stance on Georgia

Anders Fogh Rasmussen

NATO's position towards Georgia has not changed, Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said.

Interviewed by Radio Liberty's Russian Service before the start of the NATO Ministerial in Tallinn, the secretary-general said that NATO's open door policy remained in force.

'We took the decision in 2008 at the NATO summit in Bucharest. According to the decision, Georgia and Ukraine will become NATO members if they want to and, of course, if they meet the necessary criteria,' the secretary general said.

Radio Svoboda,  Rustavi2

Source: News.Az - Latest news from Azerbaijan

Baku resumes all flights to Europe

All flights are leaving Azerbaijan's airports on schedule.

Flights to Europe, cancelled because of the cloud of volcanic ash, have been resumed, Azerbaijan Airlines spokesman Maharram Safarli said today.

He said there was no passenger overcrowding at the airport and no problems with incoming flights from Europe to Baku.

Many flights to Europe from Baku had to be cancelled from 15 April because of the problems caused by the cloud of ash created by a volcanic eruption in Iceland.

APA

Source: News.Az - Latest news from Azerbaijan

Date of Armenians’ arrival in Baku specified

On April 23 the Armenian junior boxing team will arrive in Baku for 2010 world championship to start on April 25.

According to the first vice-president of the Azerbaijani Boxing Federation Agahan Abiyev, the Armenian team intended to depart today, but at the last moment they changed their mind. The Boxing Federation of Armenia informed the International Amateur Boxing Federation (AİBA) about the decision to leave for Baku on April 23. AİBA, in turn, has informed the Azerbaijani Boxing Federation.

Aghajan Abiyev reiterated guarantees of security of Armenian athletes, as well as all participants of the championship in Baku. According to him, the Armenian athletes will stay in Azerbaijan until May 3.

The championship was supposed to start on April 23,

Armenian media seek dividends from Iranian mediation offer

Armenia is not really interested in progress in the settlement process over the disputed territory of Karabakh, Azerbaijani commentators have said.

Political scientist Zardusht Alizade explained why Armenia did not agree with the updated Madrid principles to resolve the Karabakh conflict or with the recent Iranian offer to mediate: 'Armenia occupied Azerbaijani territory and needs nothing more. Why should Armenia  agree with the OSCE Minsk Group's updated Madrid principles or someone else's mediation? Officials in Yerevan follow the old adage: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". The Armenians occupied our land and the international community does not put pressure on them over this. So why should Armenians make a fuss, if no one is bothering them?'

MP Asim Mollazade said

'US is the one and only nuclear criminal'

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution says the US is the one and only nuclear criminal that falsely claims to be fighting against the spread of nuclear

Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior aide to Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, read the Leader's message to the Tehran conference which opened on Saturday.

"The one and only nuclear criminal of the world now falsely claims to be fighting the spread of nuclear weapons but has definitely not taken and will not take any serious action regarding the issue," read the message.

"There is only one government that has committed nuclear crime and that is the government of the US, which launched nuclear attacks against the innocent Japanese people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in an inhumane asymmetrical war," it added.

"If