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MOSCOW - The blockade of Armenia, to some extent hinders the development of border areas in Turkey, senior research fellow, center for international security institute for international economics and international relations Stanislav Ivanov told at the interview with Voice of Russia. He believes that Turkey still has supporters of the incumbent Turkish PM Erdogan, which means that ratification of Zurich protocols may be on the agenda of the next convocation of the parliament. "Turkish government has the right to include those protocols into the agenda of the new parliament, thus, they can be on the agenda in October. Turkish business...

A rendering of a proposed Marriott that will be developed in the city of Erbil. U.S. hotel chains are joining projects in northern Iraq. U.S. hotel brands are moving into the north of Iraq, a reflection of growing economic development in the Kurdistan region of a country that most U.S. consumer brands have long avoided. On Sunday at the U.S. consulate in Erbil in northern Iraq, Marriott International Inc. plans to disclose two of its brands, Marriott Hotels & Resorts and Marriott Executive Apartments, will join a large real estate development project. That follows an announcement in May that Best...

The Azerbaijani government has signed with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) a loan agreement worth $19.35 million to finance the Integrated Rural Development Project, IFAD reported. The loan agreement for the Integrated Rural Development Project was signed in Rome on June 28 by Azerbaijani Agriculture Minister Ismat Abasov and President of IFAD Kanayo F. Nwanze... The total project cost is $ 103.8 million. The Islamic Development Bank (IDB), which approved a loan of $ 66.4 million in 2010, also engaged in the project financing. IDB loan consists of three parts, two of which on preferential terms: $14.89 million...

Tbilisi does not view the belonging of the medieval town of Khunan as a disputable matter between Georgia and Azerbaijan, Deputy Foreign Minister Nino Kalandadze said. According to Pia.az, recent reports of Azerbaijani media say Azerbaijani archaeologists have discovered a new historical fact linked to the Azerbaijani-Georgian border. "We hold dialogue with Azerbaijan on disputable territories, but we do not discuss the belonging of the town of Khunan. All historians and official sources know that Khunan is not a disputable matter, and has always been a Georgian town," Kalandadze noted. She stressed that the Georgian side is always ready for...

The experts and training groups from NATO's various organizations will visit Azerbaijan in July, press service of the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan told APA. NATO and US experts will visit Azerbaijan on July 5-6. During the visit they will discuss the continuation of expert assistance to the Military Academy of Azerbaijani Armed Forces in education sphere. The mobile training group of NATO's Naples Joint Forces Command will visit Baku on July 10-12. The expert staff meeting will be held in Baku on July 20-23 with the participation of Izmir-based NATO Air Forces Command.

AZERBAIJAN has scored a spectacular first win in the 56th Eurovision Song Contest, Europe's annual pop extravaganza watched by tens of millions of people. Eurovision tradition dictates that Azerbaijan's victory means the 2012 competition will be held in the resource-rich former Soviet republic often criticised by campaign groups for its poor human rights record. "Now Europe will really learn about Azerbaijan," accountant Sakina Akhmedova said yesterday in the republic, a 9.1-million-strong mainly Muslim but officially secular state on the Caspian Sea. "It's a great advertisement for a country like this." Ignoring heavy rain as they danced, chanted and waved flags,...

Did you know that the EU has ensured that there has been no war between its members for last 60 years?

Azerbaijani youth group on Saturday held a protest in front of the house of Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA) Head Ali Kerimli. The action was organized to protest against the policy pursued by Kerimli. The action was attended by over 200 people, who voiced slogans "Shame on Ali Kerimli", "Shame on those who split the Azerbaijani youth" and "Azerbaijani youth know who you are". The protesters stressed that the Azerbaijani youth stand for the social and political stability. Eggs were thrown at the protesters from Kerimli's house. Obscenities were also shouted from the opposition leaders' house. This is the...

Roughly 1,000 people convened at Fountains Square Saturday morning, shouting "Resign" and "No to the dictatorship!" before riot police broke up the crowd, pushing protesters onto awaiting buses, said Azeri blogger Amar Masimov, 22, during a phone interview. Authorities said the protesters had not received proper permission from the government to hold a public rally Saturday, according to Reuters. Saturday's crackdown comes after a series of arrests in February and March of leading opposition figures and youth activists. Police detained about 150 people at opposition rallies in Baku in March, according to Reuters. Before a planned anti-government protest March 11,...

Since the situation surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh is what can be seen now and cannot be resolved by proposed methods, a conclusion can be drawn that the mediators are not interested in resolving it, Arman Melikyan, the former minister of foreign affairs of Nagorno-Karabakh, told Armenian News-NEWS.am. As to whether the mediators are trying to equally blame each side, Melikyan said that "it is exactly so." "This policy reflects the mediator states' own interests," he said. "It is easy to say: you are both guilty so do fall silent, and it will be my own way." "Our settlement plan envisages application of...

The attack came as the bus sat outside Terminal 2 at the airport, according to Frankfurt police spokesman Manfred Fuellhardt. The bus driver and a passenger were killed, and one person suffered serious wounds and another light injuries, he said. A source tells Fox News that the shooter yelled "Allah Akbar" when opening fire on the U.S. military personnel. He then dropped his gun at the scene, ran into the terminal and was subdued. U.S. Air Force Europe spokeswoman Maj. Beverly Mock said all four victims were airmen. They were all based at the Lakenheath military base in Britain. A...

For the second time in a year, Azerbaijan lost an Su-25 ground attack aircraft to an accident. Poor maintenance is believed the main reason for both losses, and that is a result of military budget cuts, and corruption (stealing some of the money allocated for maintenance.) Azerbaijan has about 30 Su-25s, but because of the maintenance problems, only about a dozen are fit for duty at any time. Last year, five used Su-25s were bought from Belarus. Despite these losses, the Su-25 is still a popular aircraft. When well maintained, the Su-25 is very effective. Over a thousand have been...

A Su-25 Frogfoot close air support aircraft crashed on Thursday in the Kurdamir district of Azerbaijan, local media reported. The Trend news agency cited Azeri Defense Ministry's spokesman Eldar Sabiroglu as saying that the crew ejected from the plane and survived the crash without injury. An investigation into the cause of the incident has been launched, the spokesman said. The Azeri Air Force has about a dozen Soviet-era Su-25s, which are poorly maintained due to budget constraints. A previous Azeri Su-25 crash in March 2010 killed the pilot.

Recent events in Tunisia, Lebanon and Egypt spell a dangerous new trend in the region. There have been major developments in Tunisia, Lebanon and Egypt, each of which is of tremendous importance. In Tunisia, a popular uprising fueled by unemployment, economic suffering and long-term discontent has overthrown the dictator, but not necessarily the dictatorship. In 55 years of independence, the country has been governed by two dictators, the current one being Zine al-Abedin Ben Ali, who has been president for 23 years and was a key power in the regime even before that. Is this going to spread? Does it...

The United States has signed a deal with Bhutan giving US citizens in the country immunity from prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC), the State Department said Tuesday. The deal with Bhutan brings to 34 the number of countries with which the United States has signed so-called "Article 98" agreements exempting US citizens from the court's jurisdiction, said Lynn Cassel, a department spokesman. Bhutan and Bosnia-Herzegovina both agreed to the pacts on May 16 but the deal with Thimphu was not announced until Tuesday. Washington refuses to support the ICC, arguing that it could become a forum for politically...

Another remarkable fact is that the abundance of artifacts dating from the early Bronze Age suggests that the Duzdagi mine was intensively exploited from as early as the 4th millennium BC. Hundreds of stone picks and hammers have in fact been found near the entrances of collapsed tunnels. The frequent presence nearby of ceramic pottery fragments specific to the culture known as "Kuro-Araxes" has made it possible to date these archeological artifacts. Their spatial and chronological distribution was analyzed by a geographic information system, combining satellite photos (Spot 5), aerial photos taken from a kite and the plotting of artifacts...

Azerbaijani President Iham Aliyev awoke Friday to the diplomatic equivalent of a severed horse head in his bed. According to a leaked U.S. diplomatic cable, the staff of the U.S. Embassy in Baku has been comparing the president, rather unflatteringly, to Sonny Corleone, the most impulsive and thin-skinned of Don Vito Corleone’s sons in the hit novel and film trilogy, "The Godfather." In a secret cable entitled “President Ilham Aliyev – Michael (Corleone) on the outside, Sonny on the inside,” sent in September 2009, U.S. diplomats describe the Azerbaijan president as similar to Michael Corleone -– which is to say,...

Last year on October 10, the foreign ministers of Armenia and Turkey signed protocols on the normalization of bilateral relations between the two countries and opening of the Armenian-Turkish border. The Armenian press called foreign office heads of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries -- Hillary Clinton (USA), Sergey Lavrov (Russia) and Bernard Kouchner (France) -- "the so-called curators and warrantors of fulfillment of the commitments" envisaged by the protocols. Very soon, however, it became clear that neither separately, nor collectively were they able to do anything that would make Ankara bound to fulfill its commitment. Turkey refused to discharge...

Turkey and Israel are at it again, but this time it's over reports that Turkey has added Israel to its so-called "Red Book," the top-secret security document that lists the country's threats and enemies. Israeli tourism minister Stas Misezhnikov struck back on Sunday by calling on Israelis to boycott Turkey as a tourist destination out of "national honor." According to Turkish media, the Red Book, which is amended every five years, now identifies Israel as a "strategic threat" to Turkey. The document, which is drawn up by Turkey's National Security Council, accuses Israel of being a destabilizing force and says...

A group of archeologists discovered five ancient settlements. A group of archeologists of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences discovered five ancient settlements in the territory of Shaki and Gakh regions of Azerbaijan, head of the archeological expedition Nasib Mukhtarov said. He said the winter settlements discovered in Shaki and Gakh were allegedly founded in the period from 2nd millennium AC until 3rd century AD. Traces of the Gakh settlements were discovered in the territory of a former collective farm. Ceramics and potteries were found there. The archeologists also found ruins of a stone building in one of settlements....