Eurovision 2012 to take place in Baku, Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan was the surprise winner of Eurovision 2011 yesterday, and as the winning country gets to host the next event it means that in a year's time we'll see it held in Baku, of all places. Azerbaijan is a country I write about quite a bit here, but for most the name Azerbaijan doesn't even register. It's one of those country names that most wouldn't even be sure is a real name or not (like the fictional Krakozhia from The Terminal), known fairly well by those involved in the oil industry and geopolitics, but few others.

Hosting Eurovision according to this article is worth somewhere from $100 to 600 million, which for a country of Azerbaijan's size is a fair amount. To make a quick comparison, the GDP of the United States is 316 times greater than Azerbaijan (used to be 2500 times greater, mind you), so an extra $400 million or so is like an extra $125 billion for the US. More important than that though is the opportunity to have the name Azerbaijan actually mean something besides the current "not sure if a real country name......" impression it gives to most now.

Nagorno-Karabakh: will Eurovision 2012 have an effect on this? Hopefully it will have a positive one. The war there in 1994 and the subsequent de facto but not de jure ownership of the region by Armenia is why those Armenian and Azerbaijani media sites one finds online all seem to be devoted to trashing the other side. "Why is Armenia/Azerbaijan so belligerent?" "Armenia/Azerbaijan makes real offer for peace that Armenia/Azerbaijan just ignores, like always!" "Armenian/Azerbaijani soldier shoots Armenian/Azerbaijani civilian!" etc. etc.

This war of words is not going to cool down over a year of course, but one would imagine that Azerbaijan would want to keep things as uncontroversial as possible over at least the next year, while the eyes of Europe are on it and people are beginning to acquire their first impressions of the country.

For two articles on the geopolitical implications of Eurovision in Azerbaijan, see here and here.

You can see the video of the team from Azerbaijan (Ell and Nikki) as they win in this video. Most definitely not my kind of music. I am glad to see Azerbaijan win though. It would be even more interesting to see Armenia or Georgia win the next round too.

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Azerbaijan to enable de-Russification of surnames

This piece of news is from February but I just noticed it now. You may have noticed that a lot of surnames in Central Asia are a combination of Turkish and Russian, often ending with -ov or -yev. It looks like Azerbaijan intends to make it easier to change surnames away from this. The actual word used here is millileştirmek, which means 'nationalization', but the effect would be to remove the Russian endings.

From the article:

Surname changing process to become easier in Azerbaijan

The leader of Bakü's Atatürk Research Centre, parliament member Nizami Ceferov, said that the subject of removing "ov" and "yev" at the end of surnames and replacing them with Azeri suffixes had been discussed in parliament. Ceferov noted that changing surnames would not be mandatory, but that there would be a benefit to adopting a system that would make it easier for the changes to take place.

Laws enacted in Azerbaijan in 1993 make it possible for surnames to be changed with a court order, but because the process is a long and costly one it has not seen much demand.

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Skimming vs. absorbing information and killing two birds with one stone

Here's a technique that I've always found to be useful in retaining information that also helps in learning a second language at the same time. To explain how it works, first take a look at these two paragraphs about a random subject, in this case the constitution of Azerbaijan. Read over the information, then when you're done scroll down so you can't see the image anymore.

Now that you can't see the image anymore, please answer the following questions:

1) What can the president do and not do regarding the National Assembly?
2) Which article of the constitution specifies the state symbols?
3) Who checks and confirms the accuracy of election results?


Er...chances are a person who read the above would get at most one out of three. The reason for this is a tendency to skim over content in one's native tongue, since without this ability to skim over content we would never be able to get through a newspaper or read a novel in any reasonable period of time, or go over a 1000-page health care reform bill.

So when absorbing information in one's native tongue the only way to do so is to either slow down the pace to a nearly maddening level (one sentence, memorize, one more sentence, memorize, check last sentence...) or to go over something over and over again. Real-life experience naturally helps here too, but not everyone has access to this.

So what's the other way of going about this? It's only possible if you are in the middle of studying another language, and have continuous access to high-speed internet. What you do is find the same content you need to learn in another language, and go over that. Since when learning a language chances are you will find a word or two you don't know in most sentences, this will prevent you from reading too fast. Not only that, but if the language you are learning is related to English (a Germanic or Romance language for example), the terminology they use may actually help to understand the English vocabulary in greater depth as well. One simple example of this: you are learning about German history and happen to be studying either German or Dutch, and thanks to this make the connection for the first time that the Volk in Volkswagen is the same as the English folk.

But doesn't this take a great deal of time? It does if you have to refer to a dictionary alone to understand the text, but luckily you don't have to. It requires using Firefox though. If you don't have it then download it, and then install the Google Translate (gTranslate) add-on. Now that you have this you can translate any text simply by highlighting it, then hitting the right mouse button and holding the mouse arrow over the translate button. Google Translate isn't good enough to replace human translators but it's certainly more than sufficient to understand a text. Here's what it looks like in practice.

That's it. It's a very simple method. Just use a language you're studying to learn the same thing you're studying now, and use the gTranslate add-on whenever you find a word you don't understand. Instead of habitually skimming over paragraphs you know you should be paying closer attention to, now you don't have the option anymore and are forced to pay attention to each and every sentence...and are also learning a new language at the same time.

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Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan aren't really landlocked countries

Kind of a random subject but worth thinking about if you haven't before. At the moment the world has 44 landlocked countries, as you can see in this map.

Landlocked simply means that a country doesn't border an ocean, and in that sense it's technically correct for Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. In practice though, a landlocked country usually implies all the disadvantages that come from a lack of access to the sea, meaning the inability to create a maritime industry, difficulties in international trade, etc. Countries like Switzerland, Liechstenstein, Nepal and Bhutan are clearly landlocked and have to work within those confines. Azerbaijan and the other two though are quite different, for two reasons.

The first is obvious: they do have access to a sea - the Caspian Sea. Technically it's the world's largest lake, but in terms of size, historical status and use it's a sea. It's a bit of a microcosm of an ocean in that it provides access to other countries as well, even if it's just four (the three mentioned above plus Russia and Iran).

Thanks to the access to the sea, these technically landlocked nations are able to have a thriving maritime industry and culture. It has a lot of caviar, oil, fish, etc. In terms of transport as well it's quite useful as it is the quickest way to go from Azerbaijan to Turkmenistan (both energy-producing countries), and there is quite a bit of ferry traffic as well. So these landlocked nations certainly aren't suffering there.

The second reason is a bit less obvious: those three nations actually do have access to the sea, by going through Russia. Note the Volga River there as it flows into the Caspian from the northwest. It's actually connected to the Don River, which flows into the Sea of Azov, which is connected to the Black Sea, which is connected to the Mediterranean, which is connected to the Atlantic...

Ships of up to 5,000 tons capacity can pass through the canal connecting the two rivers, which means ships even a bit larger than this one. Not too shabby.

Having direct access to the sea in this way is not only helpful in trade, but also in international relations, as could be seen last year in the war within Georgia over South Ossetia, when a number of nations sent ships into the Black Sea to help out one side or the other. I don't remember any ships being sent from the Caspian Sea there, but it's technically a possibility, so a ship docked at the Caspian Sea technically could set sail and make its way to the Black Sea or beyond.

You can see a map here from a company that trades in the area that shows how you get from the Caspian into the larger seas and oceans to the west.

Out of the three nations though, Azerbaijan is certainly the one that feels the most maritime. Kazakhstan's capital and largest city lie way off to the east. Turkmenistan feels a little less isolated from the water with its smaller size and a capital much closer to the sea than Astana. Azerbaijan, though, has its capital and largest city (Baku) right on the Caspian, and has an economy largely centred on the oil that comes from the Caspian. Since Azerbaijan wouldn't be Azerbaijan without the Caspian Sea, it feels a bit weird to call it a landlocked country when a country like the Democratic Republic of Congo isn't landlocked simply for having a tiny strip of land that borders on the ocean.

There's no need to redo the definition of a landlocked country, it's simply worth bearing in mind that these "landlocked" countries can vary immensely.

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More linguistic silliness from Azerbaijan over improving relations between Turkey and Armenia

Iğdır - "Şehrin büyük nüfus yapısını Azerbaycan Türkleri oluşturuyor. Günlük konuşmada genellikle Azerbaycan Türkçesi kullanılmaktadır." <-- Translation: even parts of Turkey use a language more resembling the standard in Azerbaijan so Azerbaijan is acting silly.

Look, more silliness from Azerbaijan. Part of the article translated into English:

Azerbaijan has banned Turkish songs on the radio and television in Azerbaijan as a protest against the (talks toward the) opening of the Turkish border with Armenia. Azeris are readying themselves to demonstrate in front of Turkey's embassy in Baku, and a boycot of Turkish goods is also on the agenda.

...Azerbaijan wants to increase the price of natural gas sold to Turkey through the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline to 300 dollars...Turkey obtains 12% of its needed natural gas from Azerbaijan.

Considering the importance of the Nagorno-Karabakh region for Azerbaijan I can actually understand the protests and any plans that individuals want to make for a boycot of goods (since that's their right as individuals), but attempting to suddenly raise the price of natural gas for political reasons is never a good idea for a country that wants to be taken seriously as a stable energy supplier, and the similarities between the two languages make a banning of Turkish songs rather ridiculous. And what about the Turkish used in Iğdır, which resembles Azeri Turkish more than that found in Istanbul? And what of other dialects that resemble it somewhat as well, are these to be banned? No, the problems between Turkey and Azerbaijan are political, not linguistic. Attempting to bring language into the discussion when 1) language isn't even the issue and 2) the languages are similar enough that they're basically just two standards of the same language, is ridiculous.

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Much cooperation between Azerbaijan and Iran / Azerbaycan'la İran arasında büyük işbirliği

Source: hurriyet.com.tr (Turkish), 10 March 2009

Azerbaycan'la İran arasında büyük işbirliği

Much cooperation between Azerbaijan and Iran

Azerbaycan Cumhurbaşkanı İlham Aliyev'in İran ziyareti kapsamında iki ülke arasında 7 protokol imzalandı.

7 protocols have been signed between the two countries in Azerbaijan's president Ilham Aliyev's visit to Iran.

Azeri haber ajansı Azertac'ın bildirdiğine göre, bugün Tahran'a giden Aliyev, Cumhurbaşkanı Mahmud Ahmedinejad ile ikili görüşmede bulundu ve heyetler arası görüşmelere katıldı.

According to news from the Azeri news agency Azertac, today Aliyev went to Tehran where he met with president Mahmud Ahmadinejad and participated in meetings between delegations.

Görüşmelerde Azerbaycan ile İran arasında siyasi ve ekonomik ilişkilerin yanı sıra ekonomi ve enerji alanlarındaki projeler ele alındı.

The talks focused on political and economic relations between Azerbaijan and Iran, as well as projects in the fields of economy and energy.

Aliyev'in temasları kapsamında iki ülke arasında çifte vergilendirme ve vergi kaçakçılığının önlenmesi, ekonomi, turizm, kültürel mirasın korunması, istatistik, postane ve milli kütüphaneler arasında işbirliğiyle ilgili 7 protokol imzalandı.

During his meetings 7 protocols were signed, regarding preventing double taxation and tax trafficking, the protection of economic, touristic and cultural heritage, and bilateral cooperation on statistics, post offices and national libraries.

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Silly ban on broadcasting foreign languages is passed in Azerbaijan

The idea to ban broadcasting of foreign languages in Azerbaijan has been in the works for a while, and it looks like the law has been passed.

What makes it silly (besides the idea of banning broadcasts in other languages itself) is that Turkish is included, which is a language so similar to Azeri that there is no problem in understanding shows broadcast in Turkish, and now apparently a lot of shows are going to have to be dubbed into Azeri to comply with the new law:

While the ban was taken as part of efforts to promote local rather than to penalize foreign shows, television stations have not dubbed any Turkish shows into the Azeri language yet.

"Kurtlar Vadisi Pusu," "Tek Türkiye," "Hırsız ve Polis," "Yaprak Dökümü," "Yabancı Damat," "Arka Sokaklar," "Bir İstanbul Masalı," "Aşka Sürgün," "Melekler Adası," and "Beşinci Boyut" are among the Turkish shows that are popular in Azerbaijan, but are not dubbed into Azeri and will be affected by the new law.

It's something akin to being in Scotland and having a law passed that requires shows like Friends / 30 Rock / Seinfeld / Simpsons / etc. to now be dubbed into a nice authentic Scottish brogue.

George: Och aye, that wis a braw meal!
Elaine: It's easy whan ye ken it.
(in walks Kramer)
Kramer: Guid tae see ye!

Er...something like that (I'm not very good at pretending to be Scottish), but done by government decree and done in spite of the fact that you had no troubles understanding the show before it was dubbed.

Just to give an example of how similar the two languages are, here's part of the Azeri Wikipedia (on the Apollo Program):

NASA tərəfindən reallaşdırılmış Aya uçuş layihəsidir. Gemini Layihəsindən sonra qəbul edilən bu proqramın reallaşmasında kosmik yarış və soyuq müharibənin böyük rolu olmuşdur. Layihə Apollon kosmik vasitələri və Saturn V daşıyıcı raketi ilə 1961-1975-ci illərdə planlaşdırılmış və həyata keçirilmişdir.

I'm not even Turkish and I can understand everything but two words there without even checking a dictionary, and even those that I don't know are easy to understand through context: Layihə is obviously program, and soyuq müharibə is probably soğuk savaş (Cold War)...and yup, looks like muharip is also a Turkish word too that I've never seen before but I'm sure Turkish people know very well, meaning combat. I can even translate the above into Turkish that is probably all or mostly correct with almost no effort at all:

NASA tarafından gerçekleştırılmış Aya uçuş programıdır. Gemini Programı'ndan sonra kabul edilen bu programın gerçekleşmasında kosmik kozmik yarış ve soğuk savaşın büyük rolu olmuştur. Program, Apollon kozmik araç (note that Turkish also has the word vasıta) ve Saturn V taşıyıcı raketi ile 1961 - 1975 yıllarda planlaştırılmış ve hayata geçirilmiştir.

Now time to do some searching about on Azeri sites and forums to see how many people find this to be as ridiculous as I and parliamentarian Siyavuş Novruzov do.

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Page of the month on the Latin Wikipedia is Azerbaijan (Adrabigania)

Forum Haydari Aliyev et Argentariae Nationalis aedes medio in Baku.

This was a pleasant surprise; instead of the usual page of the month you might expect to see in Latin such as mathematics, geometry or some Roman emperor, this month's page is on Azerbaijan (Adrabigania).

The Latin Wikipedia is similar to the one in Afrikaans and Wikipedias in constructed languages in that it has a few really detailed pages (this one takes up 15 screens) but a lot of red links at the same time. There's really no way around this when you have a small user population though so I'm not blaming them, and actually creating very detailed pages on specific subjects is IMO the best thing a language like this can do, to avoid the situation with the Volapük Wikipedia where the large number of bot-created articles actually make the language look worse in giving the impression that its Wikipedia is not really an encyclopedia in the language but instead an online venue to promote the language (in other words, working on excessive outside promotion instead of writing content for the people that use the language and would like to see more information written in it).

Here's the section on the economy:

Oeconomia

Post independentiae consecutionem anno 1991, Adrabigania Aerarii Monetarii Internationalis, Argentariae Mundanae, Argentariae Europaeae Reconstructionis et Evolutionis, Argentariae Islamicae Evolutionis et Argentariae Asianae Evolutionis socia facta est. Argentarium systema Adrabiganiae ex Argentaria Nationali Adrabiganiae, commercialibus argentariis, et non crediticiis societatibus consistit. Argentaria Nationalis anno 1992 in Aerario Comparsorum Civitatis Adrabiganiae, Aerarii Comparsorum URSS affiliato, fundata creata est. Argentaria Nationalis Argentariae Centrali servit, nationalem nummum, Adraniganicam monetam, expedire et omnibus commercialibus argentariis praesidere potens. Praecipuae duae commerciales argentariae Argentaria Internationalis Adrabiganiae et Argentaria Anonyma Universa Unita, civitatis proprietatum ambae, sunt. Sumptu et quaesiti incremento impulsa, anni 2007 primi quarti inflationis index 16,6% attigit. Nominales reditus et menstrua salaria 29% et 25% respective contra hunc signum numerale ascenderunt, sed pretiorum incrementum in non petroleosa industria inflationem in natione citavit. Adrabigania sic dicti "morbi Batavi" aliquae signorum ostendit quia rapide crescens energeticus ramus inflationem efficit. Duo Adrabigania tertia petroleo et gasio naturali abundant. Caucasi Minoris regio nationalem maximam auri, argenti, ferri, cupri, titanii, chromii,mangani, cobalti, molybdeni, complexorum mineralium, et stibii partem possidet. Septembre anni 1994, triginta annorum pactum obsignaverunt Societas Petrolei Civitatis Rei Publicae Adrabiganae (Anglice; SOCAR) et tredecim petrolei societates, inter quas Amoco, BP, Exxon, LUKoil et Statoil. Quia Occidentales petrolei societates aquarum profundarum petroliferis campis quibus Sovietici non usi sunt uti possunt, Adrabigania praecipuorum locorum in mundo unus ad petroleo utendum et evolvendum consideratur. Dum Aerarium Petrolei Civitatis ut pecunia collecta extra praecomputationem conditum est ut macrooeconomica stabilitas, in petrolei redituum dispensatione perspicuitas et futuris generationibus opium protectio firmentur. Ineunti anno 2007, Adrabigania agricultuae 4 755 100 hectariis utitur. Eodem anno, totae ligneae opes 136 000 000 m³ dinumerabant. Adrabiganica de agricultura scientificae investigationis instituta pratos pastosque, horticulturam subtropicasque messes, viridia holera, viticulturam vinificationisque, gossypini culturam, et plantas officinales attendunt. Aliquibus in locis frumentum, patatas, betam sacchari, gossypinum, et tabacum colere rentabile est. Caspii industria piscatoria deminuentes acipenserum et husonumque copias attendit. Anno 2002, Adrabiganae naves onerariae quinquaginta quattuor erant. Aliquae plerorumque productorum antea ex externis civitatibus importatorum partes localiter produci coeperunt, inter quae Coca-Cola a Coca-Cola Bottlers Ltd., cervisia a Baki-Kastel, pavimentum tessellatum a Nehir, et petroliferi tubi ab EUPEC Pipe Coating Azerbaijan. Adrabigania quoque ponderis oeconomicum "centrum" est in eo quod attinet ad materiarum primitivarum transvectionem. Oleiductus Bakus, Triphelis et Pyramopolis operativus Maio anni 2006 factus est, 1774 chiliometra per Adrabiganum (440 km), Georgianum (260 km) et Turcum (1114 km) territorium longus. Oleiductus Bakus, Triphelis et Pyramopolis ad transvehendum usque ad 50 miliones tonnarum olei rudis anniversarie designatur et petroleum e Maris Caspii petroliferis campis ad mercatus orbis terrarum defert. Oleiductus Caucasi Meridionalis, quoque per Adrabiganum, Georgianum et Turcum territorium extensus, exeunte anno 2006 operativus factus est et additicium gasii quaesitum Europaeo mercatu e Campo Gasii Sachi Denizi offert. Usque ad 296 miliarda metrorum cubicorum naturalis gasii anniverse producere expectatur. Adrabigania etiam in Viae Sericae Proposito ab Unione Europaea sustento praecipuum munus fungitur. Anno 2008, Adrabigania ut decem reformatricum prima secundum Argentariae Mundanae Negotiorum Facientium relationem citata est; "Adrabigania mundum ut maximam reformatrix annis 2007 et 2008 duxit, cum profectibus in septem decem indicum regulatoriae reformae. Adrabigania unius ostioli tabernam temporis, impensae, et ad negotium suscipiendum actionum numeri dimidio parcentem operari coepit. Negotiorum inscriptiones 40% primis sex mensibus auxit. Adrabigania quoque minimi crediti 1100 $ limitem sustulit, duplicando amplius daneioleptarum inclusorum in creditorum incriptionibus numero. Etiam, vectigalium solutores sua vectigalia per Interrete ordinare et solvere nunc possunt. Adrabiganiae extensae reformationes e nonaginta septem in triginta tres locum de tota negotiorum suscipiendum facilitate eam movit."

There's almost no information on the Azeri/Azerbaijani language though, nor on Turkish. I've found Turkish to actually be quite similar to Latin in some respects (they're not related languages of course, they just complement each other quite well) and it would be interesting to see something to that effect. Or a large article in Turkish on Latin instead (that article's pretty tiny too).

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Azerbaijan consulate in Turkish city of Kars moves to new building, EU deepening relations with countries around the Black Sea, etc.

Kars Kalesi'nden şehrin genel görünümü. Solda Kümbet Camii, sağda Kars Çayı. <-- Overview of Kars from Kars Castle. On the left is Kümbet Mosque / Havariler Church (kept on changing back and forth and then into a museum as well), on the right is Kars Creek.

Here's some news from today related to Azerbaijan and some countries nearby:

• Azerbaijan's consulate in the Turkish city of Kars has moved to a new building and the opening ceremony was held today (4 December). The Consulate General's name is Hasan Sultanoğlu, and you can see a small article here in the Economist where he appears.
• On 2 December a work forum was held between Turkey and Azerbaijan in Baku with 84 representatives from Turkey and 250 from Azerbaijan. Other forums have been held before in Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan.
• 1 December: if you ever wondered what the exact Turkish term for a special relationship between countries is (like between the UK and the US for example), it's müstesna. See: Resmi temaslar için Bakü'de bulunan Dışişleri Bakanı Ali Babacan, Türkiye ile Azerbaycan arasındaki ilişkileri "müstesna" olarak tanımladı. (Foreign Minister Ali Babacan, who was in Baku for official meetings, called/defined relations between Turkey and Azerbaijan "exceptional".)
• 4 December: Europe starts turning toward the Black Sea: the EU is sending more funds towards the area, setting aside for 2007-2010 92 million euro for Azerbaijan, 98.4 million for Armenia, 120.4 million for Georgia aside from the new aid given after the war, 209.7 million euro for Moldova, and 494 million euro for Ukraine in order to deepen relations with the countries.

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Turkmenistan opening up to the world, meaning of Berdimuhammedow's surname, "Trans-Turk" energy corridor

The Caspian Sea at Türkmenbaşy.

There's a lot of news out there and translating articles word for word takes up time that could be used by going over a larger number of articles and just mentioning the important points, so I think I'm going to do a lot more of that from now on. Here are three articles on Turkmenistan, Turkey and energy in Central Asia:

• Turkmenistan opening up to the world (Türkmenistan dünyaya açılıyor, 3 December): Turkmenistan's "young" president (51 years old) Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedow has visited 15 countries in 20 months since being elected and visited South Korea, Germany and Austria in November. He also had a three-way meeting with the presidents of Azerbaijan and Turkey on the 28th of November. Some other numbers: Turkmenistan produces 70 billion cubic metres of natural gas per year, of which 55-60 billion is sold to Russia and Iran. Turkmenistan wants to double natural gas production in a ten-year development plan to 150 billion cubic metres. Price of natural gas sold to Russia in 2009 will be $150.
• What does Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedow's surname mean? This article (2 December) has the answer. The "muhammed" in the middle there is pretty obvious, but the rest of it isn't it first. The Turkish version of the name would be ver­di-mu­ham­med-oğ­lu, which means Mohammed-he gave-his son. As you move east you'll often see v turn into b and a into o, giving you words like Uzbek bor for Turkish var. The authour also remarks on how Turkey as an EU and NATO member nation with access to the energy of the east will be able to become a powerful nation for the first time since 1918 when the Ottoman Empire collapsed.
• (3 December) The Russian magazine Vremya Novostey (Время новостей) has written that Turkey wants to create a "Trans-Turk" energy corridor along with Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. This project would be to bypass Russia and send energy directly from Central Asia into Turkey and then Europe. It also says that in addition to Georgia, Turkey could want Armenia in on the project too, and that it is looking at it as a more stable alternative to Georgia after the war with Russia in August this year. Also that it sees it as killing two birds with one stone: to peacefully solve the Nagorno-Karabakh problem, as well as reduce tensions on the Armenian genocide issue between the two countries.
  

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Presidents of Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan meet in Ashgabat / Türkmenistan ve Azerbaycan devlet başkanları görüştü

Source: turkish.cri.cn (Turkish)

Türkmenistan ve Azerbaycan devlet başkanları görüştü

Presidents of Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan meet

(GMT+08:00) 2008-11-29 21:35:11 cri

Türkmenistan Devlet Başkanı Gurbanguli Berdimuhamedov, bugün (28 Kasım) başkent Aşkabat'ta Türkmenistan'ı ziyaret eden Azerbaycan Devlet Başkanı İlham Aliyev'le görüştü. Liderler, iki ülke arasında enerji, ulaşım, ekonomi ve eğitim gibi alanlardaki işbirliğini güçlendireceklerini belirtti.

The President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedow met today (29 November) with Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev in his visit to Turkmenistan's capital Ashgabat. The two leaders said that they would strengthen cooperation between the two nations in areas such as energy, communications, economy and education.

Berdimuhamedov, zengin enerji kaynaklarına sahip olan Türkmenistan ve Azerbaycan'ın enerji ihracatını çeşitlendirmesi gerektiğini söyledi. Berdimuhamedov, iki ülke arasındaki işbirliğinin her iki ülkenin enerji güvenliğine yararlı olduğu gibi, diğer ülkelerin enerji güvenliğinin sağlanması için de önemli rol oynadığını kaydetti.

Berdimuhammedow said that Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, both of which own rich natural resources, needed to diversify their exports. He mentioned that just as cooperation between the two countries would be beneficial for both in energy security, it would also play an important role in providing energy security to other countries.

Aliyev ise, Azerbaycan ve Türkmenistan arasında ulaşım alanındaki işbirliğinin büyük potansiyele sahip olduğuna işaret etti. Aliyev, Azerbaycan'ı Türkiye ve Avrupa'ya bağlayan demiryolunun, inşaatı tamamlanınca yeni İpek Yolu haline geleceğini söyledi.

Aliyev pointed out that there was a large potential for cooperation on communications between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. Aliyev said that the railroad connecting Azerbaijan to Turkey and Europe, once construction was completed, would become a new Silk Road.

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Azerbaijan's capital Baku the dirtiest city in the world / Bakü Dünya’nın en kirli şehri seçildi.

The world's dirtiest city? It certainly doesn't seem that way from photographs alone.

I'm kind of in agreement with the spokesperson below, as generally first-hand accounts of Baku don't give the impression of an incredibly dirty city like perhaps Port au Prince. Either that or the lack of clean water and basic sanitation leaves a much stronger impression on the casual traveller than dirty air from a lot of vehicle traffic and industry, because the latter is present in most cities around the world to a certain extent whereas basic water and sanitation is a given and probably that much more shocking when it's gone.

And I've never been to Baku either so I could easily be wrong.

Source: internetajans.com (Turkish)

Bakü Dünya’nın en kirli şehri seçildi.

Baku has been chosen as the dirtiest city in the world.

Azerbaycan’ın Başkenti Bakü, petrol aramaları sonucu ortaya çıkan hava kirliliğinin insan hayatını riske sokan derecelere varması ile Dünya’nın en kirli şehri unvanını elde etti. Mercer İnsan Kaynakları Danışmanlık şirketinin dünya çağında yürüttüğü araştırma hava kirliliği, atık yönetimi, su temizliği, hastane hizmetleri, medikal malzeme ve bulaşabilir hastalıkların varlığı alanlarında yapıldı.

Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, has obtained the title as the world's dirtiest city due to the degree of risk to human life that has been attained from air pollution resulting from oil exploration. The Mercer Human Resources Consulting company's global age research it carries out deals with air pollution, waste management, water purification, hospital services, medical supplies and the presence of infectious diseases.

Araştırılmaya tabi tutulan şehirler endeks puanı 100 olan New York baz alınarak değerlendirildiler.

The cities that were subjects in the research were evaluated based on New York with an index point of 100.

Sağlık ve sağlık önlemleri alanında en düşük puanı 27,6 ile Bakü alırken, en yüksek puan 131,7 ile Kanada’nın Calgary şehri oldu.

Baku had the lowest score in health and health measures with 27.6 points, and the city with the largest number of points was Canada's Calgary with 131.7 points.

Hava kirliliğinde ikinci sırayı Bakü’nün ardından 29,6 puan ile Bangladeş’in başkenti Dhaka aldı. Her iki şehirde araçlardan yayılan egzoz dumanının hava kirliliğindeki en büyük nedenlerden biri olduğu belirtildi.

The city with the second-most amount of air pollution after Baku was Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, with 29.6 points. In both cities this was mostly due to air pollution from exhaust diffused by vehicles.

Sıralamada 3. ve 4. şehirler Madagaskar’ın başkenti Antananarivo (30,1 puan) ve Haiti’nin başkenti Port au Prince (34 puan) oldu. İki şehir hızla büyüyen nüfuslarına etkili su sistemi ve atık yönetimi sunamadıkları için en kirli listesinde tepelere kondular. Sıralamadaki diğer şehirler şöyle:
The cities in 3rd and 4th place on the list were Madagascar's capital Antananarivo (30.1 points) and Haiti's capital Port au Prince (34 points). Both cities made the top of the list of dirtiest cities from their lack of effective water and waste management systems for their rapidly increasing populations. The other cities on the list are:

5- Mexico City, Meksika (37,7 puan),
6- Adis Ababa, Etiyopya (37,9 puan),
7- Mumbai, Hindistan (38,2 puan), <-- India 8- Bağdat, Irak (39 puan), 9- Almatı, Kazakistan (39,1 puan) <-- Almaty 10- Brazzaville, Kongo (39,1 puan).

Azerbaycan Ekoloji ve Doğal Kaynaklar Bakanlığı basın sözcüsü Irade İbrahimova ise sıralamayı önemsemediklerini, bu liste hazırlanırken kendilerine hiçbir şekilde danışılmadığını belirtti.

Azerbaijan's Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry's press spokesperson Irade Ibrahimova said that they didn't consider the listing to be important, and that they were not consulted at all while the list was being prepared.

Ibrahimova yapılan sıralamanın gerçeklerle alakası olmadığını söyleyerek konu hakkında araştırma yürütüleceğini belirtti.

Ibrahimova said that the listing had nothing to do with the facts, and that research would be carried out on the subject.

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Azerbaijan to withdraw troops from Iraq / Azerbaycan askerleri Irak'tan çekiliyor

Azerbaycan askerleri Irak'tan çekiliyor

Azeri troops to be withdrawn from Iraq

Source: Deutsche Welle (Turkish)

Azerbaycan meclisi, Irak'ta bulunan Azeri askerlerinin geri çekilmesi kararını kabul etti. Meclisin bugün yapılan oturumunda, Cumhurbaşkanı İlham Aliyev tarafından 7 Kasımda sunulan konuya ilişkin öneri görüşülerek oylandı. Öneri 1'e karşı 86 oyla kabul edildi. Meclis Güvenlik ve Savunma Daimi Komisyonu Başkan Yardımcısı Aydın Mirzazade, 2003 yılından bu yana Irak'ta olan Azeri barış gücünün 5 yıllık görev süresi sona erdiği için geri çekilmesinin uygun olduğuna karar verildiğini ifade ederek, 151 kişiden oluşan birliğin geri çağrıldığını kaydetti. Irak'ın El Hadita kenti yakınında görev yapan Azeri birliği, kent güvenliğinin yanı sıra bölgedeki içme suyu istasyonunun korunmasını da üstlenmişti.

The Parliament of Azerbaijan has made the decision to withdraw Azeri troops stationed in Iraq. Discussion and voting happened in a sitting of parliament today on a proposal by President Ilham Aliyev submitted on the 7th of November. The proposal passed with 86 votes for and 1 against. The vice-president of the Parliamentary Security and Defence Permanent Commission Aydın Mirzazade said that the unit of 151 people would be called back, stating that the Azeri peacekeepers that have been in Iraq since 2003 have reached the end of their 5-year mission and that the decision was made that a withdrawal was appropriate. The Azeri unit has been stationed near the Iraqi city of al-Haditha (حديثة), and along with security of the city had also set up a drinking water station.

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Georgia comes to agreement with Azerbaijan on natural gas / Gürcistan Azerbaycan'le doğalgaz anlaşması yaptı

Source: hurriyet.com.tr (Turkish)

Gürcistan Azerbaycan'le doğalgaz anlaşması yaptı

Georgia comes to agreement with Azerbaijan on natural gas

A.A.

Gürcistan'ın, Azerbaycan ile yeni bir doğal gaz anlaşması imzalayacağı bildirildi.

Georgia will sign a new natural gas agreement with Azerbaijan.

Gürcistan Cumhurbaşkanı Mihail Saakaşvili, uluslararası enerji konferansı için bulunduğu Bakü'de gazetecilere yaptığı açıklamada, Azerbaycan ile 5 yılı kapsayan doğalgaz anlaşması imzalayacaklarını belirterek, konu ile ilgili uzun süredir müzakerelerde bulunduklarını kaydetti.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said in a statement to journalists in Baku gathered for an international conference that they would sign a 5-year agreement on natural gas with Azerbaijan, and that they had been in discussions on the matter for quite some time.

Saakaşvili, önümüzdeki 5 yıllık dönemde Azerbaycan'dan kesintisiz doğalgaz alacaklarını belirterek, dolayısıyla ülkesinin bu süreç içinde enerji konusunda bir sıkıntı yaşamayacağını ifade etti.

Saakashvili said that they would receive uninterrupted natural gas from Azerbaijan over the next five years, and that therefore for this period there would be no difficulties on energy.

Azerbaycan ve Gürcistan arasındaki doğalgaz anlaşmasının, Bakü'de devam eden enerji konferansı çerçevesinde iki ülkenin enerji bakanları tarafından imzalanmasının beklendiği bildirildi.

The agreement on natural gas between Azerbaijan and Georgia is waiting to be signed in the energy conference continuing in Baku by the energy ministers of both nations.

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Former Armenian foreign minister Vardan Oskanyan: BTC Pipeline a successful project / 'Bakü-Tiflis-Ceyhan başarılı bir proje'

Source: zaman.com.tr (Turkish)

'Bakü-Tiflis-Ceyhan başarılı bir proje'

'Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan a successful project'

Ermenistan eski Dışişleri Bakanı Vardan Oskanyan; Azerbaycan, Gürcistan ve Türkiye arasında geliştirilen Bakü-Tiflis-Ceyhan petrol boru hattı (BTC) projesinin bölgesel işbirliği açısından başarılı bir proje olduğunu söyledi.

Former Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan (Վարդան Օսկանյան) said that the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline developed between Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey was a successful project from a regional cooperation point of view.

Azeri haber portalı 1News.az'ın haberine göre Amerika'nın Los-Angeles kentinde Ermeni diaspora üyeleriyle bir araya gelen Oskanyan, diasporadan Ermenistan'a yardım etmelerini istedi. Azerbaycan'ı tehditlerine devam ettiğini savunan Oskanyan Erivan'ın daha fazla desteğe ihtiyacı olduğunu kaydetti.

According to news from the Azeri news portal 1news.az, Oskanyan met with the Armenian diaspora in the US city of Los Angeles, requesting help from the diaspora for Armenia. Oskanyan maintained that Azerbaijan continued to be a threat and that Yerevan needed more support.

Oskanyan açıklamasında Bakü-Tiflis-Ceyhan petrol boru hattının başarılı bir proje olduğunu itiraf etti. Ermeni eski bakan, "Azerbaycan, Türkiye ve Gürcistan tarafından gerçekleştirilen Bakü-Tiflis-Ceyhan petrol boru hattı başarılı bir proje. Bu gibi bölgesel projeler katılımcı ülkelerin karşılıklı işbirliğini artırarak tek yumruk altında birleştiriyor." dedi.

Oskanyan admitted in his statement that the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline was a successful project. The former Armenian minister said that "The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline carried out between Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia was a successful project. These regional projects increase the mutual cooperation between the participating nations while uniting them under one body."

Oskanyan, Türk-Azeri ilişkilerinin gelişmesini ve Ankara'nın Bakü'ye siyasi, ekonomik ve askeri alanında verdiği desteğin artmasını da endişeyle dile getirdi. (CİHAN)

Oskanyan said that he was concerned about the development of Turkish-Azeri relations and the increase of Ankara's political, economic and military support to Baku.

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Turkish President Abdullah Gul going to Azerbaijan November 13th for energy summit / Gül Azerbaycan'a gidiyor

Business buildings on Jafar Jabbarli Street in Baku.

Source: gercekgundem.com (Turkish)

Checking the weather in Baku over the next three days: no clouds whatsoever, high of about 12, low of 10 every day.

Gül Azerbaycan'a gidiyor

Gül going to Azerbaijan

Cumhurbaşkanı Abdullah Gül, Bakü'de düzenlenecek Enerji Zirvesi'ne katılmak üzere yarın Azerbaycan'a gidecek.

President Abdullah Gül will go to Azerbaijan tomorrow to participate in an energy summit to be held in Baku tomorrow.

Cumhurbaşkanlığı Basın Merkezinden yapılan açıklamaya göre Gül, Azerbaycan Cumhurbaşkanı İlham Aliyev'in davetlisi olarak 13-14 Kasımda Bakü'de düzenlenecek Enerji Zirvesi'ne katılmak üzere Azerbaycan'ı ziyaret edecek.

According to a statement released by the President's Press Centre, Gül will visit Azerbaijan from the 13th to the 14th of November as an invitee of Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev to participate in the Energy Summit taking place in Baku.

Cumhurbaşkanı Gül'e, ziyaretinde, Enerji ve Tabii Kaynaklar Bakanı Hilmi Güler eşlik edecek.

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Hilmi Güler will accompany President Gül on the visit.

Bölgeyi yakından ilgilendiren enerji projelerinin ele alınacağı zirvenin, katılımcı ülkelere Türkiye'nin enerji politikasının en üst düzeyde aktarılması ve işbirliği imkanlarının geliştirilmesi bakımından önem taşıdığı belirtildi.

The summit will deal with energy projects related to the region, and is important in the conveying of Turkey's energy policies on the highest level to participating nations, and the development of possibilities in cooperation.

Cumhurbaşkanı Gül, 14 Kasım Cuma günü Türkiye'ye dönecek.

President Gül will return to Turkey on Friday the 14th of November.

Read more...

How much money does the Azerbaijani diaspora send home every year?

Here's the answer:

Each year, our citizens living abroad remit more than $1 billion home which also has some influence (on the economy).

It's interesting that the two nations in the Caucasus of Georgia and Azerbaijan are some of the few nations likely to be less affected than most by the current economic climate: Azerbaijan because of its large oil reserves and Georgia because of all the foreign aid pouring in as a result of the war.

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Barack Obama the first American president to have visited Azerbaijan / Azerbaycan'ı gören ilk ABD Başkanı: Obama

Source: hurriyet.com.tr (Turkish)

İSTANBUL, (DHA)

ABD liderliğine seçilen Barack Obama'nın daha önce Azerbaycan'ı ziyaret eden ilk Amerikan Başkanı olduğu ortaya çıktı. Amerikan Senatosu'ndan bir heyetle 2005 yılının Ağustos ayında Bakü'ye gelen Obama, Cumhurbaşkanlığı Sarayı'nda Azerbaycan lideri İlham Aliyev ile görüşmüştü. Bu görüşmede, ABD heyetine senatör Richard Lugar başkanlık ediyordu.

Barack Obama, elected as the leader of the United States, is the first American president to have visited Azerbaijan before. Obama came to the capital Baku in 2005 with an American Senate delegation, where he met with the leader of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev in the Presidential Palace. Senator Richard Lugar presided over the American delegation in this meeting.

ABD Başkanı seçilen Obama, senatör olduğu 2006 Eylül'ünde, Aliyev ile ikinci görüşmesini Senato'nun Dışilişkiler Komitesi Başkanı Richard Lugar ile birlikte Waşington'da yaptı. Aliyev, daha sonra Amerikan Kongresi'nde kapalı bir toplantıya katılmıştı.

President-elect Obama carried out the second meeting with Aliyev in Washington in September 2006 as a senator, with the head of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee Richard Lugar. Aliyev later participated in a closed meeting in the United States Congress.


Also, here's one of the comments below:

Obama efendi Dünya çoğrafyasını geçmiş başkanların hepsinden daha iyi biliyor.

"Mr. Obama knows world geography better than all the previous presidents."

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Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev coming to Turkey for first official visit since reelection / Aliyev, Türkiye'ye geliyor

Source: yenisafak.com.tr (Turkish)

And just in case you missed the news about the election in Azerbaijan, there's a fairly detailed article from the New York Times the day after that you can read here.

Azerbaycan Cumhurbaşkanı İlham Aliyev, yeniden Cumhurbaşkanı seçildikten sonra ilk yurt dışı ziyaretini, Cumhurbaşkanı Abdullah Gül'ün davetlisi olarak, 5 Kasım'da Türkiye'ye gerçekleştirecek.

Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev will carry out his first foreign visit after being reelected as president on the 5th of November as an invitee of Turkish president Abdullah Gül.

İki günlük resmi ziyaret için Türkiye'ye gelecekolan Aliyev ile Cumhurbaşkanı Gül, 5 Kasım'da baş başa görüşecekler ve heyetlerarası görüşmelere başkanlık edecekler. Cumhurbaşkanı Gül, Aliyev'in onuruna akşam yemeği verecek. Azerbaycan Cumhurbaşkanı Aliyev'in Türkiye ziyareti, 15 Ekim'de yapılan seçimle yeniden Cumhurbaşkanı seçilmesinden sonra ilk resmi yurt dışı gezi olacak.

For the two-day official visit to Turkey Aliyev and President Gül will meet together on the 5th of November and will preside over interdelegational meetings. President Gül will give breakfast in Aliyev's honour. Azerbaijan president Aliyev's visit to Turkey will be the first visit abroad since being reelected as president in the election on October 15th.

Ziyaret, Aliyev ile Ermenistan Cumhurbaşkanı Serj Sarkisyan'ın, Rusya Devlet Başkanı Dimitriy Medvedev'in ev sahipliğinde 2 Kasımda Moskova'da yapacakları görüşmenin hemen ardından olması nedeniyle de önem taşıyor. Cumhurbaşkanı Gül de 14 Kasımda başkent Bakü'de gerçekleştirilecek enerji zirvesine katılmak üzere Azerbaycan'a gidecek.

The visit also has meaning in taking place just after meetings on the 2nd of November in Moscow with Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, hosted by Russian President Dmitri Medvedev. President Gül will also be going to the capital Baku on the 14th of November to take place in an energy summit that will take place then.

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Russian foreign minister Lavrov: "Turkey can aid Yerevan (Armenia) in foreign relations." / "Türkiye Erivan'a dış ilişkilerde yardım edebilir."

Coat of arms of Azerbaijan, which is having presidential elections on October 15th. No talking about friendlying up relations with Armenia until then.

Source: trt.net.tr (Turkish)

07.10.2008 15:40

Rusya'dan İlginç Türkiye Yorumu

Interesting comment on Turkey from Russia

Lavrov: "...Türkiye Erivan'a dış ilişkilerde yardım edebilir."

Lavrov: "...Turkey can aid Yerevan in foreign relations."

Rusya'dan Ermeni işgali altındaki Yukarı Karabağ'a ilişkin önemli açıklama.

An important statement from Russia about the Nagarno-Karabakh region, under Armenian occupation.

Rusya Dışişleri Bakanı Sergey Lavrov, Yukarı Karabağ sorunun çözülmesi durumunda Ermenistan'ın Türkiye üzerinden dünyaya açılabileceğini söyledi.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (Серге́й Ви́кторович Лавро́в) said that when the Nagorno-Karabakh issue is resolved Armenia will be able to open up to the world through Turkey.

Rus Rossiyskaya gazetesine açıklamalarda bulunan Lavrov, "Yukarı Karabağ sorunu halledilirse Türkiye Erivan'a dış ilişkilerde yardım edebilir. Elbette bu Ankara ile Erivan arasında diplomatik ilişkiler kurulmasından sonra gerçekleşecek" diye konuştu.

Lavrov gave a number of statements to the Russian Rossiyskaya magazine (Российская газета), where he said that "If the Nagorno-Karabakh issue is resolved Turkey will be able to aid Armenia in foreign relations. This would of course take place after the establishment of diplomatic relations between Ankara and Yerevan."

Sergey Lavrov, Azerbaycan ile Ermenistan arasında halledilemeyen birkaç konunun kaldığını, anlaşmanın Azerbaycan'daki cumhurbaşkanlığı seçiminden sonra olabileceğini de savundu.

Sergei Lavrov maintained that there were a number of issues remaining unresolved between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and that an agreement would be possible after the presidential election in Azerbaijan.

Türkiye'nin Kafkasya İşbirliği ve İstikrar Platformu girişimine de değinen Lavrov, "Gelişmeler, Türkiye'ye bölgedeki varlığını bir kez daha gösterme fırsatı doğurdu. Ankara da bu eşsiz fırsatı zamanında fark etti" dedi.

Lavrov also touched upon Turkey's Caucasus Cooperation and Stability Platform, saying that "Developments have given Turkey an opportunity to show its presence in the region again. Ankara realizes that this is a time of unmatched opportunity."

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