Azerbaijani leader's surefire win

Azerbaijan goes to the polls on Wednesday in an election where there is no contest.

It is all but guaranteed the winner will be the incumbent president, Ilham Aliyev.

Since he took over from Heydar Aliyev, his father, in 2003, he has run a strict authoritarian regime, attempting to stifle any form of opposition.

But he is proving to be a much needed ally for the US and Europe, providing oil to the West while being sandwiched in between Iran and Russia.

On the eve of the election we visited the markets in Baku to watch the capital's residents haggling over the price of gherkins, grapes and potatoes.

There was even a man selling pomegranates from the back of a Lada motor car.

But amid the debate about food prices, there was little argument about who would win the election.

One market seller shouted to us: "Ilham Alivey, he is good." The voting process here is as simple as that.

One real candidate

There are seven candidates in total, but Aliyev is the only one with any real chance of winning.

Even in the final days of the campaign period, the only visible campaign posters adorning the walls and windows of the central shopping district have been promoting his face.

We went to meet Hafiz Haciyev, one of the opposition candidates.

Critics say he's just a proxy, competing in the poll in order to give the result some degree of legitimacy.

Not surprisingly he denies that, but professes he is a supporter of Aliyev.

I asked Haciyev why he has no less than five photographs of the current president dotted around his office.

"Well, I don't love him, but I respect him because he's an intelligent young guy," he said. "But the people who surround him are crooks and bandits."

‘Need western support'

The main opposition leader, Isa Gambar, isn't bothering to run this time.

The Musavat Party has done well in previous elections and Gambar came second in the last presidential vote.

He, like many here who believe in democracy, feels abandoned by the West.

He said: "If the West doesn't care about its own ideals of democracy and human rights, the security interests of the West and the energy interests of the world will be in serious danger."

And pro-democracy supporters have good reason to be disappointed with their lot. At parks around central Baku, walls have been erected and seating removed, activists say the aim is to prevent public gatherings, which might threaten Aliyev's hold on power.

Emin Huseynov is a well-known campaigner. "If you walk around this city you'll see this stuff everywhere," he said.

"These are preventative measures. The government has taken a strategic decision to block the right to gather in public."

'Meets international standards'

But despite all of this, the government claims the process meets international standards.

The ruling New Azerbaijan Party's executive secretary said: "The elections will be free and fair, nobody has any doubt about that and we have no doubt." There will be plenty who disagree.

Azerbaijan is strategically important to the West, in part because a million barrels of oil are being pumped out of here every day - in the direction of Europe.

But there are other reasons, and those are Russia and Iran.

Azerbaijan is located in the middle of the two countries, but allied to the West. That strategic position, many speculate, is the reason why Western leaders are willing to accept Aliyev's iron-fisted approach to ruling this country.

Stability in Baku reduces the chances of increased Russian or Iranian influence over the resource-rich Caspian region.

Oil and geography have made this country a lot of money and the government too powerful to challenge.

Alivey may be an unpalatable ally for the West, but his ability to deliver oil and consistency here means he may be in power for a long time to come.

Azerbaijan, Baku, 30 July / corr. A.Aliyev/ Turkish MPs suggested official marking in Turkey of Azerbaijan’s Khojali tragedy. The suggestion was made

Azerbaijan, Baku, 30 July / corr. A.Aliyev/ Turkish MPs suggested official marking in Turkey of Azerbaijan’s Khojali tragedy. The suggestion was made at the Turkish Parliament during discussion of the Istanbul terrorism act on 30 July.

MPs discussed the crimes committed in Azerbaijan by Armenians and suggested official marking of the Khojali tragedy in Turkey. Representative of the National Movement Party Reshat Dogru noted the need to inform the Turkish and international community of the Khojali massacre. “Turkey must even more seriously support Azerbaijan on this issue,” said Dogru.

A member of the Justice & Development Party, MP Aladdin Kaya backed his colleague’s idea. He again informed the MPs of massacre of 613 innocent civilians in Khojali. According to Kaya, marking of the Khojali tragedy in Turkey will be a new fact demonstrating Turkey’s friendship and solidarity with Azerbaijan.

The correspondent can be contacted at trend@trend.az

Additional information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khojaly_Massacre

AssA-Irada: Middle Easts largest energy project signed.

Azerbaijan will gain an opportunity to transport its oil to the Middle East through Israel and further to the Indian and Chinese markets. The Middle Easts largest energy project that envisions building a pipeline under the Mediterranean Sea carrying Caspian oil and natural gas, or Medstream, will become possible through a historic deal reached by Turkey and Israel. Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Guler and Israeli Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer endorsed the project in Ankara Thursday. The project is moving fast, Guler told reporters after hosting Ben-Eliezer. Turkey and Israel have long been considering building a multipurpose pipeline to carry oil and natural gas from Caspian states and Russia, water and electricity from Turkey to Israel. The project is of great importance for Azerbaijan given that Israel is one of the largest importers of its crude.

Azeri oil currently flows to Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan via Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which could be extended to Israel. If materialized, the new project will allow to transport oil from the South Caucasus republic purchased at Ceyhan to Israel's Askhelon port not by tankers but through a pipeline, which is cheaper and faster. The Israeli minister discussed details of the project with Azerbaijani officials during his visit to Baku several months ago. The pipeline will strengthen the Azerbaijan-Turkey-Israel economic triangle. The conduit to link Ceyhan with the Red Sea is to pump 40 million tons of oil annually. Natural gas pipes are to be built in parallel to the pipeline as well. According to Guler, the feasibility report will be ready in 10 months and its estimated cost will be about 8 million euros. We are now trying to set up the budget. We are planning to complete the project three years after the finalization of the feasibility studies, he said. The prospects of the project are immense in terms of saving costs and time for oil transportation, which is carried out by tankers for the most part. Carrying oil to India, Taiwan and the Far East using the current destination of Gibraltar and Cape of Good Hope takes 39-49 days. The Medstream will allow to reduce the timeframe to 19 days. Ben-Eliezer said all the parties involved were seeking a speedy implementation of the project. Guler replied that a trilateral meeting between Turkish, Israeli and Indian energy ministers will take place within weeks. Ben-Eliezer also said his country was close to an agreement with Russia that would secure natural gas for Medstream. We are very close to reaching an agreement with Russia that would supply the pipeline with natural gas, Ben-Eliezer told the press. I have visited both Azerbaijan and Russia in order to seek resources for the project. We are very close to signing an agreement with Russia, one is a memorandum of understanding and the other is commercial, he said. Turkey is purchasing natural gas from Russia via a pipeline that runs underneath the Black Sea. Russia was cold to Turkey's pressures to prefer Samsun-Ceyhan oil pipeline to bypass the Turkish Straits. Ben-Eliezer added that as the agreements were finalized Israeli and Russian companies would begin the process.