The government of Saudi Arabia will provide financial support to the humanitarian demining activities carried out in Azerbaijan through the King Salman Humanitarian Aid Center of this country, Azernews reports.
Day: January 16, 2024
BREAKING:
The Islamic regime in Iran tonight killed one of Iraq’s richest men, Peshraw Dizayee, by firing 2 ballistic missiles from Iran at his home in Erbil, Iraq.
His wife and another 2 relatives were murdered too.
He was targeted facilitating trade with Israel pic.twitter.com/dIZ4AxQM3u
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) January 15, 2024
Julian Assange said the Russian government was not the source of the documents – Google Search https://t.co/0v15csw0wh pic.twitter.com/CF405ySi3A
— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) January 16, 2024
Political arrests in Azerbaijan
A well-known journalist, expert on conflict journalism Shahin Rzayev was administratively arrested in Baku. According to official information, he was convicted for petty hooliganism. Although he himself managed to inform his friends that he was arrested for his status in the social network.
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According to his family, journalist Shahin Rzayev was detained by police on January 15 afternoon in Surakhany village near his home when he went to the nearest grocery store. He then told his friends that he had been arrested for a status on a social network, but he did not have time to specify exactly what status he was referring to. It turned out that his Facebook page had deleted all posts from the past two days.
A few hours after communication with Rzayev was interrupted, the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Azerbaijan confirmed his arrest in response to journalists’ request. It turned out that a couple of hours after his arrest, he was brought to court.
By the decision of Surakhani District Court Shahin Rzayev was sentenced to 15 days of administrative arrest. He was charged under Articles 510 (minor infliction of harm) and 535.1 (failure to obey a lawful demand of the police) of the Code of Administrative Offenses.
It is alleged that the journalist was swearing in the street and the police officers demanded disciplinary action from him, but he paid no attention. He was detained and taken to the 31st Police Department of Surakhani District.
According to relatives, family members were not informed about the detention and trial of Shahin Rzayev. He appeared in court with a lawyer at the expense of the state. The journalist emphasized that what was written in the administrative offense report was a lie, he did not swear and did not disobey anyone.
Shahin Rzayev is a journalist with a long work experience. He is known for his participation in numerous regional civil society projects aimed at achieving peace in the South Caucasus. He headed the Azerbaijan office of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) for about 15 years. He was also a contributor to JAMNews. He conducted trainings on conflict journalism.
From time to time Rzayev has criticized the Azerbaijani authorities.
Citing the Cabinet of Ministers of Kyrgyzstan, AKIpress reported on January 12 that co-chairmen of the Kyrgyz-Tajik commission for delimitation and demarcation of the disputed stretches of common border – the head of Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security Kamchybek Tashiyev and his Tajik counterpart Saimumin Yatimov — have met in the Kyrgyz city of Batken.
The parties reportedly continued to discuss the issue of delimitation of the remaining disputed stretches of the border and gave specific instructions to further intensify negotiations between the working groups of the Tajik and Kyrgyz government delegations on delimitation and demarcation of the mutual border.
Saimumin Yatimov was cited as saying that they reached agreement in principle on Kulundu, Makcat, and Arka areas.
Kamchybek Tashiyev was quoted as saying that they had already agreed upon another 15 kilometers and “now our working groups just have to inventory all these areas.”
Recall, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has announced that an agreement addressing the long-standing border dispute between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan is set to be signed in March this year. The announcement followed discussions between Fidan and Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon in Dushanbe on January 10. The Turkish top diplomat’s visit to Kyrgyzstan the day prior reportedly also featured discussions on the impending agreement.
“As a brotherly country interested in the region, we attach importance to the agreement, which will be a major step in ensuring security and stability in Central Asia,” Fidan was cited as saying during a press briefing in Dushanbe without providing further details.
The long-standing border dispute between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan has poisoned relations between the two Central Asian nations since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, leading to frequent clashes along the common border in recent years.
It is to be noted that many border areas in Central Asia have been disputed since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The situation is particularly complicated near the numerous exclaves in the Fergana Valley, where the borders of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan meet.
The border of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan has been the scene of unrest repeatedly since the collapse of the former Soviet Union. Border talks between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan began in 2002. The countries share 972 kilometers of border and unresolved border issues have led to tensions for the past 30 years.
To-date, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have reportedly held more than 170 meetings and negotiations on delimitation and demarcation of the common border.
Co-chairmen of the Tajik-Kyrgyz commission for delimitation and demarcation of the disputed segments of the Tajik-Kyrgyz border – Head of the State Committee for National Security of Tajikistan (SCNS) Saimumin Yatimov and his Kyrgyz counterpart Kamchybek Tashiyev – said last month that they have agreed upon more than 90% of common border.