Nation

New Indian ambassador to Azerbaijan appointed
The Indian embassy in Azerbaijan has notified AssA-Irada that Jyoti Svarup Pande, 52, was appointed as new Indian ambassador to Azerbaijan. Pande has worked for the Indian Foreign Ministry as second and third secretary at the Indian embassies in Brazil and Malaysia. Azerbaijan is the first country, where he will take up the position of ambassador.
The newly-appointed ambassador speaks English and Portugese, as well as his native language, Hindi. He is married and has two children. 
According to the embassy, Pande is expected to offer his credentials to the Azerbaijani president shortly.

Rafiq Aliyev to address House of Lords
A workshop-hearing on relations among religious groups in Azerbaijan will be held at the Lords House of Great Britain on March 5. Three members of the House of Lords, representing Islam, Christianity and Judaism, Lords Ahmed, Chener and Elton have visited religious communities in Azerbaijan, traveled to ethnic minority areas to become familiar with the situation in the regions. The workshop-hearing will be presided over by Lord Grazer, chairman of the England-Azerbaijan society.
The Azerbaijani State Committee on Religious Bodies has informed AssA-Irada that  the implementation of Azerbaijan's law on freedom of religion impressed the lords.
According to Lord Elton, anti-Semitism does not exist in this country at all, which represents an excellent example of religious tolerance.
Head of the Azerbaijan State Committee on Religious Bodies, Rafiq Aliyev, has been invited to attend and give a talk to the workshop-hearing. Earlier, Rafiq Aliyev had made speeches at a commission of the US Congress, State Department and seven universities.
During the visit to last from March 3 until 7, Rafiq Aliyev is expected to visit the England-Azerbaijan society, become aware of the situation with religious communities, and meet with lords of the British parliament.

GUUAM Council mulls co-op issues in the Georgia
Heads of border the protection departments of GUUAM countries convened in Tbilisi, Georgia, on February 7.
The four member states of the GUUAM Council, Georgia, the Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova, signed on February 9 a protocol on interaction in the field of combating drug trafficking, arms trading, and illegal migration.
Valeri Chkhiedze, head of the Georgian State Border Protection Department, has told journalists that in addition to the protocol, they signed a joint statement on cooperation in harmonizing legislation relating to exchange of data, personnel training, and other border issues.
According to him, the Tbilisi meeting, held in an atmosphere of mutual understanding, has highlighted issues pertaining to the fight against separatism and international terrorism.
The meeting also focused on further interaction between customs structures of the GUUAM Council's member-states, cooperation in the commercial and transport sectors, as well as issues on setting up free trade zones.
The GUUAM Council was established in 1997, including Georgia, the Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova, Uzbekistan joined in 1999.

Baghdad hopes for support from Baku
"The Iraqi government will continue to make statements regarding the absence of weapons of mass destruction in the country," the Iraqi ambassador to Azerbaijan, Qalib Abd Hussein, has said. According to him, the US government plays the ethnic card: "But we hope that Azerbaijan will support Baghdad if the US wages war against Iraq." Qalib Abd Hussein said that if Iraq is occupied, we will turn all Iraq and the whole Arab region to several Vietnams, not just one.  In  reaction to reports alleging that Turkey will occupy the north part of Iraq, the ambassador said: "We will not allow any nation to take a centimeter of our lands. We will let neither Turkey, nor any other state interfere in our internal affairs." Qalib Abd Hussein said that in case war broke out, 150 Iraqi nationals living in Azerbaijan, including the ambassador himself, would go to defend their country.

First Azeri joins World Journalism Org
Rashad Majid from the newspaper 525 becomes a member of the World Association of Newspapers (WAN). Editor in Chief of the influential 525-ci Gazet is the first Azerbaijani journalist to become a WAN member in Paris on February 3.
The 18,000 member organization has been promoting press freedom since 1948. WAN creates relationships among world newspapers and encourages development of the press. This authoritatve organization holds its Congress every year with the World Editors Forum, a sub institution of WAN. While in WAN office in Paris, he discussed the press situation in Azerbaijan and proposed that WAN forums be held in Azerbaijan, which met with approval from the organization. R.Majid was invited to the 56th World Newspaper Congress and the 10th World Editors Forum in Dublin in July.
The World's Press will gather for its annual meeting in Ireland's capital. R.Majid said he would take part in the events in July, where influential world media will meet.

Bush congratulates Azeri people on Sacrifice holiday
In its press-release, the US embassy in Azerbaijan has published President George W. Bush's congratulations to the Azerbaijani people on the Qurban Bayram (holy Sacrifice holiday). George W. Bush wishes a happy and blessed Sacrifice holiday to the people of Azerbaijan. Furthermore, the president says: "Today, the people of Azerbaijan and the people of the United States are working together toward mutual goals of shared values. Our partnership has achieved much, and will deepen in the future. May God continue to bless all the people of Azerbaijan."

Caucasian speakers convene in Kislovodsk
Speakers of the Azerbaijan, Armenian, Georgian and Russian parliament held a closed-door meeting on Saturday in Kislovodsk, Russia. Previous meetings of the speakers of the Caucasus Four have taken place in Saint-Petersburg, Russia and Tbilisi, Georgia. The current meeting is the third event of this nature as the parliament heads of the Caucasian countries had agreed earlier to meet on a quarterly basis.  Prior to the meeting, Sergey Mironov, speaker of the Council of the Russian Federation, said that the talks would take place in a frank atmosphere of  mutual understanding and that the Russian, Armenian, Georgian and Azerbaijani presidents would be informed of the results of the Kislovodsk meeting. The next meeting of the Caucasian speakers is to be held in Tbilisi, Georgia, on the last ten days of April.

CoE, Azerbaijan to mull co-op in Brussels
The commission on cooperation between the Council of Europe (CoE) and the Azerbaijani government is planning to hold its regular meeting in Brussels, Belgium, on February 9-10. The Azerbaijani delegation will be headed by Deputy Prime Minister Abid Sarifov the Cabinet of Ministers has told AssA-Irada. The current situation and prospects for bilateral economic cooperation will be discussed with high-ranking CoE officials, focusing on progress of the poverty reduction project being implemented in Azerbaijan with Council of Europe assistance.

Pressure groups hold pickets in solidarity with N Cyprus
Members of the Azerbaijani Society for Women Rights Protection held a picket outside the Turkic Republic of Northern Cyprus's representation office in Baku on Saturday in an effort to express solidarity with Northern Cyprus. The pickets chanted slogans in support of the Northern Cyprus President, Rauf Denktas. At the end of the action, a statement by the society was read. Meanwhile, members of the Azerbaijani-Turkish Women's Association also organized a picket outside Northern Cyprus's representation office in Baku on the same day. Following Southern Cyprus's admission to the European Union at its Bonn summit, the North has been under increasing pressure, leading to political divisions in Turkey.

American writer's book discussed
The UN resource and training center in Baku hosted on Wednesday a discussion of the book entitled Death and Exile, the result of a year-long research by an American historian in response to those who misrepresent Azerbaijani history. Justin McKarti, author of the 380-page work, apprises readers of the historic realities of the period lasting from 1821 to 1922. The edition features tragedies suffered by Turks and other Muslims. The author attributes the reason for hostility between Armenians and Turks to the dirty regional policy of Russia.
During the discussion initiated by the Union of Struggle against Armenian Aggression, publishing Death and Exile in Azeri was strongly encouraged.
Justin McKarti is the 68th American writer to publish evidence concerning Armenian-Muslim relations.