Nation

140 Azerbaijanis appeal to European court
Chairman of the European Human Rights Court Luzius Vildkhaver said in a meeting with the Azerbaijani Parliamentary Speaker Monday that the European court had received some 140 appeals from Azerbaijani citizens.
According to him, if international law norms were observed in local courts, it would ease the work of European courts. Reacting to this point, Murtuz Alasgarov said that all Azerbaijani legislative acts were sent to the Council of Europe Venice Commission for expertise.
He was visiting Baku to monitor international law observance in local courts.
During the meeting, Azeri speaker updated the visitor about legal referenda in detail. He said that a three-instance court system, had been established in Azerbaijan and employed personnel selected by merit. He told the European official that Azerbaijan had joined more than 30 European conventions, such as the human rights convention, changes were made to the constitution as a result of the last year's referendum, due to the changes an Ombudsman was set up and citizens now have the right to apply to the Constitutional Court.
Arrived in Azerbaijan on February 15, chairman of the European Court met the head of the Azerbaijani Constitution Court, Xanlar Haciyev, on February 16, and visited the Carpet Museum, the Arts Museum, and the Palace of Sirvansahlar. During the visit to last until February 19, Vildkhaver also met with the Azerbaijan minister of justice. He is also due to hold talks with chairpersons of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal.

POW freed
An Azerbaijani soldier, Hamid Alakbarov, 18, from the Davaci District, who was taken prisoner by Armenians on February 13 on the contact line between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops located in Agdam region, was returned at 12.30 Tuesday.
An agreement on returning the prisoner of war was reached between the defense ministries of the two countries.
Only soldiers attended the process of returning the prisoner.
Representatives of the Red Cross International Committee and the State Commission on prisoners and captives also took part in the event.
The prisoner was handed to soldiers of the military unit located in front-line Agdam District, the press service of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense has informed AssA-Irada.
Armenian news agencies carries reports claiming that Azerbaijan also handed a soldier of the self-proclaimed Upper Qarabag Republic Army,  Smbat Pogosyan to the Armenian side.
The spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, Ramiz Malikov, neither confirmed nor denied the news reports.
According to the spokesman, the chief of head staff of the Armenian army, Col-Gen Arutunyan has made a telephone call to his Azerbaijani counterpart, Lie-Gen Nacmaddin Sadiqov, saying: "Our soldier Pogosyan is in your hands. Give him back."
Answering a question from Sadiqov, Who told you that, the Armenian general said that he had read an article, Armenian scout was found, published by Yeni Musavat newspaper dated February 14.
In its turn, the press service of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense calls the media, in particular, military reporters to carefully approach issues that can damage national security.

President attends Iranian revolution celebrations
A ceremony was held by the Iranian embassy at the Azerbaijani Academic National Drama Theater on Wednesday marking the 24th anniversary of the Iranian Islamic Revolution and the Qurban bayrami (Sacrifice holiday).
Attending the ceremony were President Heydar Aliyev, as well as Iranians living in Azerbaijan. The Iranian ambassador Ahad Qazai spoke about the current state of bilateral relations, saying that these ties have been strengthened further by Heydar Aliyev's  visit to Iran last year.
President Aliyev said he was looking forward to his Iranian counterpart Hatami's official visit to Azerbaijan, expressing hope that this visit would contribute to furthering relations. Highly praising the Iranian stance that recognizes the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and condemns Armenia as aggressor, Heydar Aliyev said: "I am hopeful that we will feel this support from Iran in the future as well."
The Azerbaijan president pointed out that the different state systems of the two nations did not hinder cooperation, since Azerbaijan valued Islamic values highly, but at the same time would not put aside democratic, legislative and secular state building.
Touching upon all problematic developments in the East, Heydar Aliyev advocated to settle them in fair and just way.

Parliamentary faction urges Speaker to convene special session
The chairman of the parliamentary faction Qarabag, MP Sabir Rustamxanli has sent an appeal to Speaker Murtuz Alasgarov on behalf of the group urging the speaker to convene a special session of parliament on the anniversary of the Xocali massacre to discuss issues relating to the atrocity. Backed by the 366th motorized regiment of Russia, Armenian armed formations slaughtered some 7,000 people from the Xocali district of Azerbaijan on February 26, 1992, wounding, capturing, torturing, or killing thousands of innocent people.
The appeal regrets that although 11 years have passed since the Xocali massacre was perpetrated on February 26, 2003, Milli Maclis (the Azerbaijani parliament) has failed to adopt a resolution condemning the tragedy as  genocide and calls on the world's parliaments to support his view. The Qarabag faction was set up in June 2001 and comprises eight MPS.
Internet forum
A variety of actions will be held across the world on the occasion of the anniversary of the Xocali massacre.ЁOne of the actions is an Internet forum to be conducted on February 23. The objective of the forum is to raise awareness of the Xocali massacre around the globe and retain the tragedy in people's memories. Historian Nasiman Yaqublu, author of a work dedicated to the Xocali massacre, will speak to the forum and answer questions from participants in the forum to last 8-10 hours and to be joined by Azerbaijanis living abroad.

Save the Children to create nationwide capacity-building network
Save the Children - Azerbaijan has started to create a nationwide Community Empowerment Network on behalf of the World Bank (WB). The network will enhance the capacity of communities, government, and NGOs to implement community-driven projects and will cover the entire country including Naxchivan.  It is a part of a larger regional network that is being created by the WB covering Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan. 
"The point of the network is to make it easier for future development assistance to involve communities directly. While there are a number of excellent organizations using community-driven approaches to development, most of their work is targeted to specific regions. The network will expand and assist their great efforts and help spread the benefits to the whole country," said Mr. Tryggve Nelke, Field Office Director, Save the Children - Azerbaijan.
The Community Empowerment Network will seek ways to make existing and future community development efforts more effective through improving information sharing, developing local expertise and knowledge, promoting research, training programs, and facilitating regional networking. 
Save the Children is developing the network in close cooperation with other community development stakeholders including a number of international NGOs, the Azeri government, including members of Parliament, the Poverty Reduction Strategy team, donors like USAID, UNDP and WB, and individual citizens from different regions of the country, elected as representatives of their communities.
The network is managed by a Steering Group consisting of international NGOs, donors, government officials, and representatives from central and southern regions, as well as urban communities.  The steering group, which held its first meeting last Wednesday, February 4, will decide on the specific projects for the network.  The network is expected to be in place for at least the next two and a half years.

Schwimmer consents to Azerbaijan joining Emerald Network
The Azerbaijani Minister for Ecology and Natural Resources, Huseyn Bagirov, told a news conference on Thursday that UN Environmental Protection Programme members met in Kenya on February 4 to 8. The event, which involved representatives of more than 120 countries and international environmental organizations, focused on the establishment of regional agencies to manage and control ecological processes. During the discussion, the Azerbaijani Minister stated that it was impossible for Azerbaijan located in the Caucasus region to implement any project jointly with Armenia, which has inflicted heavy damage to the environment in Azerbaijani lands.
Touching upon international relations, Huseyn Bagirov said the Council of Europe chairman, Walter Schwimmer, had agreed on Azerbaijan's joining the Emerald Network project.  Under this project, special areas will be set up in Azerbaijan in the future to preserve and protect rare fauna and flora species. Furthermore, funded by the French government, a project to develop and protect forestry will be implemented in the second half of this year. The Finnish government will be officially asked to render assistance to Azerbaijan for forestry expansion. A laboratory to manage and monitor the Kur river will be established in Naxcivan using funds allocated by the TACIS program.

Azeri MP: Kocharyan must be called to account for war crimes
The Armenian opposition's belief that Robert Kocharyan's bid in the imminent presidential elections is unlawful since he is an Azerbaijani citizen has triggered a wave of in Azerbaijan. In reaction to the Armenian opposition's claims regarding the incumbent president, Chairman of the Umid Party, Azeri MP Iqbal Agazada judged this approach as fully reflecting reality, saying: "Robert Kocharyan is a citizen of the republic of Azerbaijan and is accountable for separatist actions under the Criminal-Procedural Code. We have sent evidence proving Kocharyan's accountability for the Xocali tragedy to the Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan. Unfortunately, the Prosecutor General's office has failed to take practical steps in this regard. " Iqbal Agazada says that Kocharyan's current status  insures him against these crimes.
According to the MP, the Armenian opposition's acknowledgment of this unequivocally confirms Upper Qarabag as an integral part of Azerbaijan.

Electoral Code discussed in Strasbourg
Experts from the OSCE Office for Human Rights and Democratic Institutions and the Council of Europe Venice Commission met Azerbaijani Presidential Administration official Sahin Aliyev in Strasbourg on Thursday. The OSCE Baku office has informed AssA-Irada that the meeting was initiated by the Council of Europe to discuss Azerbaijani Electoral Code recommendations from the OSCE Office for Human Rights and Democratic Institutions and the Council of Europe Venice Commission.

New airport - city metro line
A new rail line, to be laid from the Azizbayov metro station  Bina Airport, will link the airport with the city, according to Tagi Ahmadov, Baku metro chief. He said this plan was born in the Baku transport prospects project prepared by Japanese experts. Four or five stations are to be constructed between the Azizbayov station and the airport. At present, a sponsor is being sought to implement the project. Furthermore, Tagi Ahmadov recited Baki Soveti-Bayil-Patamdar and Memar Acami-Bilacari-Saray lines as future plans. The new four stations are thought to be built in the nearest three or four years. Construction of the Nasimi station will cost $46m, while $150-160m is required to build three stations in the northern direction.

Senior officer appeals court decision
A senior officer of the military scientific center of the Defense Ministry, Col-Lie Uzeryir Cafarov conducted a news conference on Friday. Uzeyir Cafarov advised journalists that he had lodged a complaint with the Court of Appeal about a judgment passed by the Baku Military Tribunal on February 7. Uzeyir Cafarov said that he was called to account on false charges in November last year and even the investigator in charge of his case had revealed that some claims were false.
Col-Lie Cafarov went on to speak about massive irregularities within the Ministry of Defense. He promised further detailed statements concerning wrong-doings at the ministry.
Cafarov added that he would inform Vahid Aliyev, an assistant to President Heydar Aliyev, about the situation in the Azerbaijani Army and all relevant proof.
Uzeyir Cafarov was charged under clause 178.2 of the Criminal Code, and the court issued a suspended sentence of 42 months, including a 12-month probation period.

Russian gov’t, Azeri Diaspora sign for co-op
The committee on ethnic issues of the State Duma (parliament) of the Russian Federation and the All-Russia Azerbaijanis Congress signed a cooperation agreement on February 11.
The State Committee on Azerbaijanis living abroad has informed AssA-Irada that the agreement envisages joint conferences towards normalizing ethnic relations. In addition, the document urges organizing  projects aimed at educating the younger generation to respect other nationalities. 
Though the committee works with various national public associations and organizations in Moscow and pays serious attention to cooperation with immigration agencies, Russia's failure to adopt the immigration law impairs its work to some extent.

Pressure group set up in Stockholm
The World Azerbaijanis Congress (WAC) has told AssA-Irada that Qarabag organization was set up in Stockholm on February 17. The objective of the organization is to convey Qarabag realities to the world community.
The Qarabag organization will hold its first action outside the UN representation office on February 22. Sariyya Ardabilli has been elected as chairwoman of the organization, all members of which are going to become WAC members.