Category: Azer News

A video dedicated to the Azerbaijani Army was shared on the social media accounts of President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, AzerNEWS reports.

The post states: “Long live Azerbaijan! Long live the Azerbaijani Armed Forces! Love to the mighty Azerbaijani Army!”

Hospitals across parts of the United Kingdom have been forced to cancel or postpone operations due to extreme heat and insufficient air conditioning, as record June temperatures place significant strain on the healthcare system, AzerNEWS reports, citing Financial Times.

Air temperatures in some areas of southern England have risen to nearly 36°C, marking one of the highest June readings on record. The intense heat has prompted several medical institutions to declare emergency conditions as operating theatres and other clinical areas become unsafe for routine procedures.

Among the affected facilities are East Surrey Hospital, the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board in Wales, and Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth. These hospitals reported operational disruptions caused by overheating in critical departments and inadequate cooling capacity to maintain safe working conditions for patients and staff.

As a result, certain operating theatres, diagnostic units, and other medical zones were deemed unsuitable for clinical activity, leading to the postponement of planned surgeries.

According to Financial Times, citing calculations by researchers at the University of Birmingham, between 1,400 and 4,000 surgical procedures may have been at risk of cancellation over the course of four of the hottest days of the week.

Climate change is driving up temperatures around the world – but particularly in Europe. It is the fastest warming continent, heating up twice as fast as the global average, according to the Copernicus climate service.

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev sent a congratulatory letter to President of Slovenia Nataša Pirc Musar on the occasion of the country’s national holiday – Statehood Day.

According to AzerNEWS, the letter reads:

“Dear Madam President,

On my own behalf and on behalf of the people of Azerbaijan, I sincerely congratulate you and your people on the occasion of the national holiday of the Republic of Slovenia – Statehood Day.

I am confident that we will successfully continue our joint efforts to develop the friendly relations between Azerbaijan and Slovenia – which this year mark the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations – as well as to expand our mutually beneficial cooperation both on a bilateral and multilateral basis.

On this festive occasion, I extend my best regards to you and wish the friendly people of Slovenia lasting prosperity and well-being”.

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov held talks with his Polish counterpart Radoslaw Sikorski in Gdansk on the sidelines of the Conference on Ukraine’s Recovery, AzerNEWS reports.

According to Poland’s Foreign Ministry, the discussions focused on the prospects for developing pragmatic Poland-Azerbaijan relations, as well as ongoing work on draft agreements between the two countries.

The ministers also exchanged views on support for Ukraine and discussed the situation in the South Caucasus, regional developments, and Azerbaijan’s assessment of the ongoing processes in the region.

The meeting took place as part of broader diplomatic engagements surrounding international efforts to support Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction.

Ministers also exchanged views on broader regional security situation of mutual interest.

The conference held on Capitol Hill under the title “The Right of Return and Self-Determination: Double Standards and Selective Approaches” reflects a broader effort to internationalise the issue of the displacement of Azerbaijanis from present-day Armenia and to frame it within the language of human rights and international law. Organized by the Baku Initiative Group, the event was presented not simply as a political gathering, but as an attempt to draw attention to a long-neglected humanitarian question. It is about the fate, rights, and historical memory of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis who were forced to leave their homes.

At the heart of the conference was the argument that the suffering of displaced Azerbaijanis has not received the same degree of international recognition as comparable cases elsewhere. This claim is politically significant because it challenges what participants described as a selective approach in global human rights discourse. By holding the event in Washington, D.C., in a venue associated with the U.S. Congress, organisers sought to give the issue symbolic legitimacy and place it before an international policy audience. In that sense, the conference was not only about historical grievance, but also about contesting narratives and influencing future diplomatic and legal discussions.

Speakers emphasised the importance of ensuring international attention remains focused on what they described as the fundamental right of displaced people to return to their ancestral lands in a safe, voluntary and dignified manner. Participants cited the case of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis who they said were forcibly displaced from territories in present-day Armenia as a result of policies of ethnic cleansing.

They also called for a legal assessment under international law of the systematic destruction, desecration, and appropriation of Azerbaijani cultural, religious, and historical heritage remaining in Armenia, including place names, mosques, cemeteries, shrines, and other monuments, as well as for these violations to be investigated and documented on-site by international organisations. It should be noted that more than 2,000 place names of Azerbaijani origin were changed.

The adoption of an appeal to members of the U.S. Congress at the conclusion of the event signals an effort to transform moral argument into political engagement. The document’s emphasis on consistent standards, non-discrimination, restoration of rights, and protection of heritage suggests a deliberate attempt to align the cause of Western Azerbaijanis with universally accepted principles.

The document calls for international support for the right of Western Azerbaijanis to return safely, voluntarily, and with dignity to their native lands, as well as for the restoration of their property rights and the protection of their cultural heritage.

From a legal perspective, the invocation of the 1951 Geneva Convention highlights the importance of established international frameworks in addressing displacement. While the Convention affirms the protection of refugees and their rights, the practical implementation of return often depends on political agreements, security conditions, and bilateral negotiations. In protracted conflicts, legal principles alone are often insufficient without accompanying political resolution mechanisms.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, a large-scale displacement of Azerbaijanis from Armenia took place amid escalating political tensions. As a result of what is described as a systematic ethnic policy implemented between 1988 and 1992, approximately 250,000 Azerbaijanis were forcibly expelled from their homes in Armenia.

The last and most tragic in scale and methods, the deportation of Azerbaijanis from Armenia was carried out in 1987-1991. Unlike the 1948-1953 deportation, it coincided in time with the beginning of Armenia’s territorial claims against Azerbaijan, and therefore was marked by particular harshness. The hopelessness of the situation for Azerbaijanis was linked to the fact that the deportation was carried out with the direct involvement of the administrative and law enforcement bodies of Armenia, which attempted to justify their unlawful actions by the “historical belonging of these lands to Armenians,” on which Azerbaijanis lived.

The majority of Azerbaijani refugees from Armenia were villagers who were forced to leave their native lands – pastures, fields, orchards, and meadows, where their fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers had worked for centuries.

Ultimately, the significance of the conference lies in its attempt to reframe the displacement of Azerbaijanis from Armenia as an unresolved international human rights issue rather than a closed historical chapter. Its message was that the right of return, protection of cultural heritage, and restoration of property and cultural rights. That shift alone marks an important development in the broader struggle over memory, justice, and rights in the South Caucasus.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian revealed on Tuesday that Iran’s missiles are not in the memorandum of understanding signed with the United States. He further stressed that they will never be added there, AzerNEWS reports.

Speaking from Islamabad, Pezeshkian insisted that Tehran will “never negotiate its defensive ability with anyone.” He mentioned that without missiles, “our country would have been destroyed.”

“We do not trust the United States because it attacked us twice during the negotiations. Despite this, we remain ready for dialogue and peace,” the Iranian president remarked.

Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar addressed an information meeting organized by the Zero Waste Foundation at the Turkish Embassy in London as part of his engagements during London Climate Action Week.

The event was attended by Trkiye’s Ambassador to London, Osman Koray Ertas, and Samed Agirbas, President of the Zero Waste Foundation and High-Level Climate Champion for the 31st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP31).

In his remarks, Bayraktar said that the uncertainty and conflicts witnessed around the world in recent years have led to profound changes in the energy sector, adding that the latest crisis stemming from the war in the Middle East has once again demonstrated the critical importance of energy security.

He explained that during the crisis, Asian countries that rely on energy supplies passing through the Strait of Hormuz had taken various precautionary measures, while European countries, including Trkiye, had implemented policies to shield their citizens from rising energy prices.

“Energy security is one of the indispensable elements for every country,” Bayraktar said. “The world is rapidly moving toward electrification. One of the key issues that Trkiye, as the COP31 President, has put forward this year is electrification. Electricity consumption will continue to rise in the coming years, particularly due to artificial intelligence and data centers, electric vehicles, and increased cooling demand.”

Bayraktar stressed that while energy security risks are increasing and electricity demand continues to surge, countries must also remain committed to combating climate change.

Pointing to the critical importance of collective action in the global fight against climate change, Bayraktar said: “The challenge we face is extremely serious, but there is no strong political will in the world. When we look at one of the world’s largest polluters, the United States, we see that rhetoric changes from one administration to another. These fluctuations cost the entire world valuable time. If the world is unable to achieve results on climate issues, it means politicians have failed to ensure continuity.”

Bayraktar stated that Trkiye has focused on three fundamental questions in its fight against climate change and its clean energy transition.

The first issue, he said, is ensuring energy supply security. The second is achieving energy independence, which he described as Trkiye’s biggest strategic objective.

Noting that Trkiye imports approximately two-thirds of the energy it consumes, Bayraktar said this dependency on imported energy creates vulnerabilities in the country’s economy.

Emphasizing that ending external dependence in the energy sector-one of the primary causes of the current account deficit-is one of Trkiye’s most important priorities, Bayraktar said: “Our third objective is for Trkiye to become a carbon-neutral economy in the early 2050s. This means a very profound transformation that will disrupt established patterns across every area of the economy.”

He underscored that this transition would also have significant social implications and said that extensive preparations must be made for the sweeping changes expected over the next three decades.

Bayraktar also highlighted the critical role of nuclear energy in Trkiye’s future, saying: “Trkiye has to develop nuclear energy. It is one of the ways to generate electricity without producing emissions.”

He noted that while seeking solutions to these three challenges simultaneously, Trkiye is rapidly increasing its renewable energy capacity to meet growing electricity demand and focusing on areas where energy efficiency can be improved.

Within this framework, Bayraktar said that zero waste and energy efficiency are being addressed together, adding that the Zero Waste movement, launched in 2017, has evolved from a national initiative into a rapidly growing global brand.

Samed Agirbas, President of the Zero Waste Foundation and High-Level Climate Champion for COP31, said that the organization aims to make Istanbul the global capital of the zero-waste movement and is continuing its efforts toward that goal.

Agirbas also noted that the Foundation seeks to work more closely with Turkish communities living abroad. In this regard, he said the Foundation has established a career center that will soon begin operations, providing mentorship opportunities and internships at international organizations for the children of Turkish families residing overseas.

The Shahin Novrasli Festival is an annual international music event in Baku that brings together a wide range of genres, including classical music, jazz, mugham, flamenco, tango, fado, and ethno-jazz.

The event has grown into a platform where local and international musicians collaborate, experiment, and meet audiences in distinctive concert settings.

Originally launched in 2022 as the Baku International Piano Festival, the project has gradually expanded into a broader international festival, bringing together different musical traditions, artists, and audiences within a shared artistic vision.

In an interview with AzerNEWS, pianist and festival founder Shahin Novrasli reflects on the evolution of his signature cultural project, now marking its fifth anniversary.

Q: This year marks the fifth anniversary of the Shahin Novrasli Festival. Looking back to 2022, when the project first launched as the Baku International Piano Festival, could you have imagined the scale it has reached today? What has been the most significant change in your vision of the festival over these five years?

A: The festival’s greatest achievement over these years has been its people – the audience, musicians, volunteers, and the entire team who believed in the idea. When the project first began, many doubted that a young festival could immediately reach an international level. Yet already in its first year, we accomplished what usually takes years: a two-week international festival featuring a symphony orchestra, open-air concerts, jazz evenings, flamenco and tango performances, as well as art exhibitions. We received important support from the Ministry of Culture and the Heydar Aliyev Foundation.

The following year, the festival took another major step forward: it welcomed the world-renowned pianist Hélène Mercier, and a joint concert with the orchestra was held at the Heydar Aliyev Center.

Over five years, the project has grown significantly. While at the very beginning there were only six volunteers, today there are twenty. It is especially rewarding that many of those who joined us as teenagers – at 12 or 13 years old have grown up alongside the festival. Some of them have gone on to pursue music professionally. This is perhaps one of the most meaningful outcomes of our work.

The symbol of this anniversary fifth season is the color red, representing energy, inspiration, and forward movement. If earlier the festival was associated with a black-and-white palette, it now marks its first milestone anniversary in a bold and vibrant red identity.

Q: The festival breaks down musical boundaries, bringing together jazz, classical music, mugham, flamenco, tango, and fado on a single stage. What is the secret? How do you manage to combine such different genres so naturally?

A: When shaping the festival program, my main priority is that the music must be alive, sincere, and capable of truly engaging the listener. Technical mastery is important, of course, but it is not enough. I am drawn to artists who can feel the audience, communicate through music, and turn every performance into a real event. That is why you will not see performers who come on stage only to demonstrate technique. This year, we are also placing special emphasis on local musicians, giving them the opportunity to be part of a major international program.

Over the years, the festival has built a loyal audience – people who look forward to it every year and do not miss a single edition. It is especially gratifying that last year guests from other countries traveled specifically to attend the concerts.

Each performance attracts between 500 and 1,000 spectators, and the atmosphere is always unique. Musicians perform with joy, and the audience responds with warmth, attention, and genuine emotion. It is this living exchange of energy that makes the festival special. I am confident this season will once again bring full halls, memorable encounters, and unforgettable musical evenings.

Q: Should audiences expect surprises on stage? Will there be unique duets or spontaneous jam sessions that can only be experienced at the festival?

A: The anniversary season will be the most ambitious in the festival’s history. This year, musicians from ten countries will take part, and the program will bring together a wide range of musical traditions and cultures.

The opening promises to be especially vibrant: audiences will experience the energetic rhythms of Cuba and Latin America performed by Josefina “Pepa” Baker. The festival will close with a colorful Brazilian carnival, filling Icheri Sheher with celebration and unstoppable energy. Artists from Azerbaijan, Romania, Hungary, Israel, Brazil, France, Argentina, Turkiye, as well as an ethno-jazz ensemble from Georgia, will also perform.

It is impossible to single out just one concert – each program is designed as a standalone musical journey with its own mood and character. That is why the festival is meant to be experienced in full, day by day, discovering new names, sounds, and impressions.

A special atmosphere will extend beyond the main stages. Free stages in Icherisheher will allow everyone to engage with the music, feel its rhythm, and become part of a larger cultural celebration.

Throughout the festival, a bazaar with crafts, souvenirs, and culinary offerings will welcome visitors, while DJ sets before evening concerts will set the mood of celebration across the city.

Q: The music festival has turned five. Where do you see it in another five years, at its tenth anniversary? What can audiences expect in the future?

A: The festival continues to grow, and today we are already looking far beyond Baku. Next season, an important new step is planned: for the first time, festival events will be held abroad before the official opening in Azerbaijan. The idea is to begin the musical journey in one of our partner countries and then continue it in Baku with the same artists, where the festival will reach its main stage. A new brand and name will open even greater possibilities for this concept.

Looking ahead, by its tenth anniversary the festival is expected to become a truly international cultural project with its own geography and recognizable identity. I would like its concerts to take place not only in Baku, but also in other countries, bringing together musicians, audiences, and cultures from around the world.

At the same time, one thing will remain unchanged: the heart of the festival will always be Baku. This is where the idea was born, where its unique atmosphere developed, and where its loyal audience grew. No matter how far its horizons expand, the main stage and the soul of the festival will always remain in our city.

On June 24, 2026, an international conference is scheduled to take place in Washington, D.C., at the U.S. Congress building (Capitol Hill), organized by the Baku Initiative Group. The event, titled “The right of return and self-determination: double standards and selective approaches,” is expected to bring together legal experts, human rights advocates, diaspora representatives, and civil society actors to discuss contested interpretations of international law regarding displacement, return rights, and ethnic conflict.

The organizers describe the conference as a landmark event, framing it as the first such discussion in the U.S. Congress focusing on allegations of ethnic cleansing affecting Azerbaijanis displaced from territories that are now part of Armenia. The program emphasizes issues related to forced displacement, cultural heritage destruction, and the legal framework governing the right of return under international humanitarian law.

At the center of the discussion is the principle of the right of return, a concept rooted in international legal instruments such as the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and broader customary international law. The right of return is generally understood as the entitlement of displaced persons to return voluntarily, safely, and with dignity to their former homes or places of origin.

Conference materials highlight the case of Azerbaijanis who were reportedly displaced from what is now Armenian territory during multiple historical periods in the 20th century, including 1905-1906, 1918-1920, 1948-1953, and 1987-1991. According to this perspective, these waves of displacement resulted in large-scale population movements, loss of life, and the breakdown of established community structures.

Additionally, the discussions will address the legal recognition at the international level of alleged destruction of Azerbaijani cultural, religious, and historical heritage in Armenia, including toponyms, mosques, cemeteries, and sacred sites.

It should be noted that more than 2,000 place names of Azerbaijani origin were changed.

The event will also include debates on the implementation of the right to self-determination for peoples affected by colonialism, particularly the proposal to place the issue of adding colonies to the UN list of Non-Self-Governing Territories requiring decolonization on the United Nations agenda.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, a large-scale displacement of Azerbaijanis from Armenia took place amid escalating ethnic and political tensions. As a result of what is described as a systematic ethnic policy implemented between 1988 and 1992, approximately 250,000 Azerbaijanis were forcibly expelled from their homes in Armenia.

The last and most tragic in scale and methods deportation of Azerbaijanis from Armenia was carried out in 1987-1991. Unlike the 1948-1953 deportation, it coincided in time with the beginning of Armenia’s territorial claims against Azerbaijan, and therefore was marked by particular harshness. The hopelessness of the situation for Azerbaijanis was linked to the fact that the deportation was carried out with the direct involvement of the administrative and law enforcement bodies of Armenia, which attempted to justify their unlawful actions by the “historical belonging of these lands to Armenians,” on which Azerbaijanis lived.

The majority of Azerbaijani refugees from Armenia were villagers who were forced to leave their native lands – pastures, fields, orchards, and meadows, where their fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers had worked for centuries.

These individuals, who had lived for generations in various regions of Armenia, were reportedly compelled to leave their ancestral settlements amid rising interethnic conflict and instability. Many of those displaced sought refuge in Azerbaijan.

The 1951 Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees confirms the right of return as one of the important requirements of international law, the restoration of the rights of persons displaced as a result of ethnic cleansing. In this regard, ensuring the safe, voluntary, and dignified return of Western Azerbaijanis forcibly expelled from the territory of present-day Armenia to their historical homeland, the restoration of their rights to housing, land, property, cultural and religious heritage should be assessed in the context of Armenia’s international legal responsibility.

“These crimes committed against the Islamic cultural heritage on our lands are undoubtedly a clear manifestation of Islamophobia,’ President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said in his address to the participants of the 20th Session of the Conference of the Parliamentary Union of the OIC Member States, AzerNEWS reports.

The head of state noted that today, the incitement of hatred against Muslims, the targeting of Islamic cultural heritage, and the insult to Islamic values have gained widespread momentum across the world.

“Islamophobia is not merely intolerance towards Muslims; it is a dangerous trend that threatens mutual understanding and peaceful coexistence. It is regrettable that certain political circles in the West, as well as international institutions such as the European Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, promote anti-Islamic sentiments, attempt to equate Islam with extremism and terrorism, create biased perceptions of our religion, and portray it as a source of threat,’ the President of Azerbaijan stated.