Category: Azer News

The creative team of the Azerbaijan State Academic Musical Theatre has participated in the Vagif Poetry Days held in Shusha, organized jointly by the Azerbaijan Culture Ministry and the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, AzerNEWS reports.

The team presented an interactive open-air performance titled “The Laughter of Words – Shusha Stories,” based on the works of renowned Azerbaijani playwright Abdurrahim bey Hagverdiyev, including the stories “The Musician’s Notebook,” “Toothache,” “Reading,” “The Bomb,” and the work “Eat Goose Meat and You Will Taste Its Delight.”

The production was directed by Honored Artist Logman Karimov, with Mahammad Mammadov serving as the musical director.

The cast included Honored Artists Azizaga Azizov and Igrar Salamov, as well as actors Guljahan Salamova, Huseyn Alili, Alimammad Novruzov, Rauf Babayev, Yuliya Heydarova, Turkel Tariqpeyma, Ruslan Murselov, Elmeddin Dadashov, Farid Rzayev, and Nigar Rustamova.

This year’s edition of the Vagif Poetry Days was held from July 16 to 18 in Gazakh and Shusha under the slogan “The Story of the Word.”

Organized jointly by the Azerbaijan Culture Ministry and the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, the event aimed to preserve the literary legacy of the great Azerbaijani poet and statesman Molla Panah Vagif and promote contemporary literary development.

The festival began in Gazakh, Vagif’s birthplace, before continuing in Shusha, Azerbaijan’s cultural capital. The program included poetry readings, literary meetings, artistic performances, and cultural projects involving writers, poets, and representatives of Turkic countries.

The official opening ceremony took place near the Molla Panah Vagif Museum-Mausoleum Complex in Shusha, bringing together cultural figures, officials, and guests from different countries.

Firefighters were battling a wildfire north of Madrid on Sunday that has burned around 13,000 hectares (32,000 acres) of land and forced some 700 residents to evacuate, authorities said, AzerNEWS reports, citing Arab News.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a post on X that his government was closely monitoring the wildfire and thanked firefighters ‘working tirelessly’ to protect lives and bring the blaze under control.

Around 300 firefighters, supported by 26 water-dropping aircraft, were working to contain the blaze, which broke out on Thursday amid scorching temperatures in Guadalajara province, the regional forest fire response service said on X.

The fire has been described as ‘difficult’ by the head of the regional government, Emiliano García-Page.

It broke out in a forest-covered mountainous area that includes the Sierra Norte Natural Park, home to endangered species including eagles, wolves and butterflies.

The wildfire comes after another blaze broke out on Wednesday near Zaragoza, in the northeastern region of Aragon, forcing around 1,000 people to evacuate their homes.

Firefighters, aided by improved weather conditions, had managed to curtail the fire’s spread, Aragon’s deputy regional president María del Mar Vaquero told Spanish public television.

‘Emergency services will determine when the residents of the five evacuated villages can return home,’ she said.

The fire has burned around 14,400 hectares, Vaquero said, revising down an earlier estimate of about 16,000 hectares.

No casualties have been reported.

Earlier this month, Spain suffered one of its deadliest wildfires in recent history when a blaze in the southern province of Almeria killed 13 people and destroyed around 7,000 hectares.

Spain is on the front line of climate change and has experienced increasingly long and frequent heatwaves in recent years, with temperatures regularly exceeding 40C, creating conditions conducive to devastating wildfires.

Scientists say human-driven climate change is increasing the length, intensity and frequency of heatwaves, drying out vegetation and contributing to a greater risk of wildfires.

The project titled “Azerbaijani Culture Summer School” has concluded with a closing ceremony held at the International Mugham Center, AzerNEWS reports.

The summer school was initiated by the Azerbaijan Culture Ministry and the Heydar Aliyev Azerbaijani Cultural Center under the Azerbaijani Embassy in Uzbekistan.

The event was jointly organized by the Heydar Aliyev Azerbaijani Cultural Center in Uzbekistan and the International Mugham Center and featured a vibrant artistic program with the participation of performers from both Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Azerbaijan’s Deputy Minister of Culture Saadat Yusifova noted that cultural and humanitarian ties between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan continue to develop successfully, based on shared historical roots, national values, and centuries-old cultural traditions.

She emphasized that the “Azerbaijani Culture Summer School” project represents an important example of cooperation between the two countries, providing young participants from Uzbekistan with an opportunity to closely explore Azerbaijan’s cultural and historical heritage.

The head of the Heydar Aliyev Azerbaijani Cultural Center in Uzbekistan, Akif Marifli, said the project reflects the growing cultural and humanitarian cooperation between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan. He highlighted the importance of strategic partnership and allied relations between the two countries, noting the role of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in strengthening bilateral ties.

Director of the International Mugham Center Sahib Pashazade said that hosting the concert at the center was significant for expanding creative cooperation between musicians of the two countries, encouraging cultural exchange among young performers, and preserving their shared musical heritage for future generations.

The ceremony continued with a diverse musical and artistic program. Performers from the Kharibulbul theatre troupe of the Heydar Aliyev Azerbaijani Cultural Center in Uzbekistan, the Karabakh Victory Dance Ensemble, and artists of the International Mugham Center presented examples of Azerbaijani and Uzbek cultural traditions.

The audience was treated to performances of works by Azerbaijani and Uzbek composers, folk songs, and musical pieces reflecting the traditions of mugham. The colorful program created a memorable atmosphere for guests.

The “Azerbaijani Culture Summer School” project concluded with a rich program and lasting impressions. As part of the summer school, concert programs and various cultural events were organized with the participation of the Uzbek students.

The program also included visits to historical and cultural monuments, museums, and key sites reflecting Azerbaijan’s social and economic development.

The initiative allowed young participants from Uzbekistan to gain a deeper understanding of Azerbaijan’s history, culture, art, and literary heritage while further strengthening cultural ties and friendship between the two brotherly nations.

Note that Uzbek and Azerbaijani peoples are united by similar national customs and traditions, a common language group, and culture.

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1995 between the two countries, bilateral ties have forged deep bonds. Over 100 documents have been signed between the two countries until today.

The holding of the Uzbek Culture Days in Baku in 2023 was another step towards strengthening Azerbaijani-Uzbek relations.

The large-scale event featured gala concerts, theatre performances, book presentation, exhibition and other events that aimed to highlight Azerbaijani-Uzbek relations.

Operating since 2019, Heydar Aliyev Cultural Centre in Tashkent also contributes to the development of ties between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan.

In 2024, Heydar Aliyev Centre in Baku presented the exhibition “Heritage Living in Loops: A Journey to Uzbekistan’s Embroideries”.

The exhibition was dedicated to the cultural and historical heritage and national costumes of Uzbekistan in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

148 examples of decorative and applied art were displayed at the exhibition, held jointly with the Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation.

These cultural projects help strengthen cooperation between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan in the fields of art, heritage, and education. They also play an important role in bringing the two peoples closer and preserving shared cultural values for future generations.

Azerbaijan’s State Service for Special Communication and Information Security (SCIS) blocked 8.5 million malicious URLs and more than 2.6 million harmful emails during the first six months of 2026, according to figures presented at the agency’s mid-year review meeting.

AzerNEWS reports tha the meeting highlighted significant progress in strengthening the protection of the country’s state information resources and critical information infrastructure during the reporting period.

Speaking at the session, Lieutenant General Ilgar Musayev, head of the SCIS, said that next-generation cybersecurity solutions deployed across the AzStateNet network prevented nearly 8.5 million malicious URL requests and blocked more than 4 million instances of malware, spyware, and other suspicious network activities. In addition, the agency’s Sandbox system detected and neutralized more than 64,000 malicious files.

Officials also reported that approximately 2.5 million cyber threats were neutralized during the first half of the year. More than 700,000 of those threats were stopped by the centralized antivirus system, while the remainder were blocked using other advanced cybersecurity technologies.

The review further revealed that the government’s email service processed more than 8 million emails during the six-month period, marking a 13% increase compared with the same period last year. Of those, 5.7 million emails were safely delivered to users, while over 2.6 million malicious emails were identified and blocked.

At the conclusion of the meeting, relevant departments were instructed to further strengthen the country’s cyber defense capabilities, expand proactive digital security measures, and ensure the timely implementation of strategic cybersecurity objectives.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Tehran has no adversarial relations with any neighboring or regional countries, AzerNEWS reports.

Baghaei said Iran believes that the only way to establish lasting security in the region is through cooperation and dialogue among regional countries, without military intervention or involvement from the United States.

“Iran calls on regional countries to prevent the use of their territories and capabilities for attacks against Iran. As long as attacks against Iran continue, Iran will respond,” he noted.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson also claimed that Iran has been threatened with attacks on various targets, including power plants, describing such actions as unacceptable and inconsistent with international norms.

Tensions between the United States and Iran escalated again on July 8, when U.S. forces carried out several rounds of strikes on Iranian territory for the first time since the signing of a memorandum between Washington and Tehran. The United States said the strikes were a response to an attack on a commercial vessel in the Strait of Hormuz. On the same day, U.S. President Donald Trump announced the end of the ceasefire with Iran.

In response, Tehran began launching strikes against U.S. facilities in Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman.

Azerbaijan’s tourism bureau has a problem that is easier to describe than to solve. It has spent over $10 billion reconstructing Karabakh, has built three international airports on previously occupied land, and has implemented a grand plan to double its yearly tourist influx from two to five or six million. But the international flight links that would connect tourists to the parts of the country that should most appeal to them, Gabala and its mountains, Lankaran with its subtropical national parks, and northwest Azerbaijan with its historic Silk Road villages, do not, by any realistic measure, exist. This point was made clearly earlier last week when Rashad Aliyev, Deputy Chairman of the Azerbaijan Tourism Bureau, announced that discussions were underway with several airlines to launch regular flights to Gabala, and that one airline is considering turning Gabala airport into a regional hub, like Georgia’s Kutaisi.

At present, Azerbaijan has ten international airports apart from the capital city of Baku, which are Ganja, Nakhchivan, Lankaran, Gabala, Zagatala, and five other newer airports located in the liberated lands, namely, Fuzuli, Zangilan, Lachin, Khojaly, and one under development close to Shusha. The figure looks impressive at first glance. But the real scenario is somewhat different. As per Flightradar24 data of July 2026, there is just one international flight route that operates from Gabala International Airport (GBB/UBBQ).

There are absolutely no regular international flights to Zagatala airport. There have been sporadic international flights to Lankaran airport, which were mostly chartered flights during certain seasons, but which could not continue economically. Regular international commercial flights are still few to the Karabakh airports of Fuzuli, Zangilan, and Lachin due to the influx of official visitors and tourists.

Kutaisi comparison

The Kutaisi model, which was presented by ATB’s Aliyev as an example of what Gabala should aim to be, is among the most enlightening case studies on regional airport development in the former Soviet bloc. The process of development at Kutaisi International Airport started with the conscious strategy of going only for low-cost airlines, thus presenting a budget-friendly European entry point, while the main airport of Georgia, the Tbilisi’s Shota Rustaveli Airport, became too pricey and crowded for regular people. Wizz Air transported almost 1.8 million people through Kutaisi in 2025, making around 6,800 flights with 99.7% capacity utilization and more than 1.5 million check-ins.

The disparity between how the two airports function now, Kutaisi vs. Gabala, is more than just in numbers, per se. Kutaisi gets 68 Wizz Air flights each week from 23 European and regional cities. Gabala gets three Abu Dhabi flights. For the 2025 figure of 1.8 million passengers at Kutaisi, it took thirteen years since 2012 to achieve from zero. The accomplishment at Kutaisi Airport is a real one, replicable in principle. However, it is neither quick nor easy because of the subsidies to the airport fees, infrastructure investments, and flexible regulations required from the Georgian authorities to make the deal profitable for Wizz Air.

The most important contextual detail in the ATB’s announcement is the Wizz Air history. Gabala is not a blank page where low-cost operations have never taken place before. Wizz Air indeed flew out of Gabala – flights to Kyiv, Warsaw, and Budapest were introduced in 2022 and were suspended after some time of operations. This was caused by several reasons – the disruption of Ukrainian flights due to Russia’s invasion, a relatively limited number of people interested in direct connection of Gabala and Eastern European destinations, as well as a lack of hotel and ground transport facilities that would make Gabala operational in isolation and not dependent on the extra travel of tourists from Baku. That Wizz Air operated at Gabala and then left is not a reason to be pessimistic about the model’s potential. It is a reason to understand specifically what conditions need to change before the next attempt sticks.

It is clear what has to be changed. The route economics of LCCs flying into regional airports in Azerbaijan are dependent on three factors that could be controlled directly by the government – airport charges and incentive structures for the launch of new routes, development of hospitality and transport facilities that will enable stays of several nights without transit through Baku, and flexible aviation services agreements to allow competition between airlines on these routes. It was not by chance that in 2025 Georgia succeeded in increasing the passenger throughput of Batumi airport by 44% and Tbilisi by 13%. The equivalent growth in Azerbaijan has been achieved only through Baku’s Heydar Aliyev International Airport, with 7.5 million passengers in 2024.

Initiative’s potential

ATB’s announcement that regional airport activation is a key priority of Azerbaijan’s new tourism development programme is significant for one specific reason: it names the right problem. All analyses conducted on the situation with tourism in Azerbaijan, and even the surveys carried out within the sector itself, reveal over-concentration of tourists in Baku as the main structural limitation on the further development of the industry. Tourists who come into Heydar Aliyev International Airport and need to travel by car for three hours to get to Gabala, four hours to Lankaran, or six hours to Zagatala are not merely put through unnecessary trouble – they are actually deprived of the possibility to enjoy the regional tourism due to the time constraint, which is more limiting than the financial one for most of the holiday-makers.

It is thus both crucial and very much at this point, only a fledgling attempt to translate policy into business. Talking with multiple airlines is just a starting point. For an airline to be evaluating the possibility of a hub strategy is a world away from making a commitment to a minimum frequency schedule and network that would make a hub commercially sensible. The Kutaisi precedent, to which ATB’s Aliyev referred, provides an example exactly because what made that airport successful was a unique collaboration of an LCC, a willing government to support start-ups of routes, and an appropriate geographical position to allow economics to eventually work. Azerbaijan already has the geography, with Gabala airport being located near the foothills of the Greater Caucasus, located just two hours away from Baku, surrounded by breathtaking natural scenery. But what it needs now is the commitment of the airline, the fees to be charged, and the ground infrastructure to turn the geography into something sensible for a Wizz Air or Ryanair network planner looking to find a spot for a new aircraft base.

The five-to-six million tourist arrival target that President Aliyev set earlier this year cannot be reached through Baku alone. The hotels, the airport, and tourism product offering in Baku are already coping with the current number of visitors very adequately. The growth must happen through the regions, and the growth through the regions cannot happen without the flights. In this respect, the discussion about a Gabala hub is the most strategically significant conversation taking place right now regarding tourism policy in Azerbaijan. It remains to be seen whether this results in a Wizz Air base for Gabala by 2027 or just another round of talks that don’t lead to anything, depending on the particulars, such as fee structure, frequency guarantees, transit links, and hotel building program at Gabala and the neighboring Sheki-Zagatala route, that have yet to become public. The ambition is right, but the details are what matter next.

Yemen’s Ansar Allah movement, commonly known as the Houthis, has announced a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia, AzerNEWS reports, citing a statement posted on its Telegram channel.

The group’s spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said the move was a response to Saudi Arabia’s blockade of Yemeni ports and airstrikes targeting Sanaa International Airport.

“Our people cannot remain silent. They have every right to resist this unjust blockade by all available means,” Saree said.

The announcement came just days after the first armed confrontation between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia in several years.

The latest development comes amid renewed tensions in the Middle East. The current escalation between the United States and Iran began on July 8, when U.S. forces carried out several rounds of strikes on Iranian territory, saying the attacks were in response to an assault on a commercial vessel in the Strait of Hormuz. On the same day, U.S. President Donald Trump announced the end of the ceasefire with Iran.

In response, Tehran launched strikes against U.S. military facilities in Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman, further raising regional tensions.

As part of the Vagif Poetry Days held in the city of Shusha, a special artistic and musical composition titled “Sözn h?sr?ti -Heyd?rbabaya salam” has been presented with the joint organization of the Azerbaijan Culture Ministry and the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, AzerNEWS reports.

The performance was dedicated to the 120th anniversary of the birth of prominent Azerbaijani poet Mohammad-Huseyn Shahriyar and was staged in front of the house of Khan’s daughter Natavan in Shusha.

The production’s artistic director was Honored Artist Logman Karimov, while the director was Elnur Mammadov. The musical arrangements were prepared by Tarlan Asgarli.

The stage production featured People’s Artist Sabir Mammadov, Honored Artists Kazim Hasanoglu, Nazir Rustamov, and Elshan Rustamov, as well as actors Nazrin Abdullayeva, Vusal Mammadov, Zahra Salayeva, Surahi Alimammadova, and Emin Sevdimaliyev.

The musical performances by singer Ayshe Mehdiyeva, Honored Artist and kamancha player Togrul Asadullayev, tar player Sakhavat Mammadov, and naghara performer Jafar Hasanov were warmly received by the audience and accompanied by applause.

The 2026 Vagif Poetry Days took place from July 16 to 18 in Gazakh and Shusha under the theme “The Story of the Word.”

The event was dedicated to celebrating the literary heritage of renowned Azerbaijani poet and statesman Molla Panah Vagif, while also supporting the development of modern literature.

The festival opened in Gazakh, the poet’s birthplace, and later continued in Shusha, Azerbaijan’s cultural capital. Its program featured poetry performances, literary discussions, artistic presentations, and cultural events with the participation of poets, writers, and representatives from Turkic countries.

The official opening ceremony was held near the Molla Panah Vagif Museum-Mausoleum Complex in Shusha, gathering cultural figures, government representatives, and international guests.

President Ilham Aliyev has sent a congratulatory letter to King Felipe VI of Spain on the occasion of the Spanish national football team becoming the world champion.

The letter was published on the official website of the President of Azerbaijan.

“Your Majesty,

On the occasion of the magnificent victory of the Spanish national football team at the 2026 FIFA World Cup and its winning of a second World Cup title, I sincerely congratulate you and, through you, the entire Spanish people on behalf of myself and the people of Azerbaijan.

I extend my warmest congratulations to the Spanish footballers, who demonstrated high skill, great determination, and an unbreakable will during the World Cup matches, giving their fans unforgettable moments and boundless joy, and I wish them continued success in the future,” the letter reads.

Huang Zhen, 34, shut his cafe for a day last week to be buffeted by surging waters and powerful winds that knocked him off his feet – training for extreme weather events that are increasingly afflicting China, AzerNEWS reports, citing Tribune.

Huang was one of a dozen people attending a session at the Lvxing Disaster Simulation Training Centre in Hangzhou, eastern China. For 1,599 yuan ($235) per day, it offers a realistic experience of what it is like to be caught up in a typhoon or a flash flood, albeit with the advantage of wearing a wetsuit, a helmet and having a safety instructor to guide you.

The centre says it the first of its kind in the world to provide typhoon training, with its simulated experience generating wind speeds of up to 165 kph (103 mph) alongside torrential rain.

In a separate section, 900 metric tons of surging water are unleashed to mimic mountain flooding, while in another, participants must wade – sometimes thigh-deep, sometimes shoulder-deep – through 400 tons of water in a mock urban environment.

“Over the last two years, the weather has become increasingly unpredictable,” Huang said. “An opportunity like this … gives us a better idea of what different levels of disasters might actually be like, and helps raise our awareness of disaster preparedness.”

Climate change is increasingly exposing the world’s second-largest economy to destructive weather events, scientists say. This year is of ?particular concern due to the emergence of the El Niño weather pattern, which can drive up temperatures and fuel more intense typhoons.

China’s National Climate Centre has said it expects up to six typhoons to form in the Northwest Pacific and South China Sea in July, more than the average of 3.8. One of those was Typhoon Bavi, which brought severe floods and forced millions of Chinese to evacuate.

“Typhoon Bavi hit just a couple of days ago, making people realise that typhoon hazards are far more of a threat than we thought,” said Wu Zijian, a 44-year-old freelance worker who travelled from nearby Shanghai to attend.

More than 160,000 people have attended sessions at the centre since it opened in May 2025. Wang Kuanghan, the centre’s chief instructor, said there are plans to open five more centres in China within the next three years. These will include simulations of other natural disasters such as fires and earthquakes.

For those who can’t make it there yet, Wang has a tip. “If you ask me, the most important survival skill during a typhoon is simply not to go outside,” he said. “Stay indoors and keep yourself safe at home.”