Category: Azer News

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed an inter-ministerial team and the director of Israel’s International Law Department to begin preparing a potential legal case targeting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the International Criminal Court (ICC), i24NEWS reported Sunday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The reported move comes amid escalating diplomatic and legal tensions between Israel and Trkiye.

According to i24NEWS, the directive followed remarks by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Trkiye had approached Interpol seeking a Red Notice for Netanyahu’s arrest. The request was reportedly among several recent developments that prompted Israel to consider a legal response targeting the Turkish president.

The draft case reportedly being prepared by Israeli legal officials would focus primarily on Erdogan’s military operations and policies toward Kurdish groups and communities inside Trkiye.

The alleged case would also include claims concerning the Turkish government’s financial support for Hamas, according to i24NEWS.

Israel and Trkiye are not parties to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, and neither country recognizes the court’s jurisdiction over its nationals on that basis.

While Israel could theoretically seek to initiate proceedings through the ICC’s available legal mechanisms, i24NEWS reported that Israeli officials believe any formal effort would be more likely to involve a third-party country that is a member of the court.

Sources cited by the outlet said Israel would prefer not to bring the case before the ICC if possible.

Instead, the reported strategy would involve preparing a complete legal file that could serve as a deterrent against further legal or diplomatic measures by Ankara.

The case would therefore remain a potential legal option rather than necessarily becoming an active ICC proceeding.

Netanyahu and officials from Israel’s Justice Ministry declined to comment on the allegations reported by i24NEWS.

A charity concert titled “Karabakh Night – Shusha” has been held in Shusha at the initiative and organization of the Karabakh Revival Fund, with organizational support from the Ministry of Culture and the Shusha State Historical and Architectural Reserve Administration.

The concert was held as part of the 18th Uzeyir Hajibayli International Music Festival and brought together government officials, donors and partners of the Karabakh Revival Fund, cultural and art figures, media representatives and residents of Shusha.

The event was organized to mark the sixth anniversary of Remembrance Day. At the opening ceremony, a minute of silence was observed in memory of the servicemen who sacrificed their lives for Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Speaking at the event, Tural Novruzov, Executive Director of the Shusha State Historical and Architectural Reserve Administration, thanked the Karabakh Revival Fund and partner organizations involved in organizing the charity concert. He highlighted the importance of holding such a musical event in Shusha for enriching the city’s cultural life and preserving its musical traditions.

Novruzov noted that Shusha holds a special place in Azerbaijan’s cultural and musical history, adding that events of this kind contribute to preserving the city’s cultural heritage and passing it on to future generations. He also highlighted the return of the “Karabakh Night” project to Shusha as an initiative contributing to the city’s cultural life.

Rahman Hajiyev, Chairman of the Board of the Karabakh Revival Fund, spoke about the purpose and significance of the charity concert. He noted that alongside reconstruction and restoration projects carried out in the liberated territories under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev, the revival of cultural life, preservation of historical and cultural heritage, and continuation of Karabakh’s rich musical traditions are also important.

Hajiyev said that holding the “Karabakh Night” charity concert in Shusha has become a tradition. He recalled that during the first concert held in Shusha in 2024, the city was presented with a Yamaha grand piano. According to him, the instrument has created new opportunities for concerts and other cultural events in Shusha and contributes to the city’s cultural life.

Hajiyev also noted that the support provided by the fund’s donors and partners has played an important role in organizing and holding the six “Karabakh Night” charity concerts to date, describing this support as an expression of unity and solidarity for the revival of Karabakh.

People’s Artist, rector of the Baku Music Academy and member of the Supervisory Board of the Karabakh Revival Fund Farhad Badalbeyli also addressed the event, speaking about the significance of the “Karabakh Night” project and Shusha’s special place in Azerbaijan’s musical and cultural history.

The event continued with an artistic program featuring works by Azerbaijani and international composers performed by prominent musicians. The concert was conducted by Mustafa Mehmandarov and featured People’s Artists Farhad Badalbeyli and Yegana Akhundova on piano, Honored Artist Emil Afrasiyab on piano, and soloists Nazrin Aslanli on violin, Mahir Taghizadeh, Aysun Mahmudizada and Sabina Asadova.

The concert was held as part of events marking Remembrance Day, observed annually in Azerbaijan on September 27 to honor those who lost their lives for the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

On September 23, as part of events marking the sixth anniversary of Remembrance Day, the Karabakh Revival Fund presented the city of Lachin with a Yamaha concert grand piano during the “Karabakh Night – Lachin” charity concert held there.

Feeding and observing wild birds may have a positive effect on people’s well-being, according to a new study published in the journal Ambio.

Researchers surveyed 3,658 participants in Project FeederWatch, a citizen science program in the United States and Canada that collects observations of birds visiting feeders. Participants were surveyed before and after the six-month FeederWatch season and were also asked how feeding and observing birds had affected their wellbeing.

In the survey conducted at the end of the season, 95 per cent of respondents said feeding birds had a positive effect on their wellbeing. By comparison, 55 per cent said other events in their lives had a positive effect during the same period.

The researchers identified three main ways participants said bird feeding affected them: through emotions, engagement and a sense of meaning. Participants described feelings such as joy, gratitude, hope and calm. Others said watching birds sparked curiosity, helped them focus and encouraged them to learn more about different species. Some participants also said the activity gave them a sense of purpose by helping birds, connecting with nature or contributing to scientific research.

However, the researchers caution that the findings do not establish that bird feeding directly improves overall mental wellbeing. Measurements taken at the beginning and end of the six-month period showed no meaningful overall change in participants’ wellbeing scores. The study instead examined participants’ perceptions of how feeding and observing birds affected their wellbeing.

Bird feeding is a common activity in the United States. The study notes that 56.7 million people aged 16 and over, or about 22 per cent of that population, feed wild birds.

The researchers also point out that feeding birds can carry risks for wildlife, including disease transmission, collisions with windows and increased predation. They recommend responsible practices, such as regularly cleaning feeders, keeping cats indoors and taking measures to reduce window collisions.

The study was led by Kelley E. Langhans of Virginia Tech and was published under the title “It’s a good reason to get up every morning!”: Perspectives on how feeding and observing birds affects people’s well-being.

An Azerbaijani citizen was killed in a drone attack on Kyiv, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry reported.

According to Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ayhan Hacizada, 1978-born Azerbaijani citizen Abbas Abbasov was killed in the attack at around 10 p.m. on September 27.

The Azerbaijani Embassy in Ukraine is providing consular assistance to arrange the repatriation of Abbasov’s remains. The Foreign Ministry also expressed condolences to his family and loved ones.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier that a citizen of Azerbaijan was killed in the attack on Kyiv.

Zelenskyy said Russian strikes targeted several regions across Ukraine overnight and in the morning. In Kharkiv, an attack on a residential building partially destroyed the second and fourth floors and injured 28 people, including nine children.

According to Zelenskyy, a vessel flying the Palau flag was also hit in Odesa region, while an ice cream production facility was damaged in Zhytomyr region. Residential buildings were also damaged in Sumy, Rivne, Kharkiv and Odesa regions, while critical infrastructure was affected in Vinnytsia, Dnipropetrovsk, Khmelnytskyi and Zaporizhzhia regions.

Thai authorities have opened an investigation into as many as nine Chabad houses across the country amid concerns over land purchases, construction permits and the activities of a reported network of Israeli nationals, according to local media.

Authorities are examining the Chabad-Lubavitch centers, which are associated with the ultra-Orthodox Jewish movement, as part of a broader investigation into land ownership and business activities.

Suwannachawi said authorities would coordinate with relevant agencies to verify the company’s land ownership and ensure compliance with Thai law, while also examining construction permits and the sources of funding.

Initial inspections have reportedly uncovered ‘irregularities in the construction permit process, such as rooftop extensions and unauthorized structures,’ Suwannachawi said.

Authorities also seized products at a Chabad house in Phuket while investigating whether they had been imported and sold without the required permits.

The investigation comes amid growing scrutiny in Thailand over the activities of some Israeli tourists, including former Israeli military personnel.

Suwannachawi said several members of parliament had alerted him to what they described as a ‘network of Israelis’ involved in cemetery development and other businesses. According to his account, the group had purchased land worth nearly 100 million Thai baht, or around $3 million.

He said authorities needed to establish how the buyers intended to use the properties, citing concerns that their plans could conflict with local religious and cultural practices.

Earlier in September, Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation also opened an investigation involving Thailand’s chief rabbi, Yosef Chaim Kantor, and Israeli businessman Maimon David Marciano, according to Thai media reports.

Investigators are examining land purchases, possible use of Thai citizens as nominees for foreign buyers, and alterations made to buildings.

The Chabad-Lubavitch movement has a global network of religious centers and institutions. Claims linking the movement as a whole to political activities in Israel and the Palestinian territories are contested, and the activities of individual Chabad centers and members vary by location.

Iraq has taken over the main headquarters of United States (US) forces at Baghdad International Airport, according to local media.

The head of Iraq’s Security Media Cell, General Saad Maan, said the Iraqi government now has the final say in determining the nature of the presence of military and security forces in the country.

He stressed that strengthening Iraq’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as independently managing security affairs, are key pillars of stability in the country. According to him, these factors will allow Iraq to further develop its regional and international relations through broader and more effective cooperation.

Iraq is expected to conclude the current phase of its cooperation with the international coalition supporting the country in the fight against ISIS on September 30. This will mark the end of the mission of foreign military forces in Iraq.

The next phase is expected to focus on bilateral cooperation with some coalition members, including support for arms programs, training of security forces, and improving their readiness to respond to emerging threats.

European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas stressed during a press conference on Monday that in order to reach its 2030 target, Europe must be quicker and more effective in rearming itself.

“Europe needs decisive change in the scale and pace of defense investment, capability development, innovation and industrial capacity,” she noted.

Meanwhile, talking about Ukraine, she shared that the member states agreed on a pound 6.6 billion European peace facility fund. Kallas mentioned that while missile agreements are in place, the production of the weapon takes time. She called on the EU member states to supply Ukraine with missiles from their own stockpiles “in exchange for later replacements, financed by Ukraine support loans.”

SOCAR is implementing a cap on petrol and diesel prices at stations within the Italiana Petroli (IP) network. The Azerbaijani state energy company, which took control of the Italian group last May, has decided to address the rising fuel costs by imposing a limit on the prices charged by filling stations.

The mechanism will be rolled out gradually, starting with the IP-branded network.

For further notice, SOCAR has not yet specified what the maximum price at the pump will be. In a statement released on Sunday, it explained that the level of the cap will be determined by considering various needs and the economic sustainability of the supply chain.

On its face, it is a pricing decision by a fuel retailer responding to high costs. In practice, it hands Giorgia Meloni’s government a politically convenient way out of imposing a windfall tax that energy companies have spent months lobbying against.

Diesel at Italian highways approaches pound 2.50 per liter; the self-service fuel price averages were pound 2.377 for diesel and pound 2.159 for gasoline on September 27th, and pound 2.459 for diesel and pound 2.254 for gasoline on the highways, according to the Fuel Prices Observatory of the Ministry for Business and Made in Italy. It was Eni, Italy’s major energy company, which launched the price cap first. The Minister for Foreign Affairs Antonio Tajani had called on companies to make this move at the beginning of September. This price cap comes as the second, and in some sense more important, domino piece to fall, important because SOCAR is no longer just a foreign oil supplier for Italy, but since May, the owner of one of the biggest Italian fuel distribution networks.

SOCAR acquired 99.82% of Italiana Petroli from API Holding on May 8th for an estimated pound 3bn (reports claim the enterprise valuation to be closer to $3.27bn), thereby acquiring an asset that was established 90 years ago, comprising some 4,500-4,600 filling stations, two refining facilities with a combined capacity of about 10 million tonnes per year, and a total of 8.5m tonnes of retail and 7.3m tonnes of wholesale fuel sales, as mentioned by Fitch Ratings with Italiana Petroli’s adjusted EBITDA being estimated at pound 616m. SOCAR triumphed over Switzerland-based Gunvor and UAE-based Bin Butti Group for this asset, with assistance from Intesa Sanpaolo, and the deal received clearance from the European Commission in February, after being deemed non-problematic in terms of competition within the European Economic Area.

Now, this is truly a move that reflects a strategic change in direction. SOCAR has been known to be active in the supply sector for the past two decades, supplying crude oil through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline as well as natural gas through the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, the last stage of the Southern Gas Corridor project. In both capacities, SOCAR has always left the potentially more profitable segment of the supply chain, such as the refining and retail segments, with Western firms. With this acquisition, however, this is going to change drastically. Azerbaijani state oil company is now not only a supplier to the Italian energy infrastructure but also a stakeholder in the prices that Italian consumers pay at the fuel station.

Soft power at the pump and on the pitch

In the bigger scheme of things, the voluntary price cap, aligned with Eni’s parallel initiative, serves as a vital political lifeline for Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government by easing public frustration over skyrocketing fuel costs. There has been mounting political pressure on Meloni’s coalition to implement what is colloquially known as a *tassa sugli extraprofitti* (windfall tax) on energy producers taking advantage of high prices, a measure that enjoys popular support amidst rising inflation while being unpopular in the same industry that Rome does not want to antagonize before the next elections. Voluntary price capping by Eni and now by SOCAR lets the government take the credit for cheaper gas at the pump without allocating a single euro of tax revenue, while avoiding antagonizing two of Italy’s largest energy firms. The exact price cap level has not been announced yet by SOCAR, which stated that it would take into account “different needs and the economic sustainability of the supply chain.”

This logic of profit-making goes hand in hand with a strategy of soft power, which is no less tangible but certainly harder to measure. As it was stated by the company on the same day when it was announced that there will be a price cap, SOCAR has become the global energy partner for both the men’s and women’s national football teams of Italy for the period between January 2027 and December 2030, with an extension period of two years. Combining a benefit for the consumer with the support of the national team is not a coincidence, but rather a very deliberate move to increase SOCAR’s visibility in Italy.

This, of course, comes with its risks for Baku. There is hardly anything to hide when selling through a pipeline in crude terms, but much more is revealed when selling through retail networks and a shirt-sponsorship contract. Every price increase, staff problem and outage at IP in the coming years will come with an Azerbaijani flag on top of the story in Italian media outlets which was not the case with BTC crude supplies. It seems like SOCAR has estimated the reputational benefits – being liked by Tajani, being credited for alleviating the cost-of-living pressure and becoming a part of Italy’s most popular sport – as more than making up for this risk. Whether or not it will provide any meaningful savings or just slow down the price increases using better rhetoric will only be seen when SOCAR finally releases its number. But in any case, its announcement has served its purpose politically – it has given Giorgia Meloni one less justification for imposing a windfall tax and it has given SOCAR one more chance to be perceived as part of the solution not as a part of the problem by Italians who were unaware of its existence four months.

The Sumgayit State Drama Theatre has hosted a commemorative event marking September 27 – Remembrance Day.

The event featured a performance of the one-man play “Immortal”, staged based on a work of the same name by Elshan Sarkhanoglu.

The event was attended by active members of the Sumgayit community, media representatives, employees of the Sumgayit Regional Center of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, doctors from the Sumgayit Medical Center, and staff of the Sumgayit Music College.

Before the performance, a minute of silence was observed in memory of the Azerbaijani servicemen who sacrificed their lives for the country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.

The theatre’s creative department head and People’s Artist Firudin Maharramov, as well as “Immortal” playwright Elshan Sarkhanoglu, addressed the gathering. Their speeches highlighted the significance of the 44-day Patriotic War in Azerbaijan’s modern history and provided information about the creative activities of the Sumgayit State Drama Theatre.

The one-man play “Immortal”, prepared as part of the project “Nothing Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Lost to Memory”, was then staged.

Elshan Sarkhanoglu is the playwright and set designer, People’s Artist Firudin Maharramov is the production director, and Umid Abbaszade is the director. The role in the one-man play was performed by Elay Khasayev.

The production tells the story of National Hero Natig Gasimov’s courage, patriotism and sacrifice for his homeland. It depicts how, after losing six of his comrades, he remained alone under siege in an Albanian church for five days, resisted despite repeated pressure to surrender, and sacrificed himself in an effort to save the lives of 22 civilians captured in Khojaly.

Natig Gasimov was subjected to severe torture while in captivity and was killed. He did not surrender the Azerbaijani flag to the enemy until his final moments.

By a presidential decree dated June 25, 2024, Natig Gasimov was posthumously awarded the title of National Hero of Azerbaijan.

Eight US Marines were injured two weeks ago when an Iranian cruise missile struck a maritime vessel operating in the Strait of Hormuz, NBC News reported, citing three US officials.

The previously undisclosed attack took place on Sept. 14 while the Marines were operating as part of a battalion landing team, according to the report.

The eight service members, including seven enlisted Marines and one officer, suffered smoke inhalation and potential traumatic brain injuries. They also experienced concussion-related symptoms, including headaches.

According to the US officials cited by NBC News, none of the injuries were considered severe, and all eight Marines returned to duty shortly after the strike.

The Marines were operating as part of a battalion landing team when the Iranian missile struck the vessel, they said.

The Pentagon has faced growing scrutiny over casualty figures since the US-Israel war with Iran began in February, with the number of injured and killed troops subject to changes in reporting and classification.

As of Wednesday, the Pentagon’s Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) had recorded 861 US service members as injured in the conflict.

The eight Marines were added to the database nearly 10 days after the Sept. 14 attack, while a US official attributed delays in reporting to symptoms that may appear later and the system’s lack of real-time updates.