Category: Azer News

On October 7, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev welcomed the heads of state and government participating in the 12th Summit of the Council of Heads of State of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) held in Gabala, Azernews reports.

The heads of state and government posed for a group photograph.

‘The initialing of the peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia two months ago at the White House in Washington is set to transform the South Caucasus into a region of peace,’ said President Ilham Aliyev during his address at the 12th Summit of the Council of Heads of State of the Organization of Turkic States, Azernews reports.

The head of state noted that, following the joint call to dissolve the OSCE Minsk Group and related structures during the Washington summit, the decision made by the OSCE on 1 September also ended these remnants of the former conflict.

A jubilee medal will be established to mark the 30th anniversary of the Constitution of Azerbaijan (1995-2025), Azernews reports.

A relevant draft law has been submitted to the Milli Majlis.

The proposed amendment to the law ‘On the Establishment of Orders and Medals of the Republic of Azerbaijan’ envisions the creation of the jubilee medal of the Republic of Azerbaijan titled ’30th Anniversary of the Constitution of Azerbaijan (1995-2025).’

The draft has been included in the agenda of the plenary session of the parliament scheduled for October 10.

In the first three quarters of the year, the State Service for Special Communications and Information Security of Azerbaijan identified 650 cyberattack indicators as a result of its cyber threat analysis activities.

Azernews reports, according to a statement released by the Service, the identified indicators were used to detect and block targeted Advanced Persistent Threats (APT) aimed at Azerbaijani government institutions. These preemptive measures successfully prevented the attacks before they could cause damage.

Out of the 650 cyber threat indicators:

216 were identified through internal investigations

434 were detected in response to requests from government agencies

The State Service continues its efforts to enhance cybersecurity resilience and protect the nation’s critical information infrastructure against evolving cyber threats.

On October 7, in Gabala, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, Chairman of the Halk Maslahaty of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, and other heads of state and government participating in the 12th Summit of the Council of Heads of State of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) attended a ceremony to lay, in an online format, the foundation stone for a mosque to be built by Turkmenistan in Fuzuli, Azernews reports.

The mosque complex to be constructed in Fuzuli by Turkmenistan will cover an area of over one hectare. The building will feature two 40-meter-high minarets and a main dome reaching 30 meters in height. The mosque will accommodate up to 500 worshippers at a time.

Member and observer states of the OTS are also contributing to the restoration efforts in Karabakh and East Zangezur initiated by the Azerbaijani state. These contributions include the construction of this mosque in Fuzuli by Turkmenistan, the Mirzo Ulugbek School built by Uzbekistan in Fuzuli, the Kurmangazy Children’s Creativity Center constructed by Kazakhstan in Fuzuli, the Manas School built by Kyrgyzstan in Aghdam, the school building under construction in Jabrayil by Hungary, as well as the participation of Turkish companies in the construction of numerous tunnels, bridges, and roads.

Kur Olympic Training and Sports Center has hosted rowing competitions as part of the third CIS Games, Azernews reports.

Based on the results of the two-day competition, Azerbaijani rowers have won a total of four medals.

Alimurad Hajizade claimed the silver medal. Amil Ramazanov won two bronze medals.

The duet of Ivan Vorobyanski and Huseyn Hasanov secured third place and earned a bronze medal.

Azerbaijan is hosting the third Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Games from September 28 to October 8, 2025, marking a significant event in the region’s sports calendar.

This multi-sport competition brings together athletes from CIS member states and invited countries, aiming to promote friendship, cooperation, and athletic excellence.

For the first time in the history of the CIS Games, competitions are being held across seven cities in Azerbaijan: Ganja, Mingachevir, Gabala, Shaki, Goygol, Yevlakh, and Khankandi.

Each city hosts events in different sports, with the second-largest city, Ganja, serving as the main hub and officially designated the CIS Sports Capital for 2025.

Around 23 sports are being contested across 12 venues, highlighting a broad and inclusive athletic program.

A total of 1,624 athletes from 13 countries had confirmed participation. Event mascots Babir and Leyla are helping to generate enthusiasm among young fans.

On November 2, Azerbaijan will celebrate the 5th anniversary of its glorious victory in the 44-day Patriotic War, Azernews reports.

To mark this occasion, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, in collaboration with the Baku City Circuit Operations Company and the Azerbaijan Athletics Federation, will organize the next charity event, the “Victory Run.”

The Victory Run will start near the “Seven Beauties” fountain in the Seaside National Park. The run will cover a distance of 10 km, and the participants who reach the finish line first will be declared winners and awarded prizes.

In addition to the race, various interesting and entertaining activities will be organized. All participants who reach the finish line will receive a medal. They will also be able to download their participant certificate from the official website of the event.

Those who wish to join the race, held under the slogan “Pride Forward,” must pay a minimum registration fee of 20 manat for charitable purposes. The funds raised from the run will be donated to YASHAT Foundation.

The Victory Run has been held annually since 2021 as a tradition.

On October 6, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev met with President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus Ersin Tatar in Gabala, Azernews reports.

In recent months, Armenia’s shifting foreign and security policy has once again exposed deep divisions within its political and social fabric. As Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s government pursues new directions in diplomacy and defense, seeking balance between East and West, the reactions from traditional power circles and diaspora groups have been anything but uniform.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the fierce criticism emerging from the diaspora regarding Armenia’s latest cooperation with the United States under the so-called Crossroads of Peace initiative. Framed by its opponents as a ‘Trojan partnership’ and a threat to sovereignty, this rhetoric reflects not a realistic security concern but a broader struggle over identity, power, and control of Armenia’s political narrative.

The recent “white paper” from the Armenian Weekly is a clear example of politically motivated fearmongering. The narrative, disguised as a defense of sovereignty, misrepresents the purpose of the Crossroads of Peace initiative and deliberately overlooks Armenia’s own strategic failures and choices regarding geopolitical dependency.

Armenia’s latest cooperation with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) underlines a familiar pattern: Yerevan repeatedly mistakes symbolic foreign attention for strategic importance. The framework, far from being a Western plot, is a limited technical project aimed at assessing and modernizing border management – something Armenia has long lacked capacity in due to systemic mismanagement and overreliance on outdated Soviet structures.

Labeling such cooperation as a ‘surrender of sovereignty’ betrays a deeper insecurity within Armenian policymaking circles. Decades of dependence on Russia’s security umbrella have left the Armenian state incapable of sustaining independent defense capabilities, and now, when Western engagement comes with transparency requirements, nationalist circles interpret it as espionage. The contradiction is glaring: a country that has hosted Russian border troops for over 30 years suddenly finds U.S. technical experts a threat to its autonomy.

Diaspora’s appeal for ‘strategic neutrality’ conveniently ignores the reality that Armenia long abandoned neutrality when it became a member of the CSTO and hosted a Russian military base in Gyumri. The paper’s call to ‘reorient defense policy’ is a rhetorical maneuver to justify Yerevan’s gradual detachment from Moscow while scapegoating the West for Armenia’s internal political fragility.

The U.S. mission’s stated purpose, to conduct a capability gap analysis, is a standard practice within international cooperation frameworks. Armenia’s own request for such assistance reflects an acknowledgment of governance and border control weaknesses. If sovereignty were genuinely the issue, such discussions would have begun when Russian soldiers were manning Armenia’s borders with Trkiye and Iran.

Perhaps the most revealing element of the ‘white paper’ is its historical revisionism. The authors selectively cite events from the early 20th century to frame the West as an eternal betrayer of Armenia, while conveniently erasing the catastrophic results of Yerevan’s own strategic miscalculations, from its militarized policies in Garabagh to its diplomatic isolation in recent years.

This instrumental use of history, combined with alarmist language about ‘occupation’ and ‘foreign control,’ aims to evoke existential fear rather than promote realistic policy debate. Ironically, it is precisely this mindset – framing every external actor as an enemy – that has confined Armenia to a cycle of dependency and isolation.

The geopolitical landscape of the South Caucasus has changed irreversibly. Azerbaijan’s strengthened sovereignty, Trkiye’s assertive regional diplomacy, and new transit and energy routes have made old Cold War-style alignments obsolete. Yerevan’s dilemma is not about ‘foreign infiltration,’ but about its inability to adapt to the region’s new balance of power.

In fact, we have written on the same issues many times before. Without a doubt, this is proving itself again. Not everyone agrees with the current situation. Leaders from the Armenian diaspora, church, and nationalist figures argue that recent developments undermine the Armenian cause. These actors create a constellation of influence that opposes Yerevan’s [current] realist ideologies. What they defend is not merely a set of territorial claims, but a worldview rooted in grievance, martyrdom, and a narrative of heroic victimhood. As governments have come and gone in Yerevan, the Church has acted as a stable institution and, at times, a power center in its own right, arguably functioning as a sort of “deep state.” Significant reforms and steps not taken today could be undermined at any moment in the near future.

While the paper warns of ‘foreign control,’ the real concern for Armenia should be its own diminishing agency and relevance in regional processes such as the Middle Corridor and the Zangezur Corridor (recently labeled as the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity), initiatives that continue to progress without Yerevan’s participation or influence.

The ‘Trojan horse’ narrative serves one purpose: to deflect responsibility from Armenia’s domestic failures and geopolitical confusion. By portraying cooperation as infiltration and partnership as espionage, such discourse isolates Armenia further from the modernizing and stabilizing trends of the South Caucasus.

In reality, sovereignty is not eroded by cooperation; it is eroded by the inability to use it responsibly.

Volleyball competitions are ongoing at the third CIS Games in Azerbaijan, Azernews reports.

The match between the women’s teams of Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan ended with a 3-1 victory for the national team.

With this win, the Azerbaijani women’s team secured the bronze medal of the CIS Games.

The Uzbekistan team finished the competition in fourth place.

Note that the match took place at the Ganja Sports Palace.

Azerbaijan is hosting the third Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Games from September 28 to October 8, 2025, marking a significant event in the region’s sports calendar.

This multi-sport competition brings together athletes from CIS member states and invited countries, aiming to promote friendship, cooperation, and athletic excellence.

For the first time in the history of the CIS Games, competitions are being held across seven cities in Azerbaijan: Ganja, Mingachevir, Gabala, Shaki, Goygol, Yevlakh, and Khankandi.

Each city hosts events in different sports, with the second-largest city, Ganja, serving as the main hub and officially designated the CIS Sports Capital for 2025.

Around 23 sports are being contested across 12 venues, highlighting a broad and inclusive athletic program.

A total of 1,624 athletes from 13 countries had confirmed participation. Event mascots Babir and Leyla are helping to generate enthusiasm among young fans.