President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan speaks on the phone with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev received a phone call from NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on February 15.

During the chat, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg thanked President Ilham Aliyev for his recent visit to NATO and address before the North Atlantic Council, the organisation's highest governing body.

Stoltenber and Aliyev commended the progress of Azerbaijan-NATO ties and discussed the post-conflict scenario in the South Caucasus, continuing events in Ukraine, and the present state of the global energy market.

Azerbaijan has been praised by NATO's Secretary General for being a reliable gas provider to Europe and for expanding gas exports.

As an important exporter of energy products, President Ilham Aliyev stated that Azerbaijan would continue to be a reliable partner.

Aliyev talked with representative of Moldova on the prospects for cooperation between the countries

On February 10, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev received Moldovan Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration (MFAEI) Nicu Popescu, who arrived in Baku on a working visit.

“The officials discussed the possibilities of developing and deepening existing cooperation, spoke in favour of developing cooperation in new areas, with an emphasis on economic cooperation, attracting investment, increasing the number of tourists and joint projects in agriculture,” the press release stated.

The press service added that Popescu suggested that Aliyev invite Moldovan President Maia Sandu to Baku to promote political dialogue between the countries.

It should be noted that at the beginning of February Vice Prime Minister of Moldova, Minister of Infrastructure Andrey Spinu visited Baku. He stated that Chișinău is counting on gas supplies from Azerbaijan. At the same time, the Southern Gas Corridor, through which Azerbaijan supplies gas to Europe, has been laid to Italy.

Operation of the Azerbaijani State Security Service in the Ministry of Defence

The State Security Service conducted an operation in the Ministry of Defence and arrested high-ranking officials in the financial sector on charges of large-scale embezzlement.

MP and ruling YAP member Aydin Mirzazade believes that these arrests show that the state "does not make concessions to anyone" in the matter of corruption.

According to Adalat Valiyev, an expert on military issues, the scale of these arrests may increase.

According to local media close to the government, the arrests involved senior officials from the Ministry of Defence, the Army, and one of the military's financial departments. It is alleged that they misappropriated about 7 million euros.

The Baku Military Court has sentenced each of the accused to four months in prison.

According to Adalat Verdiyev, a military expert, the arrests could be expanded. According to him, the detainees, no matter how "high-ranking" they were, could not carry out "such an appropriation on their own." Verdiyev believes that such an alleged embezzlement does not seem to only have happened in a day or a month. "It took some time to embezzle so much money. It is possible that the officials were aware of this case. "

Jasur Sumerinli, head of the Khazar Institute for Military Studies, believes that the planned reforms in the Azerbaijani army led to the arrests.

Recalling the statement of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev that the army will be based on the Turkish model, the military expert said that first of all, anti-corruption cases should continue. According to him, "if there is corruption and it is not eliminated, there can be no change."

Rovnag Abdullayev has been relieved of his post as President of SOCAR

Rovnag Abdullayev has been relieved of his post as President of SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan).

President Ilham Aliyev made such a decision and appointed him Deputy Minister of Economy by another decision.

Elnur Aliyev, former Deputy Minister of Economy, has been relieved of his post and appointed First Deputy Minister of Economy in the same body.

Former First Deputy Minister of Economy Rovshan Najaf was appointed First Vice President of SOCAR by the decision of President Aliyev.

Rovshan Najaf will also hold this position temporarily until a new President of SOCAR is appointed.

Rovnag Abdullayev had been President of SOCAR since 2005.

Vahid Ahmadov, a member of the Parliamentary Committee on Economic Policy, Industry and Entrepreneurship, believes that the personnel changes at the State Oil Company will "play an important role in eliminating the negative situation" in this area. Noting that the Supervisory Board was established under the State Oil Company about a year ago, Vahid Ahmadov does not consider it a coincidence that the chairmanship of the council was entrusted to the Minister of Economy Mikayil Jabbarov.

Oil market analyst Ilham Shaban said that after the transfer of the State Oil Company to the Azerbaijan Investment Holding on November 5, 2020, "serious personnel" changes were expected in the company. According to him, after the establishment of the General Assembly, which is a supervisory body, the form of "vertical governance," which has been in force since 2006, was replaced by a "collegial system of governance."

Chief Azerbaijani politician resigned from the presidency of the Academy of Sciences

Ramiz Mehdiyev resigned from the presidency of the Academy of Sciences, Rasim Alguliyev, the vice-president of the Academy of Sciences, said.

According to Alguliyev, at a meeting of the Presidium, Ramiz Mehdiyev briefly resigned and asked the Presidium to accept his resignation.

For several days, 84-year-old Ramiz Mehdiyev has been harshly criticised by pro-government politicians and scientists.

Senior researcher of the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of ANAS, doctor of philosophical sciences Abulhasan Abbasov, director of the Institute of History Karim Shukurov, MPs Etibar Aliyev, Fazail Agamali, Musa Gasimli criticised Mehdiyev and demanded his resignation. 

On February 9, director of the Institute of Mathematics and Mechanics, former Minister of Education Misir Mardanov criticised Mehdiyev’s activities as ANAS President in the local press and called for his resignation.

“Mehdiyev created new departments with no prospects and no reason for their establishment, and the academic secretary, one of the main positions at ANAS, was illegally changed three times in two years. Historically, ANAS always had three vice-presidents, but now their number has been unjustifiably increased to nine. The science departments of ANAS, as they say, have been abolished. The positions of general director and executive director were established in the institutes of ANAS without any need and without discussion. All this has caused serious nervous tension among dozens of scientists," said Mardanov.

It is believed that these criticisms are made at the behest of ruling party politicians and Ilham Aliyev. It should be noted that so far there have been allegations that Ramiz Mehdiyev was preparing to come to power after the death of Heydar Aliyev. However, with the subsequent coming to power of Ilham Aliyev, this did not happen.

Ramiz Mehdiyev began his political career in the Communist Party when Azerbaijan was part of the USSR. Mehdiyev, who has been teaching at the Department of Scientific Communism of the Azerbaijan State University since 1972, was promoted to a lecturer in the propaganda and agitation department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan in May 1974. He later served as secretary of the Communist Party.

Shortly after Heydar Aliyev came to power in 1993, Ramiz Mehdiyev was reinstated. He headed the Presidential Administration for a long time and is considered one of the most powerful figures in Aliyev's government.

During the Soviet era, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour, and after Azerbaijan gained independence, the Order of Independence.

In October 2019, by the order of President Ilham Aliyev, Ramiz Mehdiyev was relieved of his post as head of the Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan and elected President of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences.

President Ilham Aliyev has awarded Ramiz Mehdiyev with the Heydar Aliyev Order for his effective and long-term special services in the field of public administration and development of science.