By THÉRÈSE MARGOLIS Azerbaijani Ambassador to Mexico Mammad Talibov wants the world to know one simple fact: Nagorno-Karabakh — the region at the center of the current and escalating war between Armenia and Azerbaijan — is not a disputed territory. “Nagorno-Karabakh is recognized by the United Nations and most of the world as a legitimate part of Azerbaijani national territory,”
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By THÉRÈSE MARGOLIS Few, if any, territorial disputes are historically simple or cut-and-dry. Most are shrouded in complex webs of nationalism and misinformation, coupled with the raw emotions of human suffering and violence on both sides of the conflict. But the ongoing skirmish between Azerbaijan and Armenia, although rooted in centuries of mutual distrust and ethnic divisions, really boils down
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By THÉRÈSE MARGOLIS It’s a sputtering war that has been going on now for nearly three decades — ever since Armenian troops invaded the Azerbaijani territorial enclave of Nargorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding districts and forcefully expelled 800,000 Azeri farmers and their families from their homes in a vicious and unlawful landgrab of brute force in 1991. The barbarous assault of Karabakh
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By THÉRÈSE MARGOLIS BAKU, Azerbaijan — It has been said that what Genesis is to the Biblical account of the fall and redemption of mankind, early rock art is to the history of his intelligence, imagination and creative power. These primitive but extraordinary carvings and paintings gave birth to human capability with the formation of images and symbols that allowed early man
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By THÉRÈSE MARGOLIS BAKU, Azerbaijan — Tourism is a relatively new industry in Azerbaijan. Despite the fact that the tiny, landlocked republic can lay claim to three separate UNESCO World Heritage Sites — the medieval walled city of Old Baku, with its mysterious and emblematic Maiden Tower and the Palace of King Shirvanshah, built in the 15th century; the incomparable
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By THÉRÈSE MARGOLIS BAKU, Aizerbaijan — When it comes to bone-chilling winds, Chicago has nothing on Baku. Situated on the southern side of the tip of Azerbaijan’s jutting Absheron Peninsula, the ancient Azeri capital is almost constantly battered by chilling, triple-digit-velocity gusts from the Caspian Sea, tempered only by warmer overland breezes from the inland regions of the country to the
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By THÉRÈSE MARGOLIS BAKU, Azerbaijan — When Tural Ganjaliyev was just 12 years old, he and his entire family were forcefully expelled from the only home they had ever known by invading Armenian troops. Ganjaliyev and his family were among the 800,000 Azerbaijanis (nearly half of whom were children) who were brutally evicted from their houses and land by Russian-backed
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By THÉRÈSE MARGOLIS BAKU, Azerbaijan — With an entirely new Milli Mejlis (parliamentary general assembly) set to take office next month, Azerbaijan is bracing for a head-to-toe makeover of its social and political system, in keeping with a master plan laid out late last year by President Ilham Aliyev. And with most of the newly elected legislators fresh out of
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By THÉRÈSE MARGOLIS BAKU, Azerbaijan — Freezing cold winds and intermittent snow did not deter Azerbaijani voters from turning out Sunday, Feb. 9, to cast ballots in a nationwide snap parliamentary election. With 883 international observers from 58 countries — along with 77,790 local observers — inspecting and scrutinizing virtual every step of the voting process, Azerbaijanis turned out in
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By THÉRÈSE MARGOLIS BAKU, Azerbaijan — When you have a president who has been in power for more than 16 straight years (in this case, Ilham Aliyev), following in the footsteps of his father (Heydar Aliyev), who held the very same post for the 10 years immediately prior to that, it is easy to assume (or suggest) that your head
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