Oil has historically flowed through the veins of Azerbaijan and is largely responsible for the fact that this former Soviet republic on the shores of the Caspian Sea has managed to become a regional power in the field of energy in recent decades. The black gold has allowed it to accelerate its development and also dedicate a part of its budgets to strengthening its army to solve the dispute that it had been dragging on since the end of the USSR: the loss of Nagorno-Karabakh in the first war against Armenia, in the early 90s.
From the Absheron peninsula, a kind of nose of the Caucasus that penetrates 60 kilometers into the Caspian Sea and on which the capital, Baku, sits, Azerbaijan has absorbed for centuries a precious treasure from which the merchants of ancient times have benefited. half to the USSR.
The first references appear in the writings of Arab historians from the 9th and 10th centuries. The Persian geographer Al-Istajri even described how the inhabitants of Baku used soil impregnated with oil as fuel. Marco Polo also talks about Baku oil in the 13th century, and thanks to diplomats and travelers we know that in the 17th century there were more than 30 natural wells
The world's first industrial drilling was carried out near Baku (then the Russian Empire) in 1846, more than a decade before the discovery of oil in Pennsylvania. At the beginning of the 20th century, more than half of the world's oil was produced in what is now Azerbaijan. But the boom ended when in 1920 the Bolsheviks took control of the country and dedicated that wealth to the needs of the Soviet Union.
After its disintegration in 1991, the policy of friendship with Moscow and agreements with Western oil industries allowed President Heydar Aliyev to boost the local oil industry.
Today its main route for oil exports is the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (80% of sales), which reaches Turkey's Mediterranean coast through Georgia. Its capacity is 1.2 million barrels per day, which represents more than 1% of the world.
It also has exports through Russia, through the Baku-Novorosisk pipeline; through Georgia, through the Baku-Supsa; or by rail, also passing through Georgian territory.
We must add natural gas from its fields, Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli and Shah Deniz, under the waters of the Caspian, part of whose production reaches Europe.
But in these decades Azerbaijan has also consolidated an authoritarian political regime. With the coming to power of Ilham Aliyev in 2003 shortly before the death of his father, Heydar Aliyev, the first “post-Soviet dynasty” appeared. He was last re-elected in 2018 in an election that Western observers say fell short of democratic standards.
Furthermore, in Azerbaijan “corruption is rampant and the formal political opposition has weakened after years of persecution,” according to the NGO Freedom House.
In July, Gubad Ibadoglu, leader of the Democracy and Prosperity Movement, which has tried unsuccessfully to register as a political party on several occasions, was arrested. He faces 12 years in prison, accused of “production, acquisition or sale of counterfeit money by an organized group.” According to Giorgi Gogia of Human Rights Watch, “his detention falls into a pattern of bringing dubious charges against critics of the Government (...) to silence the opposition and critical voices.”
Following the military offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh, at least five anti-war activists have been arrested. Among them, Amrah Tahmazov, who became famous for opposing the second war against Armenia, in 2020. “They accuse him of violating internet rules, which in the language of the authorities means that he has caused problems for the propaganda circle of Aliyev,” the historian and critic of power Altay Goyushov wrote on the X network.
He received 30 days of administrative arrest for disseminating prohibited information. The same sanction was imposed on journalist Nurlan Gharmanli, who according to Turan.az reported physical and psychological coercion; and former diplomat Emin Shaig Ibrahimov, known for his posts against the policy towards Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia.
