the sewage infrastructure construction the somali region special economic zone promises exceptional opportunities for business in russia will come to the small region for more information. you. if you're just joining us a very warm welcome to you this is. breaking news this hour. running in the presidential election next march the country's a third. of the country's political. one headed up the right political party. over disagreements with. flood the center of moscow again but this time it's the support of the victorious united russia party that follows mass opposition rallies. the

results of the parliamentary vote. over the efficiency of the emergency that's also within the e.u. why with. the franco german plans to create. and occupy protesters take to the next level as they shut down of america's west coast ports from san diego all the way to anchorage the move follows a series of police raids the resulting in. dozens of arrests. now look at the paths taken by soviet states after the union collapsed some twenty years ago this time our special report explores the fate of azerbaijan. since ancient times this country has been called the land of fire there are places

here when natural gas bursts out from under the earth mixing will soon soil before exploding into flames it's a miracle of nature there's nothing like it anywhere in the world catches our country is called the land of fire. the first fortress tile as appeared here on the caspian shore in the twelfth century people build the houses inside the walls today this ancient district of baquba is on unesco's world heritage list how does this not the aura of this place is so amazing it's so easy to spend hours here just breathing this air that blows in from the north of the through the in taking in the scenery the war. since gaining independence and nine hundred ninety one azerbaijan has gone through two difficult decades it has overcome political turmoil after nearly descending into civil war and built

a new basis for its economy. so . say. you. and me you. said you know that we had an underwater city there's. no engineers but. they found ancient rocks that. as dug a sim off a new joe mao and now two of the most well known people in azerbaijan know there is a bit. just these completely self-taught artists managed to exceed all expectations by taking first prize of the euro vision song contest.

lately eldar have trouble avoiding fun seeking more to graphs or taking pictures with the. congressional races goes thank you we have some guests murong there are a zero zero zero zero nice. stomach so they will fit in the frame. of the day when the azerbaijani duet emerged victorious people flooded onto the streets of back. yes it was a big celebration it would have been really interesting to see how people reacted in front of their t.v.'s at home when they learned to eat more. protein across the

planet before similar waving the azerbaijani flying from their car sunroofs it was marvelous. to happy that. their legend has made its mark. on. the republic of us a by john is located on the southwestern shore of the caspian sea as a version borders russia and georgia to the north to the west and around to the self it separates true the u.s.s.r. and nine hundred ninety one before the break up there was an ethnic conflict with. one of the most tragic events in azerbaijan history was when troops were deployed in the capital back in one nine hundred ninety. at that time as a by john had a national liberation movement called the popular front the movement of staged mass

protests around the country seizing government buildings when the situation got out of control the authorities introduced a state of emergency on almost all of us a by chance territory on january the twentieth one thousand nine hundred ninety tanks and tobacco to restore order during the turmoil one hundred thirty seven people were killed. there from a law for d.s. brother. was among the first victims. after they launched a flare the tanks came in and started firing. on the notice that ilham was not by my side and. he went down to the square to meet the tanks roky he raised his arms up and said but don't fire them he said look these these people are unarmed for god's sake don't shoot. him from was mortally wounded some time later his pregnant wife took her own life all their relatives have left

of them a family photos. for these and this is my brother and theories are at their wedding. you know gumboots when i was putting the ring on her finger called so. everyone who died in back in one nine hundred ninety is buried at the city's alley of heroes. alofa dia rests next to his wife his mother and brother often come to the memorial cemetery. my son who dreams remains unfulfilled.

every year on the last day of june as a by johnny's commemorate the dead couple. i asked to leave both who was elected the first president of independent azerbaijan ruled for two years during his term in office as head of a new state he was faced with many tough problems. i witnessed that period if those bags then all i could think about was how are we going to survive how are we going to pay for green iraq and everything else we were getting from russia ukraine belarus in kazakstan. we didn't have our own gold or foreign reserves or even a currency of our own and for we had absolutely nothing. today as a by john's international reserves amount to thirty five billion u.s. dollars the country gets its money from hydrocarbon exports it is estimated that

the oil and gas supplies here will last for one hundred years and. the outskirts of baquba are home to the world's largest oil and gas terminal don't have permission to open the pipe. it transports caspian oil to the mediterranean through the back to tbilisi j. hahn pipeline it is a boon for both as a by jan and the european consumers of the other end to buy caspian oil. this is the b.b.c. pipeline which starts at sun which i'll go through georgia and stop in turkey. and this is the biggest pipeline in the caspian rejoin with the capacity of one point two million barrels a day. this is commonly acknowledged that azerbaijan owes his successful oil and gas development to the so-called contract of the century. it was signed in

one thousand nine hundred ninety four by then president gaydar father of the present leader of azerbaijan. he invited about a dozen of the world's largest oil and gas corporations including b.p. exxon new coiled and amoco to develop as a by john's oil fields in the caspian sea nowadays as a by john is number one in the commonwealth of independent states in terms of per capita fast. enough to feel if it was for the war for work the government is doing all it can these days to verse for oil development production and transportation. so as to cater to multiple customers which you as a result we have great prospects of the. german reporter hans you can bet has lived and worked in azerbaijan for twenty years he has witnessed all the

changes bolton day as advisor john has gone through. now. as really. the man that is income and so solving income like that. to put. forward. in business and. policy. one of us advised john's major interests in foreign investment and seeks to provide favorable conditions for foreign businesses in the city of gebal on three hundred kilometers north of back to the piano factory can be found. coming from a family of piano makers hands left the rink has shifted the production of his time on a belt and pianos from germany to azerbaijan he claims his business is the largest of its kind in all of asia. this model piano for one twenty one upright piano we

have two hundred thirty strings more or less. every string is different as the other the length in diameter and is made by hand built man used to be a european brand for over one hundred years until hans left rink left his home country for azerbaijan and took his entire business with him. if you are here to hurt her you know the work i was about tung the method automatically will think you know this because as my grandmother used to say always if you say in this case as a baton they have to say be either and the belt one piano.

culture is that so much i was about to fail and i think i'm going to forgive a real man because i would fall almost immediately on the collapse of the soviet union twenty years ago the commonwealth of independent states would stop most of its original intent see by many. gave.

up. downtown back on the caspian sea used to lap alongside the capital's full trust and home city until it eventually withdrew leaving the fortress malls exposed every day the keeper of his architectural relic crimes danger and fortifications the enjoyed sieges. get the three level of warning to venus wall was a record in the twelfth century by shocks aton the first who did a lot to fortify the city their inner city book who remained an impregnable fortress that even the mongols failed to conquer in the thirteenth century new mothers yet that was when the mungo lama encountered the so-called liquid fire which the defenders of back who would douse their enemies heads with it took

scientists a couple of centuries to figure out that it was simply burning oil. because you're moving it is the new here we can see the openings that we're used to poor oil down the wall. with you in the entire wall would be engulfed in flames and it would be impossible to climb out of the. old back who is considered a cultural treasure and is protected by unesco. when not for use the look of the city changes dramatically as cafes and live music halls open. music thomas says come head to enjoy azerbaijan's verio brand of jazz the music combines eastern tunes with elements of the western musical tradition. jazz evolved

enough by john in the one nine hundred thirty s. it was pretty limited to in the soviet times but today it is hugely popular once more. on the minute it brings harmony through on it puts you in a certain mood under folks many colors through that we give each person hears the music in different ways matter by genre he's considered jazz their own it's their national music styles of. sayings that day was brought to back when he was a child twenty years ago his family fled from the atrocities of the nagorno-karabakh war. according to baquba records almost one million azerbaijanis were forced to flee back on domania. the ticking time bomb of the nagorno-karabakh conflict started with the dawn of the soviet union when armenia and azerbaijan became part of the us has sung for

a long time there was no question about who controlled the region the war between the two states over nagorno-karabakh started at the end of the 1980's after most commissioned its grip on the republics today nagorno-karabakh remains on recognized its main parties and amin is control but azerbaijan still considers nagorno-karabakh part of its territory. in time the refugees managed to settle down in their new homes. but. i remember the time when we arrived here we lived in her condition that there were two families to a house but we believed that we would get help and i want to thank the country providing us with a good home. and hello to you by. now . even though most refugees have managed to settle down they still hope to return

home someday. but negative matter how good it may be here homeland is then it's always better for a person to be where he was born is one of us i miss my homeland. despite the fact that twenty years of post i'm ready to return there right now. the new goal no karabakh conflict was frozen in one nine hundred ninety four after the two sides signed a cease fire. came to power peaceful negotiations started and the leader of managed to secure a cease fire zim in the president also tried to resolve the conflict peacefully conflict this movie all in a bunch of stuff. the negotiations between azerbaijan and armenia are still ongoing with the help of russia but the parties have not yet signed a peace treaty on the going to come back.

in a feature vanno thomas republic is six hundred kilometers to the west of baquba one can only get to this as a bunch of enclaves surrounded by other countries but playing the highway across some menial has been closed while traveling never iran is far too long and expensive. the hitch of an autonomous republic is located in the southern part of the transco casus it is a landlocked azerbaijan enclave bordering on mania turkey and around the republic's population amounts to four hundred thousand people the republic is actively trading with iran and turkey archaeologists say to the republic's capital of the hay chavan is one of the oldest cities in the east the first mention of the city dates back to fifteen thirty nine b.c. . former president of azerbaijan.

was born here there is a street a square and a museum and his own. if they don't believe in his son it'll come more always together. there was his advisor home followed in his footsteps. in two thousand and three shortly before his death gaydar removed his candidacy from the presidential list in favor of his son. not far from olives family estate is situated one of islam's most sacred places as a coffee. it is even mentioned in the qur'an thousands of pilgrims from many

countries come here to pray. for. looks of people who visit this shrine and they want to feel close to our. people make their wishes here and ask god to make them come true. the keeper of the old city is coming from back to up to northern azerbaijan he is to meet with archaeologists. who has made a number of important discoveries. since you so good we heard you found some new things new we can you show them to us we are always finding new things and it's. is conducting an excavation in the ancient city of. the city used to be the capital of caucasian albania a state that emerged on as a territory in the fourth century b.c. . this is a very old site who was this man this man was

a citizen of i don't know what he did we know he was a christian as he is buried in accordance with christian rights that the good i say this man is my ancestor are you snow yes absolutely. artifacts found in go could be similar to those in the ancient back who fortress archaeologists assure the people have lived here since the bronze age. ancient people living on the territory of us and by john were particularly respectful towards fire a source of light and heat plumes of gas have been burning here for centuries there was a place not far from baquba which is called burning mountain it slopers covered the tunnel flames it is not only land that burns and as a pasha the temperature of the water underneath the ground can reach seventy degrees it is used for treating people.

in the miracle of nature there is nothing like it anywhere else in the world our country is called the land of fire even our water burns because it contains a lot of sulfur this water can treat many illnesses particularly bone diseases like osteoporosis and. t. plantations can be found three hundred kilometers to the south from back near the iranian border not far from the city of len qur'an five hectares of land belonging to the fama. his family has been in the tea business for fifty years now. so now we start gathering tea. please make sure that the tealeaves comply with the same standards. to growing in the south of us by jan is a priority industry according to local scientists the t.

grown on this land is chemically different to other kinds of tea it contains lots of time it essential oils and caffeine. but the committee growing process requires a lot of effort including irrigation and fertilizers it's an industrial roman yana good and the final product depends on how well it has been taken care of. after their collected the tea leaves are processed at the factory once the leaves are dried and they're sort of taken by hand the result is different sorts of tea. inside we collect the three most tender leaves from the top of each plant we then use those leaves to make of ok. and now as you can see i'm in the process of sorting believes their child after they're processed the tea will be

packed and is then ready to be drunk gov lusterless. the village of sat on the outskirts of baquba the family of famous carpet we've heard over drinks azerbaijani tea every day even though she is ninety one years old she still remembers weaving carpets that were given as presents to kremlin officials. as you can see we cover the teapot with the towel it comes out stronger that way a very good mix thanks to that this tea can help us stomach or spared her problems the important thing though is that it gives you energy and puts you in a good mood. the minute version is grandmother of the family she is passing on her knowledge of carpets to her grandchildren and their children minute verse ten year old granddaughter rock shunned guy over also wants to wave azerbaijani carpets when

she's older but right now she's still a beginner. how to see a grandmother. by journey carpets are different from all other kinds of carpets in color they are produced differently too. in the old times as a biogenic carpets were called solid gold and priced accordingly even today the price of some handmade carpets can be as high as several thousand dollars. threaded the needle here. on the wall did i do it right the end of the needle and you pull it down. no a days citizens of azerbaijan's capital enjoy walking by the city see front. one

side you can see the old fortress from the other oil platforms and caspian sea. here the past on the present have merged together fluidly.