A number of Azerbaijani parliamentarians have made a request to Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Premier Recep Erdogan for the release of the well-known surgeon Mehmet Haberal, Rector of Başkent University (Turkish: Başkent Üniversitesi) and owner of Kanal B, who is one of the arrestees in the Ergenekon case. The Turkey-based nethaber.com website reports that the parliamentarians handed their request to the Turkish Premier during his visit to Baku. “We ask you to do all in your power for Mr. Mehmet Haberal to be released,” says the letter. The vesti.az website names the Azeri parliamentarians that submitted the request: Panakh Gusein, Arzu Samedbeili, Rafik Mamedgasanov, Ikram Israfil, and Nasib Nasibly.

Panakh Gusein confirmed the information. He pointed out that the request was submitted on Arzu Samedbeili’s initiative. In his turn, Samedbeili said that the parliamentarians regarded such a request as necessary, considering Professor Haberal’s services to Azerbaijan.

According to the information at our disposal, the Ergenekon movement has formed a wide network in Azerbaijan. According to some information, the radical movement receives support from Israel, which is thereby influencing the political situation in Turkey. This fact was not the last to make for a cooldown in the Turkish-Israeli relations — which developed in a scandal in Davos — as well as for Israel’s establishing closer relations with Azerbaijan against the attempts of the ruling Turkish Justice and Development Party to improve relations with Armenia.