Saudi Arabia's Role in the Unprecedented Azerbaijan Money Value Fall

( In an interview with BBC, Arif Mammadov, a former employee of the Azerbaijani foreign ministry, revealed that Saudi Arabia's economic and political approaches in dealing with Azerbaijan have caused serious damage to the country and led to its money's worth loss.

According to the Azeri Sizinyol news agency and The BBC, Arif Muhammadov, who defected to Europe, said in an interview that Ilham Aliyev traveled to Saudi Arabia last summer, and met with government officials hoping to help them tackle the falling oil prices which are severely impacting the Saudi economy.

Azerbaijan's economy is strongly affected by the falling oil prices. It is also true that increased costs of European competition imposes a lot of pressure on the Azerbaijani state budget.

Muhammadov also said Saudi Arabia has promised Ilham Aliyev in this trip to offer grants and considerable investment as a compensation for a part of the consequences of falling Azerbaijani oil prices, in return for creating a cultural space for Takfiri Wahabis' activities and implementing limitations for Iranian and Azerbaijani Shiites.

According to this report, a few months before, the Azerbaijani economic bankruptcy led to a 20% value reduction of manat against th US dollar. Aliyev denied this being the case, in a television interview.

After a year, Ilham Aliyev confessed that his strategic mistake was the dismissal of Eldar Mahmoudov, who attempted to launch a Saudi-sponsored coup against Ilham, to declare war on Russia while arming North Caucasus Wahabi groups.

Events in Nardaran, a settlement and municipality on the Abşeron Peninsula in Baku, Azerbaijan, are viewed as another strategic blunder and a result of Saudi and Turkish influence in the Azerbaijani government. The Website Silkroadreporters.com, wrote, "On November 27 officers from Azerbaijan’s Ministry of National Security stormed into Nardaran, a small, pious village in the suburbs of Baku, in a special security operation. Fourteen people, including Taleh Bagirzada, a religious scholar who was recently released from prison, were arrested. Five were killed in what locals and human rights defenders are calling a violation of religious rights and what the government is calling an anti-terrorism operation."

The ostensibly Shiite president of Azerbaijan is said to rely on Saudi Wahhabis, and their betrayal of Shiite Muslims over the past year. Inside sources say he also failed to provide grants he had promised. Politically, Ilham Aliyev is in critical condition.