Whether it’s Silk Way West Airlines, the PASHA Holding conglomerate, or fabric company GILTEX — everywhere this year’s international visitors in Baku look, they’ll see companies that have been linked to the family of Azerbaijan’s authoritarian president, Ilham Aliyev, according to OCCRP (the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Center.
At least 5,000 attendees of the United Nations’ massive COP29 event, set to take place in the country’s capital of Baku later this month, will stay in ultra-luxurious rooms at the Sea Breeze Resort on the Caspian Sea, with access to a seven-kilometer-long beach, over 50 bars and restaurants, and 60 swimming pools. But what these visitors may not know is that the entire 500-hectare Sea Breeze complex belongs to Emin Agalarov, the former son-in-law of Azerbaijan’s authoritarian president, Ilham Aliyev. Government procurement records show that he received a $5.2-million government contract to host COP29 guests, without any competitive tender process.
According to the source, nearly every local company named as one of the conference’s “official partners” is actually owned by the country’s ruling family or someone with reported business ties to them.
“These COP29 partners, which include a conglomerate owned by the president’s daughters, will benefit from exposure to an international audience, access to a special exhibition zone, and sponsorship opportunities,” OCCRP writes.
PASHA Holding belongs to Leyla and Arzu Aliyeva, the two adult daughters of President Ilham Aliyev, and Pashayev is a cousin of Azerbaijan’s first lady and vice president, Mehriban Aliyeva.
Four more official COP29 partners were announced on September 17 and 20. Among them are cargo operator Silk Way West Airlines and a textiles firm called GILTEX.
OCCRP reveals that the airline is ultimately owned by a former state official, Zaur Akhundov, but it has also been linked to the first family in the past through a sister company: A 2010 investigation by Radio Free Europe found that Arzu Aliyeva, the president’s younger daughter, was one of three owners of Silk Way Bank, the former financial arm of Silk Way Group, which the airline is also part of.
