What Has The Nagorno-Karabakh War Got To Do With Switzerland? None at first glance. But a closer look will show the following.

Azerbaijan gets 40% of its GDP from oil and gas, which makes up 2/3 of the budget revenues, more than 80% of export revenues. Over the past decade, Azerbaijan has bought trillions of dollars worth of weapons and massively increased its armaments thanks to the Azerbaijani oil exporter SOCAR, which is engaged in exporting oil to world markets. The most central subcommittee of its component is the Swiss “SOCAR Energy Switzerland”.

Migrolino finances Azerbaijan’s brutal aggression in war, artist Agnes Karikaturen

In general, 76% of SOCAR‘s revenues are generated in Switzerland (91.067 million manat in 2018, 63.735 million manat in 2019). That is, mainly due to the incomes of this company, which is formed in Switzerland, the Azerbaijani economy is fed.

SOCAR is directly linked to the corrupt dictator Ilham Aliyev, who has been known in the past for bribing European politicians through his caviar diplomacy.

In 2012, SOCAR took control of Esso’s gas station network. It currently has more than 150 stations in Switzerland, more than 60 of which also house the Migrolino store.

Thanks to these revenues, the dictator Aliyev’s regime finances its army with the most modern weapons systems it currently uses against the destruction of the civilian population in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Every liter of gasoline bought from SOCAR lubricates the bloody war machine.

Translation: Yesterday, SOCAR (CDC) transferred 17 million manat to the Fund for Assistance of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan, which is fighting for the liberation of our occupied lands. About 5 million manat collected by SOCAR employees will be transferred by SOCAR to the Assistance Fund. #KarabakhIsAzerbaijan

Artyom Davtyan,
Politician/ Expert of International Relations, Geneva