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114-548: The name "Gulargate" derives from the first name of now former MP Gular Ahmadova who appeared in the very first video. It was coined by Azerbaijani media on the day following the release of the first video by analogy with the Watergate scandal of the 1970s. The term was later republished and used by English-language media outlets and in the corruption report of the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights. Despite

228-568: A special prosecutor for Watergate in May. Cox obtained a subpoena for the tapes, but Nixon continued to resist. In the " Saturday Night Massacre " in October, Nixon ordered Richardson to fire Cox, after which Richardson resigned, as did his deputy William Ruckelshaus ; Solicitor General Robert Bork carried out the order. The incident bolstered a growing public belief that Nixon had something to hide, but he continued to defend his innocence and said he

342-550: A " social-oriented " economy, and lists civil solidarity and social justice as the basis of its ideology. The founder of the party, Heydar Aliyev, was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union until July 1991. The New Azerbaijan Party's program highlights the main tasks which it states is aimed at strengthening the state independency, building the democratic , legal and secular state and ensuring

456-560: A Ministry of Internal Affairs employee in the Seventh Division responsible for secret services. It is mentioned that there has been no progress in finding Mahir Abdullayev. The alleged Ministry employee admits that Mahir Abdullayev is kept in the Head Department against Organized Crime and that it is a normal practice for the department to "catch a person, shove them into a car and then notify their [family] that they're in

570-470: A National Security officer. Abdullayev named Akif Chovdarov as the person behind the assassinations of Elmar Huseynov (which was previously also claimed by Eynulla Fatullayev ) and Rafiq Tağı and the assault and intimidation of opposition journalists Agil Khalil and Khadija Ismayilova . In November 2015, General Chovdarov was fired and later arrested following the government's unrelated crackdown on corruption and extortion among high-ranking officials of

684-512: A bribe. He accused Abdullayev of being well informed of the details of his brother's kidnapping and even playing his role in it. The videos, Ildyrymzadeh alleged, were simply discussions of the facts that all involved parties were aware of. The next video from August 2004 released soon afterwards featured a man alleged to be the president's bodyguard named Saftar Kalantarov. Kalantarov demands US$ 3,000 from Abdullayev to fly to Saint Petersburg . As for Mahir Abdullayev's whereabouts, Kalantarov says he

798-402: A by-election was scheduled for 2006. However, after being found guilty of bribing potential voters during his campaign, Abdullayev was stripped of his candidacy. Abdullayev, who believed he had in fact won, later blamed "certain powers" who allegedly did not wish for him to find out the truth behind his brother's kidnapping; the information he believed he could have accessed, had he been elected in

912-584: A conversation taped on June 23 between the President and his chief of staff, H. R. Haldeman , in which Nixon asked, "Who was the asshole that did that?" However, Nixon subsequently ordered Haldeman to have the CIA block the FBI's investigation into the source of the funding for the burglary. A few days later, Nixon's press secretary, Ron Ziegler , described the event as "a third-rate burglary attempt". On August 29, at

1026-412: A conversation with Abdullayev, but alleged he had not said some of the things heard in the video and that the video must have been edited. The fifth video came on 14 December 2012, where Abdullayev is having a conversation with Gular Ahmadova's friend Sevinj Babayeva alone. The video is said to have been made in the aftermath of the 2005 parliamentary election. Babayeva reveals to Abdullayev that following

1140-518: A crook." He needed to allow Bork to appoint a new special prosecutor; Bork, with Nixon's approval, chose Leon Jaworski to continue the investigation. On March 1, 1974, a grand jury in Washington, D.C., indicted several former aides of Nixon, who became known as the " Watergate Seven "— H. R. Haldeman , John Ehrlichman , John N. Mitchell , Charles Colson , Gordon C. Strachan , Robert Mardian , and Kenneth Parkinson —for conspiring to hinder

1254-404: A distinguished public servant, my personal friend for 20 years, with no personal involvement whatever in this matter has been a close personal and professional associate of some of those who are involved in this case, he and I both felt that it was also necessary to name a new Attorney General. The Counsel to the President , John Dean, has also resigned. On the same day, April 30, Nixon appointed

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1368-673: A fired employee cannot possibly cast shadow on the Ministry or the Minister. Nevertheless, he promised that the issue would be looked into in light of the new evidence. In early November 2012, three people were arrested with regard to Mahir Abdullayev's case, among them former assistant of the First Deputy of the Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Vagif Huseynov and businessman Arzu Kazimov. It was announced that these two had received

1482-601: A flood of testimony from witnesses. In April, Nixon appeared on television to deny wrongdoing on his part and to announce the resignation of his aides. After it was revealed that Nixon had installed a voice-activated taping system in the Oval Office, his administration refused to grant investigators access to the tapes , leading to a constitutional crisis . The televised Senate Watergate hearings by this point had garnered nationwide attention and public interest. Attorney General Elliot Richardson appointed Archibald Cox as

1596-677: A group associated with Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign breaking into and planting listening devices in the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Office Building in Washington, D.C. , on June 17, 1972, and Nixon's later attempts to hide his administration's involvement. Following the arrest of the burglars, both the press and the Department of Justice connected

1710-534: A large sum of money, which he declined. The President announced the resignations in an address to the American people: Today, in one of the most difficult decisions of my Presidency, I accepted the resignations of two of my closest associates in the White House, Bob Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, two of the finest public servants it has been my privilege to know. [...] Because Attorney General Kleindienst, though

1824-474: A major uproar in the local media. Ahmadova first claimed the video was a hoax and refused to make any further comments on it. She later admitted being in the video, but said the money discussed in fact referred to the restitution sum that Abdullayev had owed students of his defunct university and that Ahmadova pressured him to give her that money, so she would redistribute it among them accordingly. She voluntarily resigned as Member of Parliament, so as not to "hinder

1938-579: A new attorney general, Elliot Richardson , and gave him authority to designate a special counsel for the Watergate investigation who would be independent of the regular Justice Department hierarchy. In May 1973, Richardson named Archibald Cox to the position. On February 7, 1973, the United States Senate voted 77-to-0 to approve 93 S.Res. 60 and establish a select committee to investigate Watergate, with Sam Ervin named chairman

2052-508: A news conference, Nixon stated that Dean had conducted a thorough investigation of the incident, when Dean had actually not conducted any investigations at all. Nixon furthermore said, "I can say categorically that ... no one in the White House staff, no one in this Administration, presently employed, was involved in this very bizarre incident." On September 15, Nixon congratulated Dean, saying, "The way you've handled it, it seems to me, has been very skillful, because you—putting your fingers in

2166-454: A phone call from Gular Ahmadova, Ramiz Mehdiyev arranged for police groups to arrive at her constituency and "take measures" to secure her victory and that this was done immediately. Babayeva also told Abdullayev not to worry, as she "saw [Ramiz Mehdiyev] accepting the money with her own eyes" and that Mehdiyev has the final say in whatever happens. Commenting on this, Gular Ahmadova's former opposition rival Eldar Namazov confirmed that in 2005

2280-416: A second "burglary" to take care of the situation. Sometime after midnight on Saturday, June 17, 1972, Watergate Complex security guard Frank Wills noticed tape covering the latches on some of the complex's doors leading from the underground parking garage to several offices, which allowed the doors to close but stay unlocked. He removed the tape, believing it was not in itself suspicious. When he returned

2394-536: A secret Republican fund used to finance intelligence-gathering against the Democrats. On October 10, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of The Washington Post reported that the FBI had determined that the Watergate break-in was part of a massive campaign of political spying and sabotage on behalf of the Nixon re-election committee. Despite these revelations, Nixon's campaign was never seriously jeopardized; on November 7,

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2508-409: A series of articles about the financial dealings of Charles "Bebe" Rebozo , a friend of Nixon. The administration and its supporters accused the media of making "wild accusations", putting too much emphasis on the story and of having a liberal bias against the administration. Nixon said in a May 1974 interview with supporter Baruch Korff that if he had followed the liberal policies that he thought

2622-484: A short time later and discovered that someone had re-taped the locks, he called the police. Police dispatched an unmarked police car with three plainclothes officers, Sgt. Paul W. Leeper, Officer John B. Barrett, and Officer Carl M. Shoffler, who were working the overnight shift; they were often referred to as the "bum squad" because they often dressed undercover as hippies and were on the lookout for drug deals and other street crimes. Alfred Baldwin, on " spotter " duty at

2736-540: A statement, saying that back in 2005 he had paid 2,000,000 US dollars worth of a bribe requested from him by the state officials in return for finding his kidnapped brother and securing for Elshad Abdullayev himself a seat in the government in the upcoming parliamentary election. Abdullayev claimed to have paid it to the head of the Presidential Administration Ramiz Mehdiyev and that Member of Parliament Gular Ahmadova served as

2850-467: A total of almost US$ 4 million from Elshad Abdullayev after promising to help him find his kidnapped brother. In the fourth video, which Abdullayev released on 18 November 2012 and dated 2007, he is shown talking with a person who claims to be then chief justice of the Narimanov rayon court Aghababa Babayev. The latter promises "assistance" to Abdullayev in finding his brother. Babayev did not deny having

2964-663: A veteran crime reporter of the New York Daily News , tracked Mitchell to the Westchester Country Club in Rye, New York, and described Mitchell as "a beaten woman" with visible bruises. Mitchell reported that, during the week following the Watergate burglary, she had been held captive in a hotel in California, and that security guard Steve King ended her call to Thomas by pulling the phone cord from

3078-414: A way that was least likely to incriminate him and his presidency. Nixon created a new conspiracy—to effect a cover-up of the cover-up—which began in late March 1973 and became fully formed in May and June 1973, operating until his presidency ended on August 9, 1974." On March 23, 1973, Judge Sirica read the court a letter from Watergate burglar James McCord , who alleged that perjury had been committed in

3192-478: A wider web of crimes than the FBI first disclosed. All the secret meetings between Woodward and Felt took place at an underground parking garage in Rosslyn over a period from June 1972 to January 1973. Prior to resigning from the FBI on June 22, 1973, Felt also anonymously planted leaks about Watergate with Time magazine , The Washington Daily News and other publications. During this early period, most of

3306-531: Is held somewhere in Chechnya and promises to bring back video and photographs proving Abdullayev is alive and well. In the following video filmed in 2009 Elshad Abdullayev is seen submitting what he claimed to be a package containing all the records of payments he made in an attempt to locate his brother to a Ministry of National Security employee Rasul Rasulov and the latter signing for it. On 20 March 2013, Abdullayev published three more videos at once, all from

3420-559: The Heydar Aliyev Airport police department and a distant relative of the Interior Minister Ramil Usubov . In the video, Ildyrymzadeh repeatedly reassures Abdullayev, who seems in doubt, that his brother is alive and well and due to be released at the end of the month. Following the publication of the video, Ildyrymzadeh said he had told Abdullayev what he knew at the time and never asked him for

3534-578: The Howard Johnson's hotel across the street, was distracted watching the film Attack of the Puppet People on TV and did not observe the arrival of the police car in front of the Watergate building, nor did he see the plainclothes officers investigating the DNC's sixth floor suite of 29 offices. By the time Baldwin finally noticed unusual activity on the sixth floor and radioed the burglars, it

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3648-708: The Old Executive Office Building . On Monday, July 16, in front of a live, televised audience, chief minority counsel Fred Thompson asked Butterfield whether he was "aware of the installation of any listening devices in the Oval Office of the president". Butterfield's revelation of the taping system transformed the Watergate investigation. Cox immediately subpoenaed the tapes, as did the Senate, but Nixon refused to release them, citing his executive privilege as president, and ordered Cox to drop his subpoena. Cox refused. On October 20, 1973, after Cox,

3762-598: The President was re-elected in one of the biggest landslides in American political history. The connection between the break-in and the re-election committee was highlighted by media coverage—in particular, investigative coverage by The Washington Post , Time , and The New York Times . The coverage dramatically increased publicity and consequent political and legal repercussions. Relying heavily upon anonymous sources , Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncovered information suggesting that knowledge of

3876-778: The Presidential Administration . Abdullayev had allegedly been told that the US Embassy demanded from the government of Azerbaijan that an opposition party candidate be given a chance to win a seat. Since the Musavat party leader Isa Gambar , according to Abdullayev's recount, "could not be let into the parliament", the choice fell on Arzu Samadbeyli who ran from Abdullayev's constituency representing Musavat. The US Embassy in Azerbaijan denied these allegations. In September 2012, Elshad Abdullayev appeared with

3990-514: The White House quickly went to work to cover up the crime and any evidence that might have damaged the president and his reelection. On September 15, 1972, a grand jury indicted the five office burglars, as well as Hunt and Liddy, for conspiracy, burglary, and violation of federal wiretapping laws. The burglars were tried by a jury, with Judge John Sirica officiating, and pled guilty or were convicted on January 30, 1973. Within hours of

4104-454: The "top leader of the criminal gang of kidnappers". According to him, Chovdarov demanded that Mahir Abdullayev pay him US$ 2 million in order to keep silent about Abdullayev spending leisure time with popular singer Matanat Isgandarli at Garabulag, the infamous private resort in northern Azerbaijan where Colonel Haji Mammadov detained and murdered those he kidnapped. The letter then talks about Chovdarov succeeding at kidnapping Mahir Abdullayev with

4218-443: The 2005 parliamentary election. Ahmadova is heard mentioning a prior arrangement made with Abdullayev and promising him a seat in the government in return for money. Abdullayev offers US$ 500,000, but Ahmadova insists that he pay US$ 1,000,000. During the conversation, Abdullayev attempts several times to get Ahmadova to mention Ramiz Mehdiyev as the eventual collector of the bribe, but she never explicitly confirms that. The video caused

4332-516: The Baku Court of Appeal upheld this decision. However, Ahmadova was released 14 months later, on 5 May 2014, after her sentence was suspended. Elshad Abdullayev commented on this decision by calling the Gulargate legal process "a court show that went to demonstrate once again the lawless nature of Azerbaijani courts." Several weeks after Ahmadova's release, Sevinj Babayeva's son Aykhan Mammadov

4446-500: The FBI to halt its investigation. On the verge of being impeached, Nixon resigned the presidency on August 9, 1974, becoming the only U.S. president to do so. In all 48 people were found guilty of Watergate-related crimes, but Nixon was pardoned by his vice president and successor Gerald Ford on September 8. Public response to the Watergate disclosures had electoral ramifications: the Republican Party lost four seats in

4560-473: The Howard Johnson's motel across the street from the Watergate complex. Room 419 was booked in the name of McCord's company. At the behest of Liddy and Hunt, McCord and his team of burglars prepared for their first Watergate break-in, which began on May 28. Two phones inside the DNC headquarters offices were said to have been wiretapped . One was Robert Spencer Oliver 's phone. At the time, Oliver

4674-627: The Medicana International Istanbul Hospital where she was taken by Ağlayan. Babayeva was admitted with cardiovascular and pulmonary collapse, of which she died later that day. Babayeva's son Aykhan Mammadov said he held Gular Ahmadova responsible for his mother's death. In his accusations, he even went as far as suggesting Ahmadova had poisoned Sevinj Babayeva. The Attorney General's Office later did confirm Babayeva's departure on Ahmadova's insistence, but an autopsy did not reveal signs of poisoning. Gular Ahmadova

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4788-431: The Minister himself and give him money in return for his brother's release. However, since the Minister is too difficult to contact, they suggest Abdullayev see someone named Sahib. Sahib, in turn, states during the meeting that Mahir Abdullayev has been taken hostage over a woman and that his kidnappers would agree to return him for money, but required safety guarantee. Abdullayev's next posting came on 26 April 2013, which

4902-496: The Ministry of National Security. Political scientist Arastun Orujlu of the Sharg-Garb Research Centre described the scandal as a result of an ongoing struggle for power between various political clans. Lawyer Ayyub Karimov thinks the delay in locating Mahir Abdullayev stems from the fact that the people involved in the kidnapping have powerful connections in the government or police forces. He likened it to

5016-557: The Ministry of State Security, was kidnapped, and a state investigation which linked his disappearance to the criminal activity of the gang led by Haji Mammadov did not yield any results. In 2005, Elshad Abdullayev ran as a candidate from the ruling New Azerbaijan Party for a seat in the National Assembly of Azerbaijan. The results in the Binagadi II constituency which he wished to represent were announced as void and

5130-561: The National Assembly following the election. Among those in charge of compiling these lists, she mentions Minister of Economic Development Farhad Aliyev , Minister of Health Ali Insanov (both arrested on the eve of the 2005 election for planning a coup d'état and sentenced to imprisonment), Minister of Emergency Situations Kamaladdin Heydarov , head of the Presidential Administration Ramiz Mehdiyev , President Ilham Aliyev , and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva . Sevinj Babayeva confirms this in

5244-472: The President (CRP) and former aide to John Ehrlichman , presented a campaign intelligence plan to CRP's acting chairman Jeb Stuart Magruder , Attorney General John Mitchell , and Presidential Counsel John Dean . The plot involved extensive illegal activities against the Democratic Party . According to Dean, this marked "the opening scene of the worst political scandal of the twentieth century and

5358-575: The Senate and 48 seats in the House at the 1974 mid-term elections , and Ford's pardon of Nixon is widely agreed to have contributed to his election defeat in 1976 . A word combined with the suffix " -gate " has become widely used to name scandals, even outside the U.S., and especially in politics. On January 27, 1972, G. Gordon Liddy , Finance Counsel for the Committee for the Re-Election of

5472-419: The Watergate investigation. The grand jury secretly named Nixon as an unindicted co-conspirator . The special prosecutor dissuaded them from an indictment of Nixon, arguing that a president can be indicted only after he leaves office. John Dean, Jeb Stuart Magruder , and other figures had already pleaded guilty. On April 5, 1974, Dwight Chapin , the former Nixon appointments secretary, was convicted of lying to

5586-426: The Watergate trial, and defendants had been pressured to remain silent. In an attempt to make them talk, Sirica gave Hunt and two burglars provisional sentences of up to 40 years. Urged by Nixon, on March 28, aide John Ehrlichman told Attorney General Richard Kleindienst that nobody in the White House had had prior knowledge of the burglary. On April 13, Magruder told U.S. attorneys that he had perjured himself during

5700-656: The accusations as political smears, and he won the election in a landslide in November. Further investigation and revelations from the burglars' trial led the Senate to establish a special Watergate Committee and the House of Representatives to grant its Judiciary Committee expanded authority in February 1973. The burglars received lengthy prison sentences that they were told would be reduced if they co-operated, which began

5814-559: The bank records of a Miami company run by Watergate burglar Barker revealed an account controlled by him personally had deposited a check and then transferred it through the Federal Reserve Check Clearing System . The investigation by the FBI, which cleared Barker's bank of fiduciary malfeasance, led to the direct implication of members of the CRP, to whom the checks had been delivered. Those individuals were

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5928-474: The beginning of the end of the Nixon presidency". Mitchell viewed the plan as unrealistic. Two months later, Mitchell approved a reduced version of the plan, which included burglarizing the Democratic National Committee 's (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate Complex in Washington, D.C. to photograph campaign documents and install listening devices in telephones. Liddy has since insisted that he

6042-599: The break-in, and attempts to cover it up, led deeply into the upper reaches of the Justice Department, FBI, CIA, and the White House. Woodward and Bernstein interviewed Judy Hoback Miller , the bookkeeper for Nixon's re-election campaign, who revealed to them information about the mishandling of funds and records being destroyed. Chief among the Post's anonymous sources was an individual whom Woodward and Bernstein had nicknamed Deep Throat ; 33 years later, in 2005,

6156-501: The burglars' arrests, the FBI discovered E. Howard Hunt 's name in Barker and Martínez's address books. Nixon administration officials were concerned because Hunt and Liddy were also involved in a separate secret activity known as the " White House Plumbers ", which was established to stop security " leaks " and investigate other sensitive security matters. Dean later testified that top Nixon aide John Ehrlichman ordered him to " deep six "

6270-402: The burglars' trial, and implicated John Dean and John Mitchell. John Dean believed that he, Mitchell, Ehrlichman, and Haldeman could go to the prosecutors, tell the truth, and save the presidency. Dean wanted to protect the president and have his four closest men take the fall for telling the truth. During the critical meeting between Dean and Nixon on April 15, 1973, Dean was totally unaware of

6384-474: The committee bookkeeper and its treasurer, Hugh Sloan . As a private organization, the committee followed the normal business practice in allowing only duly authorized individuals to accept and endorse checks on behalf of the committee. No financial institution could accept or process a check on behalf of the committee unless a duly authorized individual endorsed it. The checks deposited into Barker's bank account were endorsed by Committee treasurer Hugh Sloan, who

6498-416: The contents of Howard Hunt's White House safe. Ehrlichman subsequently denied this. In the end, Dean and L. Patrick Gray , the FBI's acting director, (in separate operations) destroyed the evidence from Hunt's safe. Nixon's own reaction to the break-in, at least initially, was one of skepticism. Watergate prosecutor James Neal was sure that Nixon had not known in advance of the break-in. As evidence, he cited

6612-440: The department". In the video, Elshad Abdullayev also inquires into the possibility of having his nephew hired by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The employee says this is possible for a bribe of 10,000 to 15,000 AZN . An Interior Ministry official Ehsan Zahidov confirmed that Rovshan Abbasguliyev indeed worked for the Seventh Division but was fired in 2008 for "serious violations of the work code". Zahidov noted that statements of

6726-429: The dikes every time that leaks have sprung here and sprung there." Martha Mitchell was the wife of Nixon's Attorney General , John N. Mitchell , who had recently resigned his role so that he could become campaign manager for Nixon's Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CRP). John Mitchell was aware that Martha knew McCord, one of the Watergate burglars who had been arrested, and that upon finding out, she

6840-451: The election under pressure from the US Embassy, Mehdiyev said this "a product of his sick mind" and that Abdullayev is "no one" for him to discuss these issues with. Members of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party described the authors and participants of the videos as "fraudsters" and emphasized the provocative nature of the video postings. Others called on to view this case as legal and not political. Finally, on 7 March 2013, Abdullayev himself

6954-627: The extra money she asks for, of which Babayeva immediately informs Ahmadova by phone. The last video was published by Abdullayev on 1 October 2013. In this video, he is seen having a conversation with Sevinj Babayeva alone. Babayeva insists that "this whole thing has to be over by tonight", as "ordered personally by the President". She mentions the names of Ramiz Mehdiyev and Parliament speaker Ogtay Asadov in claiming that they expect Abdullayev to transfer another US$ 100,000 in return for making his clinic and his university "flourish" and his brother released from captivity. She assures Abdullayev that this time

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7068-521: The finance committee of the Committee to Reelect the President, the check was a 1972 campaign donation by Kenneth H. Dahlberg . This money (and several other checks which had been lawfully donated to the CRP) had been directly used to finance the burglary and wiretapping expenses, including hardware and supplies. Barker's multiple national and international businesses all had separate bank accounts, which he

7182-430: The funds via cashier's checks and money orders, resulted in the banks keeping the entire transaction records until October and November 1972. All five Watergate burglars were directly or indirectly tied to the 1972 CRP, thus causing Judge Sirica to suspect a conspiracy involving higher-echelon government officials. On September 29, 1972, the press reported that John Mitchell, while serving as attorney general, controlled

7296-530: The government. Responding to the video posting, Rovshana Aliyeva made a statement saying she had nothing to do with Arzu Kazimov and claimed Elshad Abdullayev had threatened her with a gun a number of times. During a court hearing on 16 July 2013, Rovshana Aliyeva admitted she had passed Arzu Kazimov's contacts to Elshad Abdullayev through the latter's younger brother Eldaniz who was also her acquaintance. She claimed being offered 30,000 AZN by Abdullayev in return for testifying against Arzu Kazimov in court and declining

7410-630: The grand jury. Two days later, the same grand jury indicted Ed Reinecke , the Republican Lieutenant Governor of California , on three charges of perjury before the Senate committee. New Azerbaijan Party The New Azerbaijan Party ( Azerbaijani : Yeni Azərbaycan Partiyası , YAP) is the ruling political party in Azerbaijan , founded on 21 November 1992 under the leadership of Heydar Aliyev . After his election as President of Azerbaijan on 3 October 1993, and

7524-580: The hearings. On Friday, July 13, during a preliminary interview, deputy minority counsel Donald Sanders asked White House assistant Alexander Butterfield if there was any type of recording system in the White House. Butterfield said he was reluctant to answer, but finally admitted there was a new system in the White House that automatically recorded everything in the Oval Office , the Cabinet Room and others, as well as Nixon's private office in

7638-519: The help of Matanat Isgandarli in October 2003. Elshad Abdullayev described Akif Chovdarov as a person who indulges every order and desire of the highest-ranking government officials. Abdullayev claims that in addition to kidnappings and killings, Chovdarov, who also has Russian citizenship, runs a profitable wood business in the Sverdlovsk Oblast , Russia , on behalf of the said officials, despite not being supposed to engage in business being

7752-474: The informant was identified as Mark Felt , deputy director of the FBI during that period of the 1970s, something Woodward later confirmed. Felt met secretly with Woodward several times, telling him of Howard Hunt's involvement with the Watergate break-in, and that the White House staff regarded the stakes in Watergate as extremely high. Felt warned Woodward that the FBI wanted to know where he and other reporters were getting their information, as they were uncovering

7866-580: The insistence of Gular Ahmadova following the release of the first video in September. Ahmadova paid for Babayeva's flight and stay, and a Turkish citizen named Selçuk Ağlayan met Babayeva at the airport in Istanbul. Sevinj Babayeva introduced herself as Meryem Solmaz and from that point on was known by that name. She had been complaining of heart problems since 16 November 2012, receiving treatment at various clinics. On 28 December 2012, she finally checked in

7980-414: The intermediary. Abdullayev alleged the officials never acted on the agreement and did not return his money. Following these statements, Ahmadova accused Abdullayev of slander. In response, Elshad Abdullayev posted his first footage on YouTube on 25 September 2012. The video featured himself, Member of Parliament Gular Ahmadova and her friend Sevinj Babayeva, sitting in an office and discussing events around

8094-587: The investigation". Despite this, she came under fire of offensive criticism from fellow members of the New Azerbaijan Party and felt the need to address herself to the President (the head of the party) in order for the insults to stop. Abdullayev said he was receiving threats after publishing the video. Abdullayev released another video on 6 October 2012, in which Gular Ahmadova is heard talking about various high-ranking government officials compiling lists of MP candidates which they would like to see in

8208-571: The life she always dreamed of." Soon after the publishing of the first video, the head of the Presidential Administration Ramiz Mehdiyev, who was described by Abdullayev as the puppet master of the elections, made a public statement on 3 October 2012, saying that the mentioning of his name in the video is someone's "well-thought out provocation" and that "such troublemakers will be punished regardless of who they are". Regarding Abdullayev's accusation of rigging

8322-493: The media failed to understand the full implications of the scandal, and concentrated reporting on other topics related to the 1972 presidential election. Most outlets ignored or downplayed Woodward and Bernstein's scoops; the crosstown Washington Star-News and the Los Angeles Times even ran stories incorrectly discrediting the Post's articles. After the Post revealed that H.R. Haldeman had made payments from

8436-713: The media preferred, "Watergate would have been a blip." The media noted that most of the reporting turned out to be accurate; the competitive nature of the media guaranteed widespread coverage of the far-reaching political scandal. Rather than ending with the conviction and sentencing to prison of the five Watergate burglars on January 30, 1973, the investigation into the break-in and the Nixon Administration's involvement grew broader. "Nixon's conversations in late March and all of April 1973 revealed that not only did he know he needed to remove Haldeman, Ehrlichman, and Dean to gain distance from them, but he had to do so in

8550-437: The media was polled at more than 40%. Nixon and top administration officials discussed using government agencies to "get" (or retaliate against) those they perceived as hostile media organizations. Such actions had been taken before. At the request of Nixon's White House in 1969, the FBI tapped the phones of five reporters. In 1971, the White House requested an audit of the tax return of the editor of Newsday , after he wrote

8664-557: The money found on those involved to the Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CRP), the fundraising arm of Nixon's campaign. Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward , journalists from The Washington Post , pursued leads provided by a source they called " Deep Throat " (later identified as Mark Felt , associate director of the FBI ) and uncovered a massive campaign of political spying and sabotage directed by White House officials and illegally funded by donor contributions. Nixon dismissed

8778-532: The money to G. Gordon Liddy . Liddy, in turn, gave the money to Barker and attempted to hide its origin. Barker tried to disguise the funds by depositing them into accounts in banks outside of the United States. Unbeknownst to Barker, Liddy, and Sloan, the complete record of all such transactions was held for roughly six months. Barker's use of foreign banks in April and May 1972 to deposit checks and withdraw

8892-633: The money will not disappear and "they know perfectly well" that Babayeva knows First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva and her sister Nargiz Pashayeva, whom she can "always complain to". Babayeva says she assumes no responsibility and serves only as an intermediary. She tells Abdullayev that he has been criticized for cooperation with "too many people" on this matter, having gotten the President, Ramiz Mehdiyev and Ogtay Asadov involved in this affair, and for avoiding those that have voluntarily stepped forward to help him. She also quotes Gular Ahmadova in saying that "they [the people who request money from Abdullayev] have given her

9006-493: The next day. The hearings held by the Senate committee, in which Dean and other former administration officials testified, were broadcast from May 17 to August 7. The three major networks of the time agreed to take turns covering the hearings live, each network thus maintaining coverage of the hearings every third day, starting with ABC on May 17 and ending with NBC on August 7. An estimated 85% of Americans with television sets tuned into at least one portion of

9120-645: The offer. The following video, which was made in 2004, according to Abdullayev, and released on 21 January 2013, featured Arzu Kazimov talking in his office with Elshad Abdullayev and Mahir Abdullayev's father-in-law journalist Shamil Shahmammadov, chief executive of the AzerTaj news agency. Abdullayev claimed that this video is a proof of Kazimov serving as a "cashier" of the "death squadron" which kidnapped his brother. Abdullayev published another video on 20 February 2013. Dated 2004, it shows himself discussing his brother's fate with Rasim Ildyrymzadeh, assistant chief of

9234-528: The parliament. According to him, he had managed to collect information about a "gang of criminals" related to the kidnapping and submitted it to the Ministry of National Security and the Attorney General's Office in 2008 and 2009. In a 7 December 2012 interview to Radio Liberty , Abdullayev said he had been forced to abandon his plan to win a seat in the parliament back in 2006 under pressure from

9348-710: The party's victory at 1995 parliamentary elections, YAP became the ruling party, a position it has held since. President Ilham Aliyev has been chairman of YAP since its 3rd congress held on 26 March 2005. YAP is a member of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) and an observer member of the Centrist Democrat International . The party's rule over the country has been described as authoritarian. The party's stated ideologies are lawfulness , secularism , and Azerbaijani nationalism . It wants to build

9462-439: The peaceful and prosperous life of the citizens. The principles of an independent state, lawfulness, creative progress, Azerbaijanism, civil solidarity and social justice have been declared as the basis of the party's ideology. The members of party are ensured with following rights: At the elections (5 November 2000 and 7 January 2001), the party won 62.3% of the popular vote and 75 out of 125 seats. Its candidate Ilham Aliyev

9576-405: The police had attacked his observers in four polling stations and destroyed their protocols. The next day, they did the same at six more polling stations, according to Namazov, which allowed Ahmadova to announce her victory. In the next video, published on 25 December 2012, Abdullayev is seen talking to Rovshana Aliyeva whom he claimed to be the personal assistant of businessman Arzu Kazimov, one of

9690-467: The president's depth of knowledge and involvement in the Watergate cover-up. It was during this meeting that Dean felt that he was being recorded. He wondered if this was due to the way Nixon was speaking, as if he were trying to prod attendees' recollections of earlier conversations about fundraising. Dean mentioned this observation while testifying to the Senate Committee on Watergate, exposing

9804-670: The resignation of Attorney General Kleindienst, to ensure no one could claim that his innocent friendship with Haldeman and Ehrlichman could be construed as a conflict. He fired White House Counsel John Dean, who went on to testify before the Senate Watergate Committee and said that he believed and suspected the conversations in the Oval Office were being taped. This information became the bombshell that helped force Richard Nixon to resign rather than be impeached. Writing from prison for New West and New York magazines in 1977, Ehrlichman claimed Nixon had offered him

9918-450: The same period in 2007. People who introduced themselves as Ministry of National Security officers say they are willing to help Elshad Abdullayev in finding his brother. They claim that Mahir Abdullayev was not kidnapped, but arrested following complaints from his fellow officers. According to them, he is currently in custody in the Ministry under a different name. To have him released, they continue, Elshad Abdullayev needs to get in touch with

10032-558: The secret fund, newspapers like the Chicago Tribune and The Philadelphia Inquirer failed to publish the information, but did publish the White House's denial of the story the following day. The White House also sought to isolate the Post's coverage by tirelessly attacking that newspaper while declining to criticize other damaging stories about the scandal from the New York Times and Time magazine . After it

10146-555: The serial numbers in sequence... a shortwave receiver that could pick up police calls, 40 rolls of unexposed film, two 35-millimeter cameras and three pen-sized tear gas guns". The Post would later report that the actual amount of cash was $ 5,300. The following morning, Sunday, June 18, G. Gordon Liddy called Jeb Magruder in Los Angeles and informed him that "the four men arrested with McCord were Cuban freedom fighters, whom Howard Hunt recruited". Initially, Nixon's organization and

10260-572: The series of kidnappings orchestrated by Haji Mammadov , an officer of the Internal Affairs Ministry, in 2005. Watergate scandal This is an accepted version of this page The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon which began in 1972 and ultimately led to Nixon's resignation in 1974. It revolved around members of

10374-471: The special prosecutor, refused to drop the subpoena, Nixon ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire him. Richardson resigned in protest rather than carry out the order. Nixon then ordered Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus to fire Cox, but Ruckelshaus also resigned rather than fire him. Nixon's search for someone in the Justice Department willing to fire Cox ended with Solicitor General Robert Bork . Though Bork said he believed Nixon's order

10488-625: The term coinage, most videos are related to the kidnapping of Elshad Abdullayev's brother Mahir Abdullayev and not to Gular Ahmadova. Elshad Abdullayev, who holds a doctorate degree in jurisprudence, had been known as the rector of the Azerbaijan International University which functioned from 1997 to 2010 and for the last four years was a focus of investigation of the Attorney General's Office over reported cases of corruption and illegal student admission. In 2003, Abdullayev's older brother Mahir Abdullayev, an officer of

10602-530: The thread of what were taped conversations that would unravel the fabric of the conspiracy. Two days later, Dean told Nixon that he had been cooperating with the U.S. attorneys . On that same day, U.S. attorneys told Nixon that Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Dean, and other White House officials were implicated in the cover-up. On April 30, Nixon asked for the resignation of Haldeman and Ehrlichman, two of his most influential aides. They were both later indicted, convicted, and ultimately sentenced to prison. He asked for

10716-462: The three people detained with regard to Mahir Abdullayev's case in November 2012. In the video, she gives a call to a person named Zaur who, according to her, is the son of Arzu Kazimov and a "super guy" and who can help sort out Elshad Abdullayev's problems "in no time" on behalf of Arzu Kazimov. The Attorney General's Office later accused Kazimov of accepting US$ 1.5 million from Abdullayev for promising to set his brother free through his "connections" in

10830-705: The time of being fired, Babayeva had been outside of Azerbaijan for nearly a month. After the release of the video in which she is having a one-on-one conversation with Elshad Abdullayev and repeatedly mentions Ramiz Mehdiyev's name, it was announced that Babayeva had disappeared. On 24 December 2012, the Attorney General's Office initiated an international search through Interpol on an unrelated case of fraud allegedly committed by Babayeva in 2009. On 28 December 2012, Azerbaijani media outlets reported that Sevinj Babayeva had died in Istanbul , Turkey . An official investigation later revealed that Babayeva had left Azerbaijan on

10944-470: The video, which together with the first video appears to be a fragment of a single conversation. In the video, Gular Ahmadova also warns Abdullayev that there have been cases of "letting in MPs who would go on working with Ali Insanov and Hajibala (sic), so this time those MPs would not be let in". In the next video released on 21 October 2012, Abdullayev is seen with someone who calls himself Rovshan Abbasguliyev,

11058-410: The wall. Mitchell made several attempts to escape via the balcony, but was physically accosted, injured, and forcefully sedated by a psychiatrist. Following conviction for his role in the Watergate burglary, in February 1975, McCord admitted that Mitchell had been "basically kidnapped", and corroborated her reports of the event. On June 19, 1972, the press reported that one of the Watergate burglars

11172-580: Was "not a crook". In April 1974, Cox's replacement Leon Jaworski issued a subpoena for the tapes again, but Nixon only released edited transcripts of them. In July, the Supreme Court ordered Nixon to release the tapes, and the House Judiciary Committee recommended that he be impeached for obstructing justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress. In one of the tapes, later known as "the smoking gun", he ordered aides to tell

11286-493: Was a Republican Party security aide. Former attorney general John Mitchell, who was then the head of the CRP, denied any involvement with the Watergate break-in. He also disavowed any knowledge whatsoever of the five burglars. On August 1, a $ 25,000 (approximately $ 182,000 in 2023 dollars) cashier's check was found to have been deposited in the US and Mexican bank accounts of one of the Watergate burglars, Bernard Barker. Made out to

11400-656: Was a friend of Gular Ahmadova's. She held a Ph.D. degree in law and was the editor and parliament reporter for the newspaper Kheyr va Shar in the late 1990s. At the time of the scandal, Babayeva was the director of the Sabir Library in Baku. Less than a month after the release of the first video, Babayeva was fired from her post. A library official said Babayeva's contract had expired and the library chose not to renew it due to "flaws in Babayeva's work". It noteworthy that at

11514-440: Was accused of shoplifting, arrested and sentenced to three and a half years in custody, but was released after exactly one month following the verdict's overruling by the Baku Court of Appeal. In April 2013, Elshad Abdullayev wrote an open letter with regard to his brother's disappearance, in which he named an alleged perpetrator, Akif Chovdarov, a general of the Ministry of National Security. Elshad Abdullayev described Chovdarov as

11628-455: Was already too late. The police apprehended five men, later identified as Virgilio Gonzalez , Bernard Barker , James McCord , Eugenio Martínez , and Frank Sturgis . They were criminally charged with attempted burglary and attempted interception of telephone and other communications. The Washington Post reported the day after the burglary that, "police found lock-picks and door jimmies, almost $ 2,300 in cash, most of it in $ 100 bills with

11742-516: Was arrested on 13 February 2013 while attempting to leave for Georgia . According to her lawyers, Ahmadova was on her way to receive medical treatment there. She was charged with embezzlement and failure to report a grave offence and pleaded not guilty. Her official website was shut down, along with the newspaper Markaz which she had founded in 1998. According to Ahmadova's lawyers, her physical and psychological state deteriorated while in custody. She refused to give any testimony till Elshad Abdullayev

11856-445: Was authorized by the finance committee. However, once Sloan had endorsed a check made payable to the committee, he had a legal and fiduciary responsibility to see that the check was deposited only into the accounts named on the check. Sloan failed to do that. When confronted with the potential charge of federal bank fraud, he revealed that committee deputy director Jeb Magruder and finance director Maurice Stans had directed him to give

11970-454: Was charged with attempted crime and bribe giving. It was said that Abdullayev voluntarily paid Vagif Huseynov (one of the three men arrested in November 2012) US$ 1 million to make use of the latter's connections in the Cabinet of Ministers. The money allegedly had already been returned to Abdullayev. Vagif Huseynov himself was sentenced to four years on 22 May 2013. Sevinj Babayeva, born 1973,

12084-632: Was duped by both Dean and at least two of his subordinates. This included former CIA officers E. Howard Hunt and James McCord , the latter of whom was serving as then-CRP Security Coordinator after John Mitchell resigned as attorney general to become the CRP chairman. In May, McCord assigned former FBI agent Alfred C. Baldwin III to carry out the wiretapping and monitor the telephone conversations afterward. On May 11, McCord arranged for Baldwin, whom investigative reporter Jim Hougan described as "somehow special and perhaps well known to McCord", to stay at

12198-414: Was found to have attempted to use to disguise the true origin of the money being paid to the burglars. The donor's checks demonstrated the burglars' direct link to the finance committee of the CRP. Donations totaling $ 86,000 ($ 626,000 today) were made by individuals who believed they were making private donations by certified and cashier's checks for the president's re-election. Investigators' examination of

12312-476: Was learned that one of the convicted burglars had written to Judge Sirica alleging a high-level cover-up, the media shifted its focus. Time magazine described Nixon as undergoing "daily hell and very little trust". The distrust between the press and the Nixon administration was mutual and greater than usual due to lingering dissatisfaction with events from the Vietnam War . At the same time, public distrust of

12426-469: Was likely to speak to the media. In his opinion, her knowing McCord was likely to link the Watergate burglary to Nixon. John Mitchell instructed guards in her security detail not to let her contact the media. In June 1972, during a phone call with United Press International reporter Helen Thomas , Martha Mitchell informed Thomas that she was leaving her husband until he resigned from the CRP. The phone call ended abruptly. A few days later, Marcia Kramer ,

12540-504: Was reported by the government to have won 76.84% of the popular vote in the 2003 presidential elections . Ilham Aliyev also won presidential elections of 2008, 2013 and 2018. At the 2005 parliamentary elections , it won 62 out of 125 seats. At the 2010 parliamentary elections , it won 72 out of 125 seats. In the 1 November 2015 parliamentary election, the New Azerbaijan Party won 70 out of 125 seats, thus losing two seats in

12654-489: Was the full version of his 2005 conversation with Gular Ahmadova. Abdullayev released another video on 16 June 2013. In the video, which apparently precedes the very first video featuring Gular Ahmadova, Sevinj Babayeva tells Abdullayev that he needs to pay Ahmadova US$ 500,000 to secure a seat in the National Assembly. She says that he needs to pay US$ 500,000 more to have a high position in the government assigned to his brother Mahir Abdullayev. Abdullayev replies he does not have

12768-430: Was tried. The defence claimed the videos had been edited and insisted on the fact that the recording constituted a violation of privacy. The court overruled the defence's request for an expert's opinion with regard to the authenticity of the recordings. The attorney requested a sentence of four years. The court found Ahmadova guilty on all counts and on 2 December 2013 sentenced her to three years in custody. In January 2014,

12882-472: Was valid and appropriate, he considered resigning to avoid being "perceived as a man who did the President's bidding to save my job". Bork carried out the presidential order and dismissed the special prosecutor. These actions met considerable public criticism. Responding to the allegations of possible wrongdoing, in front of 400 Associated Press managing editors at Disney's Contemporary Resort , on November 17, 1973, Nixon emphatically stated, "Well, I am not

12996-544: Was working as the executive director of the Association of State Democratic Chairmen. The other phone belonged to DNC chairman Larry O'Brien . The FBI found no evidence that O'Brien's phone was bugged; however, it was determined that an effective listening device was installed in Oliver's phone. While successful with installing the listening devices, the committee agents soon determined that they needed repairs. They plotted

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