Azerbaijan’s government paid for New York City Mayor’s two aides travel expenses to visit Baku
By Jeff Coltin
Politico
The junket took place just months before an FBI raid into one of those aides’ homes.
NEW YORK — A former New York City mayoral aide, whose home was raided by federal agents last fall, visited Azerbaijan with another Eric Adams official last year, according to public documents and information provided by City Hall.
The Azerbaijani government paid for the two mayoral aides to visit the country on what was billed as an economic development trip, just months before the raid.
“State Committee on Work with Diaspora of the Republic of Azerbaijan” covered up to $5,000 of expenses for Mayor’s Office of International Affairs Commissioner Edward Mermelstein’s visit to the country for “NYC related travel” last year, according to a mandatory financial disclosure released this week by the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board.
Joining Mermelstein to the Azerbaijani capital of Baku was Rana Abbasova, then the director of protocol in the Mayor’s Office of International Affairs, from April 29 to May 2, 2023, a City Hall spokesperson confirmed.
The Adams administration put Abbasova on leave last November after FBI agents raided her home and, in doing so, alerted the public to a probe into Turkish government connections to Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign. Abbasova’s family is from Azerbaijan, whose government is closely tied with Turkey. The countries share cultural ties as well.
Abbasova served as a Turkish liaison to Adams when he was Brooklyn borough president — an unpaid role. The New York Times reported she is cooperating with federal investigators in the probe, for which Adams has denied any wrongdoing.
“The primary purpose of the visit was to foster economic development and share best practices between communities, and the commissioner took place in a series of meetings to achieve those goals,” the City Hall spokesperson said.
The comped cost of the trip included $1,650 in airfare for both Mermelstein and Abbasova, City Hall said, and $40 a day in ground transportation. The government paid $540 for Mermelstein’s hotel stay.
Abbasova stayed with family, City Hall said.
The visit, which has not been previously reported, was included in Mermelstein’s 2023 disclosure form and was obtained Tuesday by a records request.
Adams has long cultivated a relationship with Azerbaijan, POLITICO has reported, and visited the country at least twice, in 2012 and 2016. The Azerbaijani cultural group Brooklyn Baku Friendship Association hosted a fundraiser for his 2021 campaign.
Just weeks after Mermelstein and Abbasova returned from Azerbaijan last year, they met with an Azerbaijani government official — in part to discuss restoring direct flights between New York and the Asian country, the Daily News reported. Additionally, the News reported that Adams political adviser Frank Carone met with a top Azerbaijani government official in the country last September.
Abbasova, Mermelstein and Carone all traveled to Turkey in October 2022 for a conference, paid for by a Turkish real estate trade group, POLITICO and the Daily News reported.
The trip to Baku stood alone in Mermelstein’s disclosure as the only economic development visit in 2023 directly covered by a foreign government.
City Hall didn’t immediately respond when asked if Mermelstein took similar trips paid for by the city government that would not have to be reported.
Abbasova has been exempted from filing a financial disclosure this year while she is on leave, the Daily News reported in July.
Mermelstein’s financial disclosure reported four other payments for city-related travel in 2023. The World Government Summit Organization spent between $5,000 and $55,000 on a trip to Dubai and the World Knowledge Forum spent a similar range and held a global summit in Seoul last September.
In addition, Mermelstein reported being gifted portions of a trip to Mexico and Colombia, where he joined Adams to purportedly learn about the migrant crisis.
