A proudly kilt-wearing Scot who helped survivors of the Boxing Day tsunami has been appointed because the UK's new ambassador to Azerbaijan.
Fergus Auld, from Edinburgh, has taken up the put up at a delicate time, on condition that the Caucasus nation borders each Russia and Iran. However the life-long diplomat has seized the function with zest, spending a 12 months studying Azerbaijani beforehand and sporting a kilt for his first assembly with the nation's president Ilham Aliyev.
The dad-of-three was one of many first to be deployed to Thailand to assist survivors of the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, which killed over 200,000 folks. And he is getting caught into his new job, already placing stress on Azerbaijan to face in opposition to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and squeezing the nation on its blended human rights file.
The 49-year-old mentioned: “President Aliyev was fully poker confronted once I bounded up within the kilt, however the photos generated quite a lot of response in Azerbaijan. It's superb how common the movie Braveheart is right here. I’ve met individuals who’ve mentioned they’ve watched it 15 occasions.
“[President Aliyev] informed me: ‘In 20 years as President, I’ve by no means had an envoy arrive within the nation with language expertise like that. That may be a signal of respect and exhibits me that you simply need to perceive my nation deeply’."
Fergus started his profession with the International, Commonwealth and Improvement Workplace (FCDO) in 1999 however his first worldwide deployment got here in 2004 following the Boxing Day catastrophe, the place he helped British police to liaise with their Thai counterparts to establish UK victims. Had his spouse Amy not been pregnant with their second baby, Fergus believes he may need been holidaying in a spot hit by the tsunami.
He added: “That was the primary expertise I had of being proper in the course of a disaster. As quickly as I noticed what had occurred on the tv, I instantly referred to as the Embassy and as a Thai speaker I used to be a part of the primary workforce that went right down to Phuket to assist.
"These three weeks have been emotionally very troublesome. It was very harrowing work. The size of the devastation was simply horrific.
"Simply think about being on a seashore that must be a tropical paradise however as an alternative you're seeing destruction in all places. The tales of survivors actually upset me.
"I accompanied the then International Secretary Jack Straw to 1 assembly with a survivor who had misplaced her husband and two youngsters. By the top, there wasn’t a dry eye within the room.
“There have been success tales the place we have been capable of reunite individuals who had misplaced one another and the sense of public service you get serving to folks in a disaster like that is without doubt one of the issues that has saved me dedicated to the FCDO for 23 years.”
Fergus additionally has earlier expertise of managing the often-tricky relations between the UK and Russia. He obtained an OBE from the then Prince Charles following work in Moscow, coping with the nation's invasion of the Crimean peninsula in Ukraine.
The area has since been annexed by Vladimir Putin's forces, to worldwide condemnation. Russian brokers had additionally simply carried out the deadly poisoning of the Putin critic and defector Alexander Litvinenko on British soil – a saga that has simply been made right into a drama starring David Tennant.
Russia looms over his work, significantly as Azerbaijan might maintain the important thing to supplying Europe with oil and gasoline ought to Putin flip off the faucets. BP has invested billions in Azerbaijan's vitality trade during the last 30 years, and lots of the 1,300 British residents residing within the nation are Scots working within the sector.
However Fergus has additionally been capable of assist the nation discover new, greener technique of vitality era. The British Embassy in Baku supported a go to by Azerbaijani vitality minister Parviv Shahbazov to an offshore windfarm in Kincardine, Fife, and the Vitality Export Convention in Aberdeen – strengthening ties between the 2 nations at a significant time.
He added: "After all, there are criticisms about points of Azerbaijan’s human rights file and as an envoy and a good friend of Azerbaijan, it is vital that we've frank discussions about this. There'll all the time be individuals who suppose the reply is to not interact however it's overwhelmingly within the UK’s pursuits for us to work collectively."
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