AZERBAIJAN AND ISRAEL: THE ENEMY OF MY ENEMY IS MY FRIEND
Noyan Tapan
2012-02-22
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev meets with NATO officials at the
organizations Brussels headquarters in mid February 2012. Azerbaijan,
which has a tense relationship with its southern neighbor, has been
cordial in helping NATO with its conflict in Afghanistan in hopes
perhaps of getting some defensive support in dealing with Iran.
(Photo: NATO)
As the showdown over Iranian nuclear ambitions intensifies, political
analysts in Azerbaijan are urging the government to deepen the
country’s ties with Israeli and Western security structures.
Officials in Baku have not commented on how Azerbaijan intends to
respond to the rising global tension connected to the Iranian nuclear
issue. But a series of arrests suggests President Ilham Aliyev’s
administration is cracking down on sources of perceived Iranian
influence in Azerbaijan.
Long an anomaly in the Muslim world, Israeli-Azerbaijani ties run
the gamut from telecommunications investments to sales of military
technology and equipment and oil. On February 11, those ties acquired a
new public dimension with a Times of London article that claimed that
Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, has a substantial presence
in Azerbaijan to gather intelligence about Iran.
Tehran took matters a step further and claimed that Mossad operatives
in Azerbaijan allegedly worked out plans to assassinate Iranian
nuclear scientists a claim Baku angrily denounced on February 13
as a lie, fabrication and libel. Tehran seemed to raise the stakes
on February 21, when Baku announced that an Iranian helicopter had
violated Azerbaijani airspace at the border town of Astara, the Turan
news agency reported.
Such incidents should not intimidate Azerbaijan into backing away from
Israel, said Vafa Guluzade, a former presidential foreign policy aide.
Baku should cooperate with Western powers to reveal Iranian
intelligence networks when their activity really harms Azerbaijan’s
security, asserted Guluzade, who worked during the early post-Soviet
era for former presidents Ayaz Mtalibov, Abulfaz Elchibey and Heydar
Aliyev.
Iran, a country with which Azerbaijan shares deep cultural and
historical ties, is routinely suspected of attempting to stir up
trouble in Baku either via protests by the country’s practicing Shia
Muslims, or through more violent steps such as an alleged recent
assassination plot against Israeli Ambassador to Baku Michael Lotem.
Guluzade characterized Tehran’s uproar over the Times article as
part of that same supposed trend, an alleged attempt ‘to pressure
Baku and restrict its cooperation with Israel.’
One former deputy minister of national security echoed the call
for closer ties with Western intelligence operations, arguing that
Azerbaijani law-enforcement agencies are not capable on their own
of thwarting suspected Iranian activities. ‘I would welcome deeper
cooperation [by Azerbaijani law enforcement] with their colleagues
from the United States, Turkey and other countries,’ said Sulhaddin
Akper, director of the Baku-based Center for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation.
Alper conceded that ‘[o]f course, both Israeli and Iranian intelligence
services are active in Azerbaijan, and predicted that this activity
will increase further, taking into consideration the situation in the
region. At the same time, he scoffed that the notion that Azerbaijan
would cooperate with Mossad to target Iranian nuclear scientists,
saying such action would be against our national interests.
Elhan Shahinoglu, director of the Atlas research center, agreed,
adding that, aside from intensifying alleged ongoing cooperation
with US, Turkish and Israeli intelligence agencies, Baku should also
increase its cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
On February 15, a few days after the Iranian protest note, President
Ilham Aliyev visited NATO headquarters in Brussels, where he expressed
interest in making long-term financial contributions to the Afghan
National Army Trust Fund, and emphasized Azerbaijan’s provision
of over-flights, troops, cargo transit and mine-clearing for the
alliance’s campaign in Afghanistan. Details about the size of any
potential fund contributions were not released.
Meanwhile, Baku appears to be taking on its own what might be termed
preventive measures’ against Iran.
In the suburban village of Nardaran, a Baku suburb known for its
Islamic conservatism, police over the past four days have arrested
more than 15 people, including Niazi Kerimov, brother of Natig
Kerimov, a member of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Party of
Azerbaijan. Government officials have long alleged that the party,
banned since 1996, receives Iranian funding. The group is the only
political entity in Azerbaijan to have denounced Baku’s ties with
Israel.
No reason has been given for the arrests, nor has the government
body responsible for the arrests been identified, Turan reported. In a
February 20 statement, the Islamic Party called the arrests politically
motivated.
Other high profile arrests include a prominent theologian, Haji Akhund
Ilham, the mullah of a mosque in Bina, outside Baku, and a scholar
educated at an Iranian seminary, Turan reported. The Ministry of
National Security declined to comment on Ilham’s February 17 arrest.
Also on February 17, Baku police detained Anar Bayramly, a local
freelance correspondent for Iranian broadcast media, including the
satellite news channel Sahar. Bayramly was charged him with heroin
possession and resisting police.
Bayramly’s brother, Eldar, has denied the allegations of drug
possession, and told Turan that his brother had been repeatedly
summoned to a local police station over the past few weeks and
questioned about his political views. Bayramly’s lawyer, Anar Gasimli,
told EurasiaNet.org that he has not yet been able to meet with his
client, or with state investigators. He added that he had no official
information about the charges against the journalist.
The Iranian Embassy in Baku has denounced the arrest and warned that
it could damage relations with Tehran. But Azerbaijan, wedged between
Iran to the south, Russia to the north and a hostile Armenia to the
west, long ago learned to play its diplomatic cards carefully.
While criticizing Iran for its alleged anti-Azerbaijani activity,
Parliamentary Speaker Ogtay Asadov on February 14 underlined that
Azerbaijan would never allow its territory to be used against Iran.
The pledge, often made by President Aliyev as well, is a familiar one.
There is no reason why this position should change, said Shahinoglu,
the political analyst.
Editor’s note: Shahin Abbasov is a freelance journalist based
in Baku and a board member of the Open Society Assistance
Foundation-Azerbaijan.
From: Baghdasarian