AZERBAIJAN SAYS IT FOILS ATTACK ON US EMBASSY
By Simon Montlake
1-duts.html
from the October 31, 2007 edition
AUTHORITIES SAY DETAINED ARMED ISLAMIC MILITANTS WERE PLANNING A
LARGE-SCALE ATTACK, BUT QUESTIONS HAVE ARISEN ABOUT ALLEGED LINKS TO
AL QAEDA.
Authorities in Azerbaijan say they have detained a group of heavily
armed Islamic militants who were allegedly plotting an attack on the
US Embassy in Baku, which closed Monday in response to the threat.
The State Department in Washington said there was "specific and
credible threat information," but gave no further details.
The detained men were described as being Wahhabis – a Sunni Muslim
sect that originated in Saudi Arabia – and their ranks included an
Army officer who had supplied assault rifles and grenade launchers,
Reuters reported Monday. It quoted a spokesman for the National
Security Ministry, Arif Babayev.
Babayev said that part of the militant group was detained at the
weekend in the village of Mashtagi, near Baku, including the military
officer, who had recently gone absent from his post.
"It was established that the group … had four Kalashnikov rifles,
one Kalashnikov grenade launcher, 20 grenades, rounds and other
automatic weapon parts," Babayev said.
The British Embassy in Baku also closed Monday over "local security
concerns." The Associated Press reported a statement by the National
Security Ministry that the arrests had prevented a wider terrorist
plot against national and foreign targets.
"That prevented a large-scale, horrifying terror attack that was being
prepared by members of this group against several state structures in
Baku and embassies and missions of the countries which are members
of the international anti-terror coalition," the ministry said,
adding that other members of the group were being sought.
Azerbaijan is a largely secular Muslim republic on the western shore
of the oil-rich Caspian Sea. British oil giant BP operates two large
oil and gas export projects in Azerbaijani waters that supply energy
markets in Western Europe, the Financial Times reported Tuesday
from Moscow.
Azerbaijan, with its population of 8m, is a predominantly Muslim
republic with borders with Iran, Russia and Georgia….
The arrests come at a time when Azerbaijan is enjoying economic growth
of more than 30 per cent amid a growing oil surge.
However, poverty remains widespread. Human rights groups say Islamist
religious groups are gaining influence, particularly among the poor.
Azerbaijan’s relationship with neighboring Iran may have been
the focus of a recent visit to Baku by Central Intelligence Agency
director Michael Hayden, Eurasianet.org, a specialist website funded
by the Open Society Institute, reported earlier this month. General
Hayden met Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, on Sept. 28 during
what US officials said was a regional tour to discuss security and
international terrorism.
Some local analysts believe the US wants to use Azerbaijan as a base
for a possible military attack on Iran, according to Euroasianet.org.
It also cited Ilgar Mammadov, an independent analyst, as drawing a link
between Hayden’s visit and the trial of a pro-Iranian militant group.
A preliminary hearing for the government’s case against the 15-member
group, named after its leader, Said Dadashbeyli, took place at the
end of September in Baku, the Turan news agency reported on October
1. Group members are also charged with high treason, illegal arms
possession, illegal contact with foreign intelligence services,
robbery and other crimes.
The Ministry of National Security alleges that Dadashbeyli, an
Azerbaijani citizen, worked with radical Islamic organizations –
as yet not publicly named – and Iranian intelligence agents to set
up a state with Shar’ia laws. A military group, dubbed the Northern
Army of Mehdi, was allegedly formed by several of the defendants,
prosecutors allege. Prosecutors also claim that one of the group’s
members, Jeihun Aliyev, traveled to the Iranian holy city of Qom,
where he was offered money by Iranian agents. The money was to be
used to mount a propaganda campaign designed to undermine Western
and Israeli influence in Azerbaijan.
Earlier this month, Iran hosted a summit for states bordering the
Caspian sea, at which leaders from Azerbaijan and four other countries
pledged not to allow their territory to be used for attacks against
fellow littoral states, Asia Times reported. Russian President Vladimir
Putin was among those attending the summit, which played down the
issue of disputed national boundaries in the oil-rich inland sea.
Jamestown.org reported last year that Azerbaijan may have been
overstating the risk of a possible Al Qaeda attack in Baku as a way
of currying favor with the US government. After 2001, Azerbaijani
authorities arrested and extradited several foreign militants to Middle
East countries. Six Azerbaijani were jailed in 2005 for allegedly
plotting terrorist attacks against national and foreign targets on
behalf of Al Qaeda. But the government’s claims that Baku was a prime
target for foreign terrorists should be treated with caution.
Recent trends show that local radical organizations pose more of
a danger to Azerbaijan than does al-Qaeda. Yet, the Azerbaijani
government is trying to connect the surge of local radicalism with
the influence of al-Qaeda. There are several reasons for that. First,
the country’s regime is trying to show the United States its loyalty
concerning the war on terrorism. Thus, the sentencing of al-Qaeda
"members" was done in order to demonstrate the activity of Azerbaijan’s
special services.
Secondly, by exaggerating the danger from al-Qaeda, the
Azerbaijani government is trying to portray itself as the one and
only pro-democratic force in a region dominated by anti-Western
religious extremists. For many years, the current regime in Azerbaijan
successfully sold this propaganda, often depicting outbreaks of social
unrest as the work of Islamic extremists….
Compared to other Muslim countries such as Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey
and Pakistan, al-Qaeda will have a hard time influencing and recruiting
local Azerbaijanis for suicide terrorist missions. Furthermore, up
to 75-80 percent of the population is Shiite, to which the ideology
of al-Qaeda is hostile. Finally, a majority of the mosques, where
al-Qaeda usually recruits its followers, are under tight surveillance
by the Azerbaijani government.
After gaining independence from Soviet rule in 1991, Azerbaijan
fought a war in a disputed breakaway region, the British Broadcasting
Corp. reports.
As the Soviet Union collapsed, the predominantly Armenian population
of the Nagorno-Karabakh region stated their intention to secede from
Azerbaijan. War broke out.
Backed by troops and resources from Armenia proper, the Armenians of
Karabakh took control of the region and surrounding territory.
In 1994 a ceasefire was signed. About one-seventh of Azerbaijan’s
territory remains occupied, while 800,000 refugees and internally
displaced persons are scattered around the country.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1030/p99s0