NEWS: NATO AND AZERBAIJAN: AN UNBALANCED PARTNERSHIP
[ Part 2.2: “Attached Text” ]
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NATO and Azerbaijan: An Unbalanced Partnership
By Peter Kechichian and Gevorg Shahbazyan
AAANews Blog
July 18, 2014
Last week, Azerbaijan was again the focus of a U.S. foreign policy
discussion. On July 1st, the Atlantic Council hosted a forum
in Washington D.C. entitled, “NATO in the Caucasus: The Case of
Azerbaijan.” Moderated by Mr. David Koranyi, the Deputy Director of the
Atlantic Council’s Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center, the panel featured
influential analysts who cover this strategic region. These included
Ambassador Khazar Ibrahim, the head of the Azerbaijani mission to
NATO, Mr. Eric Ruben, the Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau
of European and Eurasian Affairs at the U.S. State Department, and
Dr. Brenda Shaffer, a visiting researcher at Georgetown University. The
forum was introduced by Frederick Kempe, the President and CEO of
the Atlantic Council. Kempe mentioned in his opening address that the
Atlantic Council is a “strong supporter for independent Azerbaijan,”
while Ambassador Ibrahim praised that Atlantic Council for “promoting
the agenda of Azerbaijan.”
The forum represented a new chapter in the public discussion on
Azerbaijan and the wider region. It focused on U.S foreign policy in
the South Caucasus, possible NATO expansion in Armenia, Azerbaijan
and Moldova, and European energy security in general. Although
NATO has had a footprint in the region since the dissolution of the
Soviet Union, the increased expansion by NATO in the area is almost
unprecedented and will have a major impact on the geopolitics of the
wider region. This has become increasingly relevant, particularly
in light of major examples of Russian aggression in Georgia in 2008,
and Russia’s recent annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. The Caucasus,
due to its strategic location, has always fallen under the firm
influence of larger powers, such as Russia, Iran and Turkey. Hence,
the expansion of NATO in the region causes a direct challenge to
Russian influence in the South Caucasus.
The forum represented a wide-ranging discussion touching on many
differing aspects of NATO’s relationship with Azerbaijan, which
developed as a NATO Partnership for Peace (PfP) member since 1994.
Chief among these was energy security, energy infrastructure
protection, and ensuring future and reliable energy flow to European
markets. Ambassador Ibrahim emphasized that Azerbaijan is an “energy
provider to many NATO members,” highlighting its importance to NATO
while painting Azerbaijan as a “very strong, active partner.” A common
theme among the energy security discussion was about lowering Europe’s
dependence on the Russian dominated gas supply system and diversifying
Europe’s energy sources. Eric Ruben of the State Department was very
clear about this, proclaiming that some countries “are dependent on
Russian gas,” while Dr. Shaffer declared that energy security should
not be thought of as separate to security in general. The Southern Gas
Corridor is a major European energy project that will bring Caspian
oil and gas into Europe via Turkey. It is a “highly strategic choice”
and one that “we talk about… a lot in Washington, D.C.,” Dr. Shaffer
said. Other areas mentioned include Azerbaijan’s relationship with
Israel, its support in the U.S.
war effort in Afghanistan, and combating human trafficking,
counter-terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, and land mine
clearance.
However, what the writers found interesting about the forum is what was
not covered. There was very little mention of Azerbaijan’s bilateral
relationship with Russia. Interestingly, there was absolutely no
mention of Azerbaijan’s acquisition of $4 billion worth of modern
weaponry from Russia, including some of the most technologically
advanced offensive weapons. The influx of Russian weapons has resulted
in a regional arms race which has further fueled instability in a
region already rife with daily cross-border attacks that have left
at least 18 soldiers dead on both sides of the Azerbaijani-Armenian
conflict, this year. These actions run counter to Russia’s repeated
claims of maintaining military parity and balance in the region
towards both Azerbaijan and Armenia. This is in addition to the
numerous trade and energy projects that Azerbaijan continues to
enjoy with Russia. Just last month, high-level Russian officials
traveled to Baku, such as Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Deputy
Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, Economic Minister Alexei Ulyukaev,
and Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin, to name a few. The sheer size
of the delegation and the number of trips taken highlight Moscow’s
intention to deepen its relationship with Azerbaijan. “It is a very
painful subject and our people are worried that our strategic ally
sells weapons to Azerbaijan,” Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan told
Argentina’s “Clarin” newspaper last week.
An Armenian Embassy representative, Deputy Chief of Mission
Andranik Hovhannisyan, was present at the forum and noted the
extensive relationship that Armenia also enjoys with NATO. For
example, Armenia, which has also developed relations with NATO
since 1994 as a PfP member, continues to maintain a significant
peace keeping mission in Kosovo, while Azerbaijan withdrew its
peace keeping force from Kosovo in 2008, he said. Ibrahim referred
to this withdrawal during the conference as a “political decision,”
due to his government’s stance against the internationally recognized
principle of self-determination. It is also worth noting that Armenia
has contributed significantly to NATO-led operations in Afghanistan,
most notably with the deployment of over one hundred combat soldiers.
In addition, Armenia assisted the coalition’s combat operations during
the Iraq war. Neither Azerbaijan nor Turkey contributed combat troops
to the War on Terror in Iraq and Afghanistan.
While the discussion generally attempted to portray Azerbaijan as
an indispensable partner to NATO, one could make the case that the
NATO-Armenia relationship is as advanced, if not more so, than the
level of partnership enjoyed with Baku. Furthermore, the Azerbaijan
government’s pardon, promotion and glorification of an Azerbaijani
soldier, Ramil Safarov, who was convicted in Hungary for the 2004
murder of an Armenian officer, Gurgen Margaryan, is unbecoming of a
NATO aspirant. Margaryan was murdered in his sleep by an ax-wielding
Safarov during a NATO PfP English language training course. One
could also argue that this is not the type of behavior that should be
rewarded, as it runs counter to the purpose of the NATO PfP which is to
“increase stability, diminish threats to peace and build strengthened
security relationships between partner countries NATO.”
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