Tag: Aliyev

  • Iran, Azerbaijan, And Turkey: Zero Problems? Zero Chance

    Iran, Azerbaijan, And Turkey: Zero Problems? Zero Chance

    Iran, Azerbaijan, And Turkey: Zero Problems? Zero Chance

    1756BC07 A691 4E52 87BC FB1C41EB49C4 mw800 mh600 sMajor General Hasan Firuzabadi, the chief of the armed forces general staff, claimed he’d been misquoted.

    August 18, 2011
    By Robert Tait
    It hardly looked like the embodiment of a quiet-neighborhood policy.

    First Iran’s top military commander warned Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, in language that brooked no diplomacy that he faced a “grim fate” for betraying “Islamic principles.”

    Then the head of an influential committee in Iran’s parliament announced that the de facto head of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Murat Karayilan — a man sought by Turkey for “terrorist” activities — had been captured by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in the Kandil Mountains.

    Unsurprisingly, each story created a stir in the countries next door — before promptly being denied by Iran.

    Major General Hassan Firuzabadi, head of Iran’s general staff, had not in fact declared that “the people’s awakening cannot be suppressed” or accused Aliyev’s government of “giv[ing] freedom to the Zionist regime [Israel] to meddle in [his] country’s affairs,” according to a statement issued by the Iranian Embassy in Baku. Nor had he accused Aliyev of giving “command to bar Islamic rules.”

    Such quotes — despite their wide attribution — were the result of a “media misunderstanding,” the statement said.

    So too, it seems, were reports carried by Iranian news agencies of Alaeddin Borujerdi, chairman of the Iranian parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, announcing the arrest of Karayilan, widely seen as the PKK’s No. 2 figure behind Abdullah Ocalan, currently serving a life sentence in Turkey.

    With the Turkish media in a frenzy and Turkey’s foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, calling his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi for clarification, Iran again backtracked. Borujerdi told Turkey’s ambassador to Tehran that he had been misquoted and had actually said that “it would be better had [Karayilan] been captured,” according to the Istanbul newspaper “Today’s Zaman.”

    A Warning Shot?

    So was it all just an unfortunate communication breakdown?

    Not in the view of many Azerbaijani and Turkish observers, who believe it followed a well-trodden path of Iran’s Islamic regime playing diplomatic hardball. Nor did it wash with Azerbaijan’s government, whose relations with Tehran have long been tense.

    Firuzabadi’s purported remarks prompted the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry to deliver an official protest to the Iranian Embassy in Baku.

    Then Azerbaijani police arrested three members of the banned Islamic Party of Azerbaijan (AIP), a radical group that Baku claims is funded by Tehran with the aim of creating instability.

    The three — party Deputy Chairman Arif Qaniyev, Ramin Bayramov, the editor of an Islamist news site, and party member Abgul Suleymanov — were initially charged with illegal possession of weapons and drugs.

    But in fact the arrests — and Firuzabadi’s comments — had a wider context. A joint statement from the Azerbaijani National Security Ministry and Prosecutor-General’s Office said they were also suspected of “hostile activity against Azerbaijan” — apparent code language for being in the pay of Iran.

    Iran’s Islamist Front

    Accusations by Azerbaijan of Iranian interference, voiced periodically since the Azeris’ independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, have intensified recently.

    Baku has accused Tehran of being behind an increasing number of protests against Aliyev’s secular, Western-backed regime. These include demonstrations organized on Facebook in March and a rally staged outside the Education Ministry in December 2010 in response to the Azerbaijani ban on Islamic hijab in schools.

    Islamic Party head Movsum Samadov called for Ilham Aliyev’s downfall.

    Azerbaijan’s official nervousness led to the arrest earlier this year of the AIP’s leader, Movsum Samadov, who vehemently criticized the ban and then called on his website for Aliyev to be toppled.

    Azerbaijani political analyst Arastun Orujlu says the latest arrests, unlike Samadov’s, are directly related to Iran’s actions and aimed at sending a signal to Tehran. While the Azerbaijani authorities “cannot arrest Firuzabadi,” they can arrest “those whom they consider to have close ties with Iran. By this way they also send a message to Iran.”

    Vafa Gulzade, president of the Baku-based Caspian Policy Studies Foundation and a former Azerbaijani national-security adviser, believes Iran yearns for an Islamic republic to be established in Azerbaijan.

    “After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Iran immediately began an aggressive policy against Azerbaijan,” Gulzade says. “First, it was an attempt to export the Islamic religion, Hizballah-style, to Azerbaijan. A lot of Iranians came to Azerbaijan and spent a lot of money and arranged cells of Hizballah in the whole territory of Azerbaijan. Iran is continuing this job, to create in Azerbaijan cells and to support groups of Azerbaijanis for Iranian groups.”

    Sharing Suspicions

    Baku’s suspicions are fueled by the strong ethnic, religious, and cultural links between Azerbaijan and Iran. The modern Azerbaijani state was once part of Iran before being annexed by Russia in the 19th century. Nearly nine out of 10 Azeris share Iran’s official Shi’ite Islamic faith. And most tellingly, Azeri — a language close to Turkish — is spoken by around a quarter of Iran’s population, mainly in the northern provinces bordering Azerbaijan.

    Yet these common bonds mean the suspicion cuts both ways. Iran feels threatened by Azerbaijan’s close alliance with Tehran’s two arch-enemies, the United States and Israel, and with NATO. Azerbaijan provides around 20 percent of Israel’s oil supplies while Baku recently purchased Israeli weapons worth an estimated $300 million.

    For Tehran, such links provide its Western foes with the perfect launching pad to foment division within its own population.

    As the Texas-based think tank Stratfor noted in March: “Tehran…is concerned about Baku’s use of its links to certain parts of Iran’s ethnic Azerbaijani population to sow discord within Iran and serve as a launching point for the West into Iran. Tehran most recently accused Baku of such actions in the Green Movement’s failed attempt at revolution in 2009. Geopolitically, the two countries’ strategic interests often clash. Iran has strong ties with Armenia (Azerbaijan’s foe), while Azerbaijan has good relations with the West, and political and military ties to Israel — both of which are uncomfortable for Iran.”

    Israel’s Shimon Peres visits Baku — and makes Tehran nervous.

    The idea that Israel could use the Azerbaijanis as a potential fifth column against Iran echoes a similar suspicion voiced in the past about Israeli infiltration of the Kurdish populations in Iran and Iraq. Indeed, senior officials with Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, Mossad, have spoken openly of having a presence in Iran’s Kurdish areas.

    The truth of this, according to Meir Javedanfar, an Iranian-born political commentator with Israeli citizenship, is hard to establish. “According to reports in the Israeli press, Israeli military training and communication companies were active in Kurdistan a number of years ago but whether they or the Mossad continue to be there is unclear,” he told RFE/RL in an e-mail.

    “Iraq as a whole is an area of interest for the state of Israel, because of its importance to the Arab world, Iran, and the United States. It would be natural and logical for Israel to want to have influence there,” Javedanfar continued. “Whether it can is another question. With Israel’s increasing diplomatic isolation, more countries in the Middle East are moving away than toward Israel under [Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu.”

    Iran: ‘The Kurds For Syria’

    But according to Sadraddin Soltan, a Baku-based analyst on Iranian affairs, Tehran is pressuring Azerbaijan to send a signal to Baku’s more powerful ally, Turkey, over one of Iran’s key foreign-policy preoccupations, Syria. The Turkish government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan has, along with the United States, bitterly criticized the brutal suppression by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad — Iran’s close friend — of mass protests against his rule.

    “Tehran is irritated by all these developments. Iran is closely following NATO-Azerbaijan, U.S.-Azerbaijani ties,” Soltan says. “Through Firuzabadi’s statements, Iran is exerting pressure on Turkey and the U.S. [and sending the message] that it can create obstacles to their ally Azerbaijan, just as they [the Turks] press the Syrian regime.”

    The same belief has gained ground in Turkey to explain Iran’s recent behavior over the recent phantom PKK arrest. The claim followed reports of recent Iranian incursions into Iraq to root out members of the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK), a militant Iranian-Kurdish group (allied to the PKK) that had been mounting an effective sabotage campaign.

    Even more pertinently, according to Turkish commentators, is that it preceded an anticipated offensive by Turkey in the coming weeks against PKK strongholds. Intelligence cooperation against Kurdish militants has been part of a general rapprochement between Ankara and Tehran in recent years. Knowing Turkish intentions to act against the PKK, some believe, Iran saw its chance to indulge in some underhand diplomacy.

    “Iran is sending a message to Turkey,” wrote Markar Esayan in “Today’s Zaman.” “A message saying it is willing to take action against the PKK in return for concessions by Turkey regarding the Syrian issue. To Turkey [the message is] you have a dominant role in the uprisings in Syria, which is an indispensible ally to us in the region. If you give up on Syria, we will deal with the PKK together; otherwise, we will become allies with the PKK.”

    RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service contributed to this report from Baku

  • Azerbaijani president no fan of Turkey’s AKP, say US diplomats

    Azerbaijani president no fan of Turkey’s AKP, say US diplomats

    ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News

    Azerbaijani President İlham Aliyev is no fan of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, and its leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, according to U.S. diplomatic cables made public Sunday by the WikiLeaks website.

    A report prepared Feb. 25, 2010, by a diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in Baku, Azerbaijan, focuses on a recent meeting between Aliyev and William Burns, the U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs.

    The document says Aliyev “made clear his distaste for the Erdoğan government, underscoring the ‘naivete’ of their foreign policy and the failure of their initiatives, including the loss of support for Turkey among traditional international friends because of Ankara’s hostility to Israel.”

    The Azerbaijani president reportedly noted that Erdoğan’s insistence on promoting Hamas and Gaza while Arab countries were notably silent on those issues had brought Turkey no benefits.

    In the same meeting, Aliyev reportedly said Turkey should demonstrate “constructive behavior” in regards to a gas-transit deal that was signed in June. Aliyev also professed to be worried that active Turkish-Russian cooperation could impede the deal’s progress. He reportedly confided: “Turkish Energy Minister [Taner] Yıldız recently told the head of the Azerbaijani State Oil Company, ‘Why do you want to ruin our relations with Russia? Do you really need Nabucco?’”

    The Nabucco pipeline is planned to carry natural gas from Turkey to Austria to reduce Europe’s energy dependence on Russia.

    The leaked document adds that Aliyev made a gas deal with Russia to prevent Turkey from becoming an energy hub.

    “Aliyev spelled out the reasons Azerbaijan decided to sell gas to Russia last year, noting that ‘Moscow had asked’ and offered a good price for gas that was surplus anyway,” the cable read. “But the real reason, Aliyev confided, was that the sale illustrated to ‘our Turkish friends’ that they will not be allowed to create a gas distribution hub.”

  • Has Turkey Traded Genocide for Karabakh?

    Has Turkey Traded Genocide for Karabakh?

    gul-and-sargsyan-in-frame-sept-2008With Turkish / Armenian negotiations reaching a peak, the focus of attention is moving from the wider debate to petty bickering over who said this and who said that, the inevitable outcome of a process in which a country’s leaders discuss fundamentals of agreements with their international counterparts then hide the truth from their domestic audience. The Armenian negotiating parties, President Sargsyan and MFA Nalbandian, have unashamedly deceived the Armenian public with respect to their year-long negotiations on Karabakh and Genocide. Today, they would have the Armenian public believe that Turkey has suddenly introduced pre-conditions for opening the border, an untrue statement and particularly alarming as it came immediately after discussions with the US President in Turkey, which surely must have led to a common understanding between Turkey, Armenia and the US. True, the Turkish side did change its position after Obama’s trip to Turkey and re-introduced Karabakh as a pre-condition. But in contrast to Armenia, Turkish reports on its position have been consistent, in Ankara, in Baku and in Yerevan.

    Turkey resolutely denies that the hostilities involving the slaughter of Armenians in the early 20th century amounted to Genocide and each year it spends considerable resources to defend its position, especially in the US. This year Turkey’s leaders spent several months and went to extraordinary lengths to avoid US recognition, realizing the new US President and most of his senior administration supported Armenia’s claim of Genocide. That is understandable from a Turkish perspective. But it is disturbing that the Armenian negotiating parties have not added their voices to the Armenian lobby for the US to recognize Genocide, but understandable, as US recognition would put a stop to the plan they have been doing all they can to keep from the Armenian public. Sargsyan and Nalbandian have been ‘warming to the Turkish proposal to establish a commission of historians’ and they have said so on several occasions, not for the good of the Armenian Republic, but in pursuit of personal gain.

    On April 6th and 7th, Turkey was host to the US President, first in Ankara then in Istanbul, hailed as the highlight of Obama’s European tour. Several weeks prior to the Obama visit, Turkey announced that it had removed the Karabakh issue from its list of pre-conditions for opening the Turkish / Armenian border, seemingly infuriating Azerbaijan, but clearly a tactical move to demonstrate Turkish acquiescence in a ‘warming relationship’ with the Armenian administration and part of Turkey’s concerted effort to avoid what seemed to be an inevitable US Genocide recognition. The Obama trip went according to plan with the US and Turkey singing each others praise. But for Armenia, whilst Obama confirmed his personal position had not changed, he avoided using the word Genocide.

    Armenia’s MFA Nalbandian decided not to travel to Ankara to meet with US President Obama on the 6th April as planned, but he eventually managed to find time on April 7th in Istanbul. He returned to Yerevan bristling with confidence of an imminent border opening and assuring the Armenian public that he and his President would do nothing to jeopardize a possible US recognition of Genocide. In fact, they had already done their damndest to jeopardize a possible US recognition of Genocide, they had announced that negotiations with Turkey were developing well and they anticipated an early opening of the Armenian / Turkish border – possibly in April. Under these circumstances it would have been confrontational for Obama to talk about Armenia’s ‘Genocide’ in Turkey and he would have been blamed for spoiling the Turkish – Armenian reconciliation process.

    Nalbandian had barely finished his press conference in Yerevan, when Turkey announced in Ankara, Baku and Yerevan that it was to re-introduce Karabakh to the border-opening list of pre-conditions, a seemingly provocative move, especially after the Obama visit and only two weeks prior to a much anticipated 24th April Obama declaration on Genocide in the US. The Turkish move completely contradicted Nalbandian’s statement, plus many such Nalbandian statements in the run-up to Obama’s trip to Turkey. Sargsyan responded in Yerevan, accusing Turkey of suddenly introducing hitherto unknown pre-conditions, although pre-conditions have been known and documented throughout the nearly year-long negotiation process, and neither Sargsyan nor his Minister of Foreign Affairs had ever explained in Armenia how they had been resolved. However, the ‘newly introduced pre-condition’ did not dampen Sargsyan’s enthusiasm and he re-confirmed he would be travelling through the newly opened border on his way to watch football in Turkey this October.

    From this somewhat implausible chain of events, it is presumably to be believed that President Gul had a change of heart after negotiations between President Obama and Armenia’s MFA Nalbandian; that he decided to slap the well-intentioned face of his most powerful strategic ally by revoking on this critical and most sensitive of issues. If true, that would surely invoke US recognition of Armenia’s Genocide on the 24th.

    Of course not, Turkey’s President Gul would never concede on the Genocide issue, knowing that 90 percent of the Turkish population is opposed, and at a time when his ratings had plummeted in a keenly contested democratic election. The conclusion can only be that Obama left Turkey thankful and relieved that Turkey and Armenia had agreed to resolve the Genocide issue between them, through Turkey’s commission of historians, or some other such mechanism. Armenia’s President Sargsyan is on record as saying he has no ambitions with regard the historic Armenian lands in the eastern part of Turkey, so only the Karabakh issue needs to be resolved for him to travel through the border in October this year, and Bryza’s opinion is that Karabakh will soon be resolved.

    Armenia’s former President Kocharian has been preparing his deal on Karabakh for several years, held back firstly by the lack of an acceptable Azerbaijani compensation package, and secondly his nerve to commit to the deal, knowing he would face the backlash from an angry Armenian public. Kocharian waited his time and supported Sargsyan as his successor on the understanding that Sargsyan, when President, would go through with the agreement he dare not sign.

    However, in the same way that Turkey would never withdraw its support from Azerbaijan with regard Karabakh, Azerbaijan is equally committed to supporting Turkey on Genocide. In July 2008, seeing that Sargsyan was determined to finalize the Kocharian deal on Karabakh, the Azerbaijani / Turkish allies joined forces and threw Genocide into the equation, knowing the self-imposed illegitimate Sargsyan regime would jump at the chance of adding to the package of compensation it was demanding in return for one of Armenia’s very few state assets left after Kocharian’s eight years of pillaging – Karabakh.

    In August 2008, the Georgia conflict prompted Moscow to force the pace of negotiations, so Medvedev dangled a $500 million carrot; then the World economic crisis presented the opportunity for the US to throw a billion or so more dollars into the pot, conveniently facilitated by the World Bank and the IMF. Now half the World is on tenterhooks, waiting the next episode in this most unsavory Caucuses conflict resolution saga, which is due this 24th April in New York.

    The Kocharian / Sargsyan Karabakh ‘Ace’ has already been played several times with the EU and PACE to chock up the illegitimate Sargsyan Presidency. Soon it will be played for the last time, to draw massive compensation in return for a beneficial agreement for Azerbaijan on Karabakh and for a Turkish commission of historians to finally eliminate Armenia’s claims of Genocide.

    Turkey and Azerbaijan will have solved their longstanding problems with Armenia, the US will have been relieved the burden of Genocide recognition, Russia will see additional political clout and economic benefits in the Caucuses, and the Sargsyan / Kocharian regime will have a compensation package worth several billion dollars.

    The vast majority of Armenians will be hoping that the US president stands by his promise and formally recognizes the Armenian Genocide this 24th April; in the longer term it will be beneficial to all parties concerned. Otherwise the Kocharian / Sargsyan regime will be having to cope with the backlash in Armenia, after having sold Armenia down the river with their ‘Karabakh / Genocide Deal’.