RIA Novosti
July 9, 2007
Azerbaijan: where Cold War enemies can become friends
MOSCOW. (Sergei Markedonov for RIA Novosti) - The tiny Caucasian nation of Azerbaijan has recently found itself in the international media spotlight.
At the G8 summit, President Vladimir Putin put forward a sensational proposal to jointly use the country's Gabala radar for the United States' planned missile-defense system, an idea he reiterated at a later informal meeting with President George W. Bush. The Russian president has demonstrated in public his readiness to invite the Americans to what Russia regards as a major strategic facility. Moreover, the radar is located in the South Caucasus, which Russia has viewed as its geopolitical backyard up to this day. The Azerbaijani radar, which Russia rents, offers a good opportunity to improve Russian-American relations.
Azerbaijan is a former-Soviet republic where Russia and the United States have common strategic interests. Both Moscow and Washington are interested in a secular and politically stable Azerbaijan strong enough to curb the threat of radical Islam. This is a very real threat for Russia, particularly in the North Caucasus. Azerbaijan borders on the Russian republic of Daghestan, which has become a political and ideological center for Muslim extremists in the North Caucasus.
A few ethnic groups, above all, Lezghins and Avars, are divided between the republic and Azerbaijan. Until a presidential system was introduced in Daghestan, the Azerbaijanis had their own representative in its state council. Daghestan and Azeri border regions cooperate closely. Russia has its own interests in this bilateral cooperation.
For the United States, the South Caucasus is a part of its ambitious Greater Middle East project. Unlike the region's other tumultuous territories, it should be a stable and calm home front. Azerbaijan also offers an opportunity to contain Iran. Last year, American diplomats called the government in Baku, the country's capital, a Muslim ally of the United States.
Azerbaijan is becoming a major factor in U.S. relations with Islamic states. This is why the United States and Russia have similar approaches to the domestic situation in Azerbaijan. Neither the White House nor the Kremlin demands that Baku should opt for democracy. Both have recognized the victory of Ilham Aliyev in the presidential election in 2003 and the triumph of the ruling party in the parliamentary elections in 2005. Both the United States and Russia are closely following Baku's attempts to diversify its foreign policy.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan has recently been trying not only to balance its policy toward the United States and Russia, but also to find friends in the Muslim world. In the last three years, it has considerably improved its bilateral ties with Iran. This year, Azerbaijan chaired the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), a very influential international organization uniting 57 Muslim countries. Throughout the year, OIC representatives have repeatedly visited Azerbaijan. In April, Baku hosted a representative international conference under the aegis of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry and the OIC. It was devoted to the role of the media in promoting religious tolerance and resisting Islamophobia.
In general, the OIC has become a major forum for Azerbaijani diplomats to promote their countries' interests, and it is important for Baku's foreign policy. Since December 1991, the OIC has denounced "Armenian aggression" against Azerbaijan five times. It has always recognized the republic's territorial integrity and viewed Nagorno-Karabakh, a breakaway enclave inhabited primarily by ethnic Armenians, as an inalienable part of it.
The Islamic aspect is becoming more and more pronounced in Baku's foreign policy. This does not mean that Azerbaijan is changing its secular ways and becoming pro-Iranian. The OIC has nothing to do with Islamic radicalism, although it is markedly anti-American and anti-Western in general.
To a certain extent, Azerbaijan is also disappointed with the West, primarily the United States, which has been unable to resolve the Karabakh issue in its favor. Russia, which since 1991 has earned a reputation for being pro-Armenian, hasn't been much help, either. Although the Azerbaijani elite has become less adamant about the issue, anti-Armenian attitudes are still strong among ordinary people. Both Moscow and Washington are interested in developing relations with Baku, but not at the expense of siding with it on Nagorno-Karabakh.
The United States and Russia have many more common interests than they do reasons for conflict and confrontation. The joint use of the Gabala radar could play a major role in preventing another Cold War and building constructive relations between the two countries in the Caucasus and the rest of the former Soviet Union. The Gabala initiative clearly shows that there are opportunities for strategic rapprochement.
Sergei Markedonov is head of the department of international relations at the Institute of Political and Military Analysis.