Al-Jazeerah.info, GA
May 29 2005
Baku-Cyhan Pipeline: Another West-East Fault Line
By K Gajendra Singh
Al-Jazeerah, May 28, 2005
On 25 May, crude rushed into 1100 mile long pipeline costing US$ 4
billions beginning from Azeri capital Baku on the Caspian Sea , to
the Turkish port of Ceyhan in Eastern Mediterranean via Tbilisi (
Georgia), when the Presidents of Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan
pulled orange levers , with US Energy Minister Samuel Bodman watching
approvingly. It will take approximately 10 million barrels of crude
to fill the entire pipeline which when complete by the end of the
year would ferry a million barrels of crude daily.
Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer called it the ` Silk Road of the
21st century.’ US educated Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili,
who was installed following a US franchised `Rose revolution’ in end
2003 felt that the pipeline, by spurring investment and bringing US
into the region, would undermine Russian influence. `Because of our
geographical position, we’ve been in the centre of attention for
various empires,’ he said. `However, today Georgia is changing into a
place where the largest energy companies in the world are trying to
make investments.’
`This pipeline first of all will help solve economic and social
problems, but the role of the pipeline in strengthening peace and
security in the region also is not small,’ said Azerbaijan’s
President Ilham Aliev , whose late father Haidar Alivev can be said
to be the founder and translator of his pipedream into a reality.
A letter from US President George W. Bush read out at the ceremony
said that the pipeline `opens a new era in the Caspian Basin’s
development.’ `The United States has consistently supported ( the
pipeline project) because we believe in the project’s ability to
bolster energy security, strengthen participating countries’ energy
diversity, enhance regional co-operation and expand international
investment opportunities,’ it added.
After attending the victory celebrations in Moscow in May, President
Bush visited Georgian capital Tbilisi , not so much to promote
democracy, for , Saakashvili is proving to be another autocrat , but
to promote US oil and strategic interests .But a grenade thrown
during the public meeting, which fortunately did not explode , only
highlighted the security problems in the region.
The Caspian Sea basin is estimated to hold the world’s third-largest
reserves with Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan
all claiming the Caspian’s undersea wealth, on sharing which an
agreement has yet to be reached. But Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey
look to earn substantial revenue from the pipeline, through transit
fees and royalties.
The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (BTC) brushed aside shorter ,
cheaper and environmentally better routes via Armenia or Iran because
of Russian influence in Armenia and tense US Iranian relations since
the 1979 Khomeini revolution. BTC cuts through Azerbaijan in half
from east to west, then Georgia from east to west, bypassing
Georgia’s secessionist Ajaria and traverses Turkey’s Anatolian
highlands from the northeast to the south on the Mediterranean ,next
door to Incirlik airbase used by Nato forces. Both Azerbaijan and
Georgia have serious internal problems, with the latter in conflict
with its two break away provinces . In Azerbaijan BTC passes by its
enclave Nagorno-Karabakh, now under Armenian control. Turkey still
faces potential troublesome Kurds in the region from where the BTC
traverses.
The BTC’s major shareholders are BP (30.1%) and the Azerbaijani state
oil company SOCAR (25%), followed by Unocal (US, 8.9%), Stat oil
(Norway, 8.71%), Turkish Petroleum (6.53%), ENI (Italy, 5%), Total
Fina Elf (France, 5%), Itochu (Japan, 3.4%), Conoco Phillips (US,
2.5%), Inpex (Japan, 2.5%) and Delta Hess (a joint venture of Saudi
Delta Oil with American Amerada, 2.36%). BP has invested at least $15
billion in exploration, exploitation, pipeline construction and could
be as powerful as Aramco once was in Saudi Arabia , with its chairman
David Woodward ruling the roost and known in Baku as `the viceroy’.
On 24 May President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, with the
largest reserves in the Caspian Basin but who has been equivocal
about pumping out his country’s oil via BTC, because of upsetting
Washington or Moscow confirmed participation in the project with some
caveats .’For us this route will be one of the main ways to supply
world markets,’ he said at a ceremony where he signed bilateral
agreements with Azeri President Aliev. But Kazakhstan , with 40%
Russian population is not putting all its eggs in one basket .Another
pipeline to feed growing Chinese energy demand would be opened as
early as December. Nazarbayev added that ‘there is the possible
variant of exporting oil through Iran in the future.’
BTC also ignored serious environmental concerns (expressed both in
the Caucasus and in Europe), labor legislation, protests against the
World Bank, and has taken 10 years for its completion.
Human Rights Watch issued a letter on 24 May to Azerbaijan’s
President, Aliev, denouncing the detention of Azeri opposition
figures a week before the BTC ceremony. Police used force, beating
participants with batons and detaining more than 100.”The timing of
this denial is especially regrettable,” Human Rights Watch wrote in
the letter. “Azerbaijan has shown that it can take a leading role
internationally by committing itself to transparency principles in
the extractive industries.’
`From forests to labour laws and endangered species to democracy
protesters: all have given way to the costliest and most significant
pipeline ever built. The project, known as BTC, has driven a wedge
between the US and Russia, triggered political unrest in the
countries it passes through and their neighbours and sparked concern
at extensive damage to the environment.’ Said the Independent.
The $ 4 billion pipeline is seen as a major step to reduce the West’s
reliance on Middle East oil , where US’s led attempt to control and
exploit Iraq’s oil and through its bases, the region and its energy
resources is unraveling. But it is not yet clear if this massive
investment might be justified. The proven reserves might still not be
worth the costs it if it holds only 32 billion barrels of oil ,as
some pessimists claim , less than 10% of the total known Middle East
reserves . But it is part of the Great Game being played. Russia , is
now perhaps the largest producer and can offer to EU assured and
secure energy supplies in return for investment.
But the Caspian Basin’s oil reserves and its strategic location in
the West and the East confrontation has meant countries quickly
moving into positions or being moved like pawns on a chessboard. Of
the 3 plans to export the oil – a northern route through Russia, a
southern one through Iran and the BTC option through the Caucasus to
the Mediterranean, only the last one guaranteed Washington and its
corporate rulers a corridor of control. In 1998 , US Vice-President
Dick Cheney, then chief executive of oil services giant Halliburton,
said “I cannot think of a time when we have had a region emerge as
suddenly to become as strategically significant as the Caspian.”
What Rudyard Kipling called the “Great Game” – the secret battle to
dominate central Asia – has only reached the end of its new phase.
The game now moves to the trans Caspian pipeline and to the immense
plains of Turkmenistan with massive gas reserves , having already
created a US supported uprising in Kyrgyzstan with a confusing
outcome and a violent uprising and its brutal suppression in
Uzbekistan, which has forced its ruler Islam Karimov ,USA’s strategic
ally in its war against Terrorism , to move closer to China , which
he is now visiting . Afghanistan has been part of the recent Great
Game since end 1970s , now laid waste and with violence on increase.
Only poppy production is blossoming.
Russian opposition;
Russia is opposed to arrival of US forces in the Caucasus and the
Caspian Basin and claimed that the pipeline has been changed from a
purely economic project into a political problem .Mikhail Margelov,
head of the international affairs committee in Russia’s upper house
of parliament, told the Interfax news agency.
`This pipeline is virtually golden, and someone certainly must
protect it. Russia’s attitude to proposals made by some politicians
that this task should actually be delegated to the United States , is
firmly negative. Russia will always oppose the presence of any
foreign military contingents within the boundaries of the CIS.’
`First and foremost, it is a question of [Russia’s] national security
and the expediency of a foreign military presence in the region,
which would look especially strange against the background of the
pullout of Russian bases from Georgia,’ he added.
While congratulating all the participants on the completion of a very
complex and important project Margelov enquired why Russia was not
invited to secure the pipeline. `Russia has huge experience of
[military] presence in the region. We all are partners in the
anti-terrorist coalition, and it makes attempts to use the new
pipeline as a pretext for enhancing foreign military presence in the
region doubly outrageous,’ he concluded.
Konstantin Kosachyov , head of the State Duma’s international affairs
committee told Interfax that the construction of the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline was prompted by political rather
than economic motives. `It is absolutely obvious that this project
was born for political rather than economic reasons in order to
create a stable alternative for transferring Caspian energy resources
to the West bypassing Russia and some other states, such as Iran.’
Haidar Aliev and BTC;
Ilham Aliev’s late father Haidar Aliev, popularly called Baba
(father) of the nation and Azerbaijan’s ruler for nearly three
decades can be called as the major brain behind the BTC pipeline.
Before dying in end 2003 in a US clinic, he also ensured succession
for his 41 year old son ( Ilham) in the Presidential elections which
were disputed by opposition leaders at home and others outside . But
both USA and Russia acquiesced, for, with Middle East in turmoil,
stability in the Caspian basin with its energy resources was vital.
Born in Nakhichevan enclave , adjoining Turkey ,Haidar Aliev after a
successful career in KGB in Azerbaijan, was brought over to Moscow in
1982 and became the first Muslim member of Politburo and reached
almost the very top . But Mikhail Gorbachev, who took over in 1985
and ushered in not clearly thought out policies of Perestroika and
Glasnost, dismissed Aliev in 1987 for opposing the reforms.
But after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when like other Soviet
Republics, Azerbaijan too declared independence, wily and resilient
Aliev now donning the mantle of nationalism denounced Soviet
intervention in Baku and re-emerged from Nakhichevan. He soon muscled
his way to become the President in June 1993. Among his many admirers
, neither Georgia’s Eduard Sheverdnadzde nor Uzbekistan President
Islam Karimov have succeeded like Aliev, who even established the
dynastic rule.
The writer , accredited to Baku recalls his meetings with Aliev
during 1993-96 when he was still trying to find his feet and acquire
legitimacy at home and respectability abroad. Because of his KGB
background , the West treated him like a pariah. Neither Iran, nor
Turkey as his predecessor was very pro-Turkish were happy at his
return. Aliev had bad vibes with Boris Yeltsin and opposed Russian
defense installations in Azerbaijan . Aliev met with Russian
president Yeltsin and soothed Turkey’s fears and established friendly
relations with its President Suleyman Demirel.
Aliev also knew many in the Indian leadership from his Moscow days,
where he received them as a senior Party member, a success story from
one of the Turkic-speaking republics with historic linkages and ties
with India. To break out from his isolation, Aliev was ready to fly
to India at short notice. He tried frantically to establish contacts
with Western leaders , almost any one.
Like the Baku born chess player Garry Kasparov, Aliev moved
stealthily and aggressively, if required .He would turn up in
Istanbul and elsewhere for meetings with Western leaders and finally
succeeded. He also courted Israel (there were still 100,000 Jews in
Azerbaijan, 50,000 had migrated to Israel) which was happy to have a
watch post in Baku over Iran in South . Iran has twice as many
Turkish-speaking Shi’a Azeris as Azerbaijan .Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu even visited Baku.
Aliev’s contacts with Israel and European leaders paved the way for
direct contacts with the Americans, specially the powerful Jewish
lobby, to counteract the influential Armenian Diaspora in USA. He
seduced the US led West to his side in the new Great Game of
acquiring and controlling scarce energy resources. In September 1995,
a $7.4 billion deal with oil giants led by BP to exploit Azerbaijan’s
extensive energy resources laid the foundations for the BTC.
Aliev was a stunning success in Washington. During his 1997 visit to
the United States, Aliev met with President Bill Clinton and signed
oil deals worth nearly $10 billion with US oil giants. More than 400
American VIPs, including many senior officials like former
secretaries of State or Defence , lobbyists, consultants, investors
and facilitators, lined up for a $ 250-per-plate banquet in his
honor. In a few years from being a pariah, Aliev had become a US
darling. Verily, the qualities to reach the top ladder in any system
are perhaps not so different.
Under Aliev a new constitution was approved in 1995. He brought
stability and peace to Azerbaijan, a cease fire with Armenia signed
in 1994 still holds .He enacted economic reforms which brought
massive foreign investment. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan project to
transport Caspian basin oil to the Mediterranean was begun under him.
Apart from the Commonwealth of Independent States and the
Organization of Islamic Conference, Azerbaijan joined the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the
Council of Europe and other western organizations. Baku also
expressed desire to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(Nato). In the illegal US war on Iraq, Azerbaijan sided with
Washington.
Baku, located on the Caspian Sea, was an important stop on the old
silk routes. It produced half of the world’s oil at the turn of the
last century, so it has a rich past and a cosmopolitan culture with
its opera houses and fine buildings. It became the centre of Soviet
oil industry and many Indians were trained here.
But in November 1993 it looked gray, bleak and depressing when we,
five Ambassadors based in Ankara went there to present letters of
credence to Aliev. But conditions improved as investments flowed
in. But disparities still remain .The writer saw Afghan war
Mujahideen flown in Pakistani planes to fight in Nagorno Karabakh
(NK), swaggering in the hotel lobbies. They proved expensive and
rather ineffective mercenaries against Russian armed NK forces.
For South Asians , specially Parsees there is Atishgah, a
fire-worship temple near Baku. The present complex was started in the
17th century and continued up to mid-19th century, but the original
Atishgah goes back to very ancient times. Since time immemorial,
natural gas has seeped out of the earth and catches fire. Aryans and
Parsees, both Indo-Iranians worshipped fire. Parsees in India still
do so, as Hindus worship Agni (fire). The Azeri foreign minister
told the writer that Azerbaijan was known as Aagban which means
“forest of fire” or “arrow of fire”. The temple claimed many
miraculous powers, bringing happiness and well-being to visitors and
devotees alike. Located on the silk route, many Indian traders –
Parsees, Punjabis, Gujaratis and others – started visiting the temple
and built Dharamshala like rooms for stay. An elderly lady in charge
at Atishgh told the writer that Jawaharlal Nehru and his daughter
Indira Gandhi had also visited it.
An Indian restaurant Caravansaray also functioned in the city till
19th century. Pepe Escobar ,a recent visitor to Baku wrote that `The
only other flourishing industry in the Caucasus, apart from oil, is
kidnapping. Not to mention Kristina, the top belly-dancer at the
Karavanserai, the favorite restaurant of the oil oligarchy, who is in
a class by herself.’
Next door to Daghestan and Chechnya, Azerbaijan is a centerpiece in
the strategic multi-ethnic and explosive mosaic called the Caucasus.
Azerbaijan and Georgia are essential for the transport of gas and
petroleum to the West via Turkey or the Black Sea and the Balkans
from not only the Caspian basin but also from Central Asian
Republics, such as Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.
Conclusion;
The 1973 oil price rise sure did not make USA to using energy
efficiently as the Europeans and the Japanese did .Neither did it
invest heavily to find other energy alternatives .Instead it has
tried to acquire stronghold over energy resources all around the
world by bribing presidents as in Central Asia, Africa and Latin
America.
Former Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz , now President of the
World Bank, soon after the Iraqi invasion and `Mission accomplished’
boasted that the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and other
accusations were just bureaucratic excuses for controlling Iraqi oil.
Former UK Environment Minister Michael Meacher recently told Al
Jazeera in Lisbon, “The reason they attacked Iraq is nothing to do
with weapons of mass destruction, it was nothing to do with democracy
in Iraq, it was nothing to do with the human rights abuses of Saddam
Hussein.”
“It was principally, totally and comprehensively to do with oil,”
Meacher continued. “This was about assuming control over the Middle
East and over Iraq, the second largest producer and also over Saudi
Arabia next door. `”It was about securing as much as possible of the
remaining supplies of oil and also over the Caspian basin.’
Meacher also added that the US had poor environmental standards.
“American power plants waste more energy than is needed to run the
whole Japanese economy,” he said. “They have set their face against
the Kyoto protocol.”
UK labour party MP George Galloway , while putting to sword false
accusations against him of money transactions with Saddam Hussein ,
instead accused that the US senate subcommittee for creating a mother
of all `smoke screens’ to hide unaccounted disappearance of $ 8.8
billion Iraqi oil revenues under Paul Bremmer rule , the first US
Viceroy to Baghdad and wastage of hundreds of billions of US
taxpayers money in a war which has become a quagmire for USA. It
should be a lesson for the pawns in the Caspian Basin . The BTC
pipeline will become just another fault line between East and West
for control of energy sources with Azerbaijan Georgia and Turkey
playing crucial roles.
This is a region of uneven topography and ethnic and other fault
lines and the pipeline would only exacerbate them. There are two
break away provinces in Georgia with close relations with Russia .
If the Muslim Chechens who are now fighting against Russia, with
Georgia not checking them , decided to take on USA , they could
sabotage the pipeline. The Jihadis who fought against Soviet Russia
to help US revenge its humiliation of Vietnam , also bombed US
missions in Kenya and Tanzania and were responsible for the 11
September attacks against USA . Baku , with tense relations with
Moscow and Tehran in the South, can be infiltrated and create
instability . The pipeline passes through turbulent Kurdish regions
of Turkey. In spite of Kurds in Turkey having recently gained many
of their rights, the situation remains tense in its Kurdish regions
.It is not likely to be helped if Iraq starts unraveling, which can
not be ruled out ,with Iraqi Kurdistan becoming autonomous if not
independent .
(K Gajendra Singh, served as Indian Ambassador to Turkey and
Azerbaijan in 1992-96. Prior to that, he served as ambassador to
Jordan (during the 1990-91 Gulf war), Romania and Senegal. He is
currently chairman of the Foundation for Indo-Turkic Studies, in
Bucharest. This article was also published by Saag.org. The views
expressed here are his own.- [email protected])