Russian daily views reasons for Turkish defence minister’s visit to Azerbaijan
Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Moscow
21 Jul 05
Excerpt from report by Sohbat Mammadov in Russian newspaper
Nezavisimaya Gazeta on 21 July headlined “Ankara inspects Baku.
Turkey intends to bring military into Azerbaijan to guard pipelines
and interfere in Karabakh settlement”
The official visit to Baku by Turkish Defence Minister Vecdi Gonul
ends tomorrow [22 July]. [Passage omitted: schedule of Gonul’s visit]
Officially this visit is in return for [Azerbaijani Defence Minister]
Safar Abiyev’s visit to Turkey last year. However, independent analysts
are inclined to lend far more significance to it. Azerbaijani military
expert Uzeir Cafarov has said that any military contacts between Baku
and Ankara will contribute to strengthening the Azerbaijani armed
forces and speeding up the country’s integration into NATO.
“A few months ago a plan was adopted for individual cooperation
between Azerbaijan and the alliance. In line with this plan, our
country pledged to reform the army and bring it into line with the
NATO standards. Turkey is the country responsible for the monitoring
and fulfilment of this plan’s points,” the expert told journalists.
In his opinion, the fact that visits to Azerbaijan by Turkish military
delegations have become more frequent in recent weeks demonstrates that
“they probably have unplanned missions in our country”.
These missions may include, first, organizing and ensuring the
protection of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan main oil export pipeline and
the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil
pipeline is practically ready and is expected to be commissioned in
November. As for the gas pipeline, its construction is gaining momentum
and will be completed next year. These power lines are of strategic
importance both for Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey as well as for
the countries of the West and the USA. Hence, NATO intends to deploy
mobile groups on the Absheron Peninsula to guard the pipelines. Turkey,
whose military experts are training Azerbaijani servicemen, has no
small role in this matter.
Another equally important task is the settlement of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. Official Ankara, while supporting
Azerbaijan’s position, is at the same time interested in normalizing
relations with Armenia. Hence, the Turkish defence minister discussed
with Azerbaijani leaders prospects for Ankara’s involvement in the
settlement of the conflict. This problem was discussed a few days
ago during a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Sochi. In the opinion
of Azerbaijani analysts, the defence minister had something to tell
[Azerbaijani] President Ilham Aliyev about the results of the talks
in Sochi.
Anyway, during his meetings the Turkish defence minister pointed out
the need for the settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict within
the framework of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.