Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
July 25, 2005, Monday
ANCHORAGE INSPECTING BAKU
SOURCE: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, July 21, 2005, p. 5
by Sokhbet Mamedov
Tomorrow an official visit of Turkish minister of defense Vedzhi
Kyunel to Baku terminates. He arrived in Azerbaijan on Monday
evening. The minister negotiated with his Azerbaijan colleague Safar
Abiev, was acquainted with the work of different military educational
institutes of the republic, where the training of officers is going
according to the Turkish system, and visited the coordination center
of military collaboration. Yesterday the Turkish Minister of defense
met with President of Azerbaijan, Ilkhan Aliev. For today meetings
with the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs are
planned, after which an intergovernmental agreement on technical
cooperation in the field of training military men will be signed.
Officially, this visit is a response for last year’s trip of Safar
Abiev to Turkey. However, independent analysts are inclined to pay
much more attention to it. According to the words of Azerbaijan
military expert Uzeir Dzhafarov, any military contacts between Baku
and Anchorage serve for strengthening of the Azerbaijan Armed Forces
and speeding up the integration process in NATO. “Some months ago a
plan of individual cooperation between Azerbaijan and the alliance
was adopted. According to this plan, our country took
responsibilities to reform the army and staff it according to NATO
standards. Turkey is a country responsible for controlling this
process”, the expert told journalists. According to his opinion, the
fact that in the last few weeks Turkey military delegations’ trips to
Azerbaijan became more frequent, can prove the fact that “they are
sure to have extra planned tasks in our country”.
Such tasks are, first of all, question on organization and securing
the defense of main export oil pipeline Baku-Tbilisi-Dzheikhan (BTD)
and gas pipeline Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum (BTE). Oil pipeline BTD is
almost ready, and they wait for starting its exploitation in
November. As for the gas pipeline, its construction continues and
will be finished next year. These energetic communications have
strategic significance both for Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and
Western countries, the US as well. That is why the Northern Atlantic
Alliance is intended to set mobile groups for securing pipelines on
Apsheron peninsula. Turkey has not last place in this task, because
its military specialists educate Azerbaijan colleagues.
Another important task is a question concerning the regulation
process of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Official
Anchorage, supporting the position of Azerbaijan, is interested in
normalization of relationships with Armenia. That is why the head of
the military department of Turkey discussed with Azerbaijan
authorities the perspectives of Anchorages participation in the
regulation process. As it is well known, the other day this problem
was discussed at the meeting of Russian Federation President Vladimir
Putin and Turkish Prime Minister Redzhep Tayip Erdogan in Sochi.
According to the opinion of Azerbaijan experts, the minister of
defense had much to say to Ilkhan Aliev concerning the results of
negotiations in Sochi.
In any case, during the meeting the minister of defense of Turkey
pointed out the necessity of regulating the Mountain Karabakh
conflict within the frames of the territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan.
Translated by Denis Shcherbakov