EurasiaNet, NY
March 16 2007

AZERBAIJAN PURSUES NATO INTEGRATION
Khazri Bakinsky and Mina Muradova 3/16/07

Azerbaijan is pressing ahead with plans to overhaul the country’s
armed forces in order to bring them up to North Atlantic Treaty
Organization standards. The pace of reforms will be gradual,
according to senior government officials, who are quick to point out
that Azerbaijan remains locked in an unresolved conflict with Armenia
over the Nagorno-Karabakh territory.

The deputy speaker of the Azerbaijani parliament, Ziafarat Asgarov,
indicated that the legislature would adopt a new strategic doctrine
by mid-2007, the Ayna newspaper reported. A draft of the doctrine is
on the agenda for parliament’s spring session, he added. In the
meantime, Baku has agreed to increase the number of Azerbaijani
troops serving with NATO in Afghanistan, according to Robert Simmons,
the special representative of the NATO Secretary General for the
South Caucasus and Central Asia. As of 2005, Azerbaijan had 22 troops
in Afghanistan, according to the NATO figures.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has named NATO integration as a
top foreign policy priority for Azerbaijan. The country’s
participation in the alliance’s Individual Partnership Action Plan
(IPAP), a set of requirements that must be met by alliance
candidate-members, is scheduled to end in 2007. Azerbaijani
officials, who have already started work on plans for the next
two-year slot of Azerbaijan’s IPAP, have indicated that they want to
continue with the program.

A second IPAP, running from 2007-2009, is expected to be signed with
Azerbaijan soon, said Simmons, who held March 15 consultations in
Baku with Azerbaijani Defense Minister Col. Gen. Safar Abiyev.
Azerbaijan began its IPAP program in 2005. An evaluation of the
program’s initial two years was made in February. Simmons expressed
satisfaction with Azerbaijan’s military reform process. "Azerbaijan
is our reliable partner. The cooperation between Azerbaijan is
successfully developing," the APA news agency quoted Simmons as
saying.

Turkey, a NATO member with strong cultural ties to Azerbaijan, is
ready to act as an expediter of Baku’s reform process. A high-level
military commission is expected to be set up to coordinate bilateral
military cooperation, the Anatolia news agency reported March 1.
Particular emphasis will be put on training, an area that Gen. Ergin
Saygun, deputy chief of the Turkish General Staff, has described as
the most important part of the cooperation between the two states.
Turkey also plans to help Azerbaijan establish an army company that
meets NATO standards, the general said during a trip to Azerbaijan in
late February.

Several Turkish generals are planning to travel to Azerbaijan in late
April on an inspection tour, after which they will make initial
recommendations on Azerbaijani structural reforms, the News of
Azerbaijan news agency quoted Selami Chinbat, the Turkish embassy’s
military attaché in Baku, as saying.

An independent military expert, Ismet Abbasova, expressed hope that
the Aliyev administration’s desire to develop closer ties with NATO
could stimulate broad reforms in Azerbaijan. "I hope there will be
development in the education system because the lack of skilled
military staff indicates that the Azerbaijani army is not up to
modern standards," she said.

If all goes according to the Azerbaijani government’s plan, the
country’s armed forces would meet NATO standards by 2015. The
changeover, however, will not come easily, cautioned Zahid Oruj, a
pro-administration MP who holds an influential position on the
legislature’s Defense and Security Committee. "[T]aking into account
that military reforms are more complicated than economic and
political [reforms], and many officers have a Soviet education, it
will take time," he noted.

The "frozen conflict" with Armenia over the disputed breakaway region
of Nagorno-Karabakh could also hamper plans to create a purely
professional army, commented Lt. Gen. Vahid Aliyev, a military aide
to President Aliyev. "Since Azerbaijan is at war right now, it would
not be right to transform the entire army into a professional one,"
Lt. Gen. Aliyev told the APA news agency in late 2006.

Oruj said the government is currently "seriously" working on plans to
promote civilian leadership of the Defense Ministry. At the same
time, he downplayed media speculation that a civilian would be named
as defense minister anytime soon. "We did not undertake a commitment
on this because the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan has not ended
yet," he said. A Defense Ministry spokesperson said that he has no
information about which ministry posts might be assigned to
civilians.

Despite probable delays in establishing a professional,
civilian-administered military, Oruj affirms that Baku’s commitment
to NATO stands firm. "We do all this work because our national
interests demand it, and it is our own choice to transition to NATO
standards."

Other top government officials are more cautious. During a February
interview with the German television channel Deutsche Welle,
President Aliyev hinted that Azerbaijani eventual membership in NATO
should not be considered a foregone conclusion. "What will be the
result of this partnership, time alone will show," the Azerbaijani
president said.

Editor’s Note: Mina Muradova and Khazri Bakinsky are freelance
reporters in Baku.