AZERBAIJAN, USA MAY STRIKE DEAL ON RADAR STATION BYPASSING RUSSIA – EXPERT

Day.az website
10 Sep 07
Baku

"Vafa Quluzada: ‘Could you imagine 10 or 15 years ago that Russia
would voluntarily leave Georgia and Azerbaijan and hand over the
Qabala radar station to the Americans into the bargain?’"

Day.az has interviewed political expert [and former foreign policy
adviser] Vafa Quluzada.

[Correspondent] Mr Quluzada, as is known, the Russian and US
presidents, Vladimir Putin and George Bush, have agreed again in
Sydney to continue talks on the joint use of the Qabala radar station,
and at the end of this week, the radar station will be visited by
experts from the two countries. We would like to know whether these
negotiations will lead to a final decision regarding this station?

[Quluzada] All talk about the Qabala radar station means that the two
countries have some sort of agreement on this issue. However, this does
not mean that the Americans intend to give up their plans to deploy
missile defence systems in the Czech Republic and Poland. As is known,
Putin has suggested using the Qabala radar station jointly in exchange
for the USA giving up its plans to deploy its missile defence systems
in these countries, i.e. the sides keep to their opinions. Moreover,
I do not rule out that the USA itself will reach an agreement with
Azerbaijan bypassing Russia and install its own modern missiles here.

To be honest, who needs such a ramshackle station as Qalaba? This
station is obsolete. For this reason, out of politeness, the Americans
will continue their negotiations with Russia at the level of experts
for some time. Moreover, Russia does not mind becoming a junior partner
of the USA on the issue of Iran. The more tensions around this country,
the more overtures Russia will make to the USA.

Russia has already suspended its work in Bushehr and already tends to
support a new resolution on Iran. This means that Russia is turning
into an ally of the USA in this issue.

[Passage omitted: Details of commentaries by Russian experts]

[Correspondent] Armenia is an outpost of Russia and Georgia of the
USA. In this case, whose outpost are we?

[Quluzada] Good question. I think that Azerbaijan will soon become a
reliable outpost of the USA and NATO in this region. This cooperation
is a key to its survival as an independent state.

[Correspondent] Do you anticipate an upsurge in Islamic fundamentalism
in Azerbaijan? Iran used to be an outpost of the USA in the region,
and we all know what happened afterwards. Could this fate await our
country as well?

[Quluzada] No, because the spirit of radicalism is not typical of
Azerbaijanis at all. Moreover, 70 years of godlessness have left a deep
mark on our country. For this reason, there are no staunch Islamists
in Azerbaijan, and our people still have the ideas of Marxism and
Leninism on their mind.

In Iran, Islamic values have always been held in esteem. For example,
in Palestine and Iran mothers are happy when their sons die for the
holy faith. Can we see anything like that in Azerbaijan? For this
reason, it will take Islam three or four generations to become a real
ideology in Azerbaijan.

[Passage omitted: Comments on the situation in Armenia]

[Correspondent] How long will Armenia remain dependent on Russia?

[Quluzada] Russia is an empire, and it still lives with its imperial
way of thinking. This thinking is disappearing together with the
empire. Although this empire has collapsed, it is still breathing.

For this reason, it is keeping its troops in Armenia, is trying
to topple the government in Georgia and is carrying out sabotage
against Azerbaijan, Ukraine and the Baltic countries. That’s to say
the Russian empire is dying painfully. This will continue till its end.

But a holy place is never empty. The dying empire will be replaced
by others soon. Sooner or later, the West will take control of all
these countries. Could you imagine 10 or 15 years ago that Russia
would voluntarily leave Georgia and Azerbaijan and hand over the
Qabala radar station to the Americans into the bargain? We have all
witnessed this already. And we will soon see it leaving Armenia.