Yeni Musavat, Azerbaijan
February 17, 2008
War against PKK in Karabakh…the USA, Turkey and we?!
by Elsad Mammadli
The worldwide US fight against the PKK [the Kurdistan Workers Party]
has caused certain shift in the attitude of the Azerbaijani
authorities with regard to this organization. Until recently the
demands from the authorities to recognize the PKK as a terrorist
organization went unheeded and efforts were made to hush this topic
up under various pretexts.
However, after the visit of Frank Urbancic, Principal Deputy
Assistant Secretary and Deputy to the Coordinator, the Office of the
Coordinator for Counterterrorism, to Baku, the Azerbaijani Foreign
Ministry has been already issuing statements to be deemed bold
enough. Immediately after the visit of Urbancic, officials of the
Foreign Ministry have voiced more than once that the country is ready
to start a fight against the PKK in tandem with the USA and Turkey.
According to a latest unofficial report leaked to our paper, official
Baku has not only stated its readiness for a joint fight but also
agreed to the use of its territory to fight against PKK fighters
resettled to Nagornyy Karabakh. There are even reports that relevant
teams of the Turkish army, reconnaissance officers, accompanied by
Azerbaijani officers, went through Azerbaijani territories to
Karabakh and carried out raids to pinpoint locations of the PKK.
The possibility of taking such a step is very advantageous and
estimable from the interests of statehood. Nevertheless, the
intriguing point is that our government is cautious to admit
officially that such a process is under way. In general, it is
obvious that our government is avoiding issuing statements related
specifically to the PKK. There may be various reasons behind this
anxiety.
As everyone is well aware there is a strong Kurdish group in the
authorities and they sympathize with the PKK. Either they do not let
them to know or those people have the opportunity to influence the
matter to a certain extent. However, based on available reports, the
authorities’ statement on readiness to fight the PKK and the
existence of a decision, although kept in secret, caused deep concern
of the "Kurdish mafia".
They are confident that if the USA and Turkey start an operation
against the PKK terrorists using the Azerbaijani territories, this
campaign would not go unnoticed for the PKK sympathisers inside the
country. As the likelihood of shaking their political, economic
strongholds and a "purge operation" against patrons of the mafia is
high, the Kurdish group in the authorities and those relying on them
are anxious…
Despite all these, we have to stress that the authorities have not so
far officially recognized the PKK as a terrorist organization.
Although the democratic forces have raised this issue time and again,
the NAP [the ruling New Azerbaijan Party] majority in parliament has
not adopted a law to recognize the PKK as a terrorist organization.
Without such a law, it would be illogical for Azerbaijan to be
involved in a fight against the PKK in an antiterror operation on its
occupied territories.
For example, at present [Baku-based] Diplomat newspaper is openly
propagating the PKK and no any measures are taken against its
editor-in-chief. The law-enforcement agencies say that as the PKK is
not registered as a terrorist organization, it is impossible to call
to book its propagators… Nevertheless, there are signs that
parliament would soon recognize the PKK as a terrorist organization.
Under various opinions, the possibility of launching antiterror
operations in the occupied Azerbaijani lands of Nagornyy Karabakh by
Turkey and the USA might at the end result in ousting the Armenian
terrorists from there.
That is to say, owing to a "local war" model, sometimes spoken about
and even agreed with the Armenian leadership, territories unrelated
to Nagornyy Karabakh are first emptied, the control over our
districts bordering Iran is handed over to us; in exchange, the
status of Nagornyy Karabakh is put on the agenda and tackled…
Given any option, the start of military operations in Nagornyy
Karabakh, especially, Turkey’s possible involvement in it under any
pretext would be advantageous for Azerbaijan. The current state of
Armenia is so that any change, any serious initiative may force it to
its knee. It is quite important to test this chance.