Zerkalo, Azerbaijan
Feb 27 2008

Azerbaijani peace keepers are leaving Kosovo

However, members of the Azerbaijani public are divided on this issue

C. Bayramova and R.Habiboglu

Azerbaijani peacekeepers will be recalled from Kosovo, a member of
the permanent commission of the Milli Maclis[Azerbaijani parliament]
on security and defence issues, Zahid Oruc, has told APA [news
agency]. [Passage omitted onreported details]

The member of parliament stressed that this move of Azerbaijan is
very important: "Azerbaijan is taking militarysteps in accordance
with its political position."

Dilemma

It should be mentioned that the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has
recently said that the status of Azerbaijanipeacekeeping troops
remains as it is. In other words, they will continue carrying out
their peacekeeping mission asbefore irrespective of Baku’s position
on the recognition of Kosovo’s sovereignty. Nevertheless, the
presssecretary of the Foreign Ministry, Xazar Ibrahim, told Zerkalo
that the change in the political situation in Kosovo may tell on the
status of not only Azerbaijani peacekeepers in the region, but also
the entire peacekeeping contingent as a whole.

"There were times when the political situation in Kosovo was quite
different. Now, it has changed fundamentally.Therefore, such a change
in the situation leads to a variety of consequences, including [those
concerning] the presence of peacekeeping forces," he said.

According to him, "anything may happen tomorrow, but today the status
of Azerbaijani peacekeeping forces remainsas it is". He added that it
is up to the parliamentarians to decide on sending and recalling
peacekeepers and theMilli Maclis should make a relevant decision.

It seems that there is nothing to think about here. If Azerbaijan
does not recognize Kosovo’s independence, our peacekeepers have
nothing to do there. In essence, this is not the main issue. The
presence of Azerbaijani peacekeepers in the region in connection with
the changing political situation as our above mentioned interlocutor
rightly said risksassuming quite contradictory nature. It is quite
evident that the change in the status of the region is leading to
achange in the status of the peacekeeping contingent in both
political and military terms. In other words, the positionof
peacekeepers is becoming unclear: some will regard them as the
protectors of Kosovo residents, while others have aright to think
that they act as the rivals of Serbians.

Diverging views

This may be why the opinions of members of the Azerbaijani public are
fundamentally divided. For example, the deputy executive secretary of
the ruling New Azerbaijani Party, Mubariz Qurbanli, believes that it
is not appropriate to pullour peacekeeping forces out of Kosovo for
the time being. According to him, our country has joined the
anti-terrorcoalition and within its framework Azerbaijani soldiers
are involved in peacekeeping missions not only in Kosovo, butalso in
Afghanistan and Iraq. In a word, there is no such necessity. The
representative of the ruling party also saysthat it would be quite
erroneous to relate the presence of Azerbaijani peacekeepers in
Kosovo to Azerbaijan’sofficial position to refuse to recognize the
region’s independence.

"It does not change anything even if a number of states have
recognized Kosovo’s independence,"Qurbanli noted. Moreover, our
interlocutor says that the Azerbaijani contingent is located far from
those areas wheredisorder and clashes with Serbs are taking place.
That is why they are not involved in the situation, which can seem to
be contradictory at first glance, from the military point of view.
With this being the case, Qurbanli thinks that if theAzerbaijani
government considers it necessary to recall its peacekeeping troops
from Kosovo, there is a need for thisand it should not be discussed.

Political analyst Rasim Musabayov thinks a little differently, but in
the same way. He looks at this issue as part ofAzerbaijan’s
commitments to NATO. He believes that our country first of all needs
to focus on the mutualcommitments within the framework of the
partnership programme with NATO. "It is up to them to say or think
aboutanything they want. This [presence of Azerbaijani troops] will
not mean recognizing Kosovo," the political analyst said.

The leader of the opposition Musavat party, Isa Qambar, recommends
that we should not hurry to make a decision on thestatus of
Azerbaijani peacekeepers. "Our party made an appeal to the
Azerbaijani government, saying that it is not appropriate to make a
hasty decision to refuse to recognize Kosovo’s sovereignty.
Azerbaijan should have taken await-and-see position in the difficult
geopolitical situation, in which the Western countries are on one
side and Russiais on the other. But unfortunately, they did not
listen to our opinion. The same applies to the status of
Azerbaijanipeacekeeping troops in Kosovo. Azerbaijan should not hurry
in this issue," Qambar warned.

Political analyst Vafa Quluzada has an opposite opinion. According to
him, the Azerbaijani contingent in Kosovo hasnothing to catch, the
mission has been accomplished and they need to come back. "Azerbaijan
does not recognizeKosovo’s independence and it says everything. It
should not have peacekeeping troops there. This is an
absolutelynormal move and neither Kosovo residents and Americans nor
Turks have a right to get offended. So, I do not see anyproblem here.
Moreover, the presence of Azerbaijani soldiers in the peacekeeping
contingent in Kosovo is simplymeagre," Quluzada said.

Political analyst Ilqar Mammadov said that the presence of
Azerbaijani peacekeepers in Kosovo is inappropriatebecause of
Azerbaijan’s interests in the Karabakh issue. He says that
Azerbaijan’s position on peacekeepingshould be fundamentally
reviewed. "We saw the role of peacekeepers in Kosovo. In fact, they
arrived there withBelgrade’s consent, but eventually became the
guarantors of Kosovo’s independence. The same may happen withthe
Karabakh issue if we agree to the presence of a peacekeeping
contingent in the region," Mammadov stressed.

Decision to recall comes from Moscow?

It would be illogical to keep Azerbaijani peacekeepers in Kosovo
after Baku has refused to recognize theregion’s independence. It is
not about the quantity or location of Azerbaijani peacekeepers. It is
a matter ofprinciples. In any case Azerbaijan can not act as a
military guarantor for the independence of the country, which
itrefuses to recognize.

But another thing is worrying. The decision to recall Azerbaijani
peacekeepers from Kosovo was announced after theinformal summit of
the CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States] in Moscow. We would not
like to think that the decision to pull our peacekeepers out of
Kosovo was made following the consultations in Moscow, especially
with [RussianPresident Vladimir] Putin’s service.

Yes, it is true that the outgoing Russian president did not mention
Nagornyy Karabakh among the separatist formationsin the CIS which can
use the Kosovo model to implement the plan of "independence".
However, it is hardly worthbeing happy about it. It would have been
quite logical for the Russian president to name Nagornyy Karabakh and
warnArmenia against such a hasty move. As "Zerkalo" suggested,
President Putin named those separatist formationsin which Russia has
the so-called "direct interests" South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Dniester
Region. Formally,Russia has nothing to do with the conflict over
Nagornyy Karabakh. It can act through its ally in the
CollectiveSecurity Treaty Organization, which is Armenia, if needed.
As for a military and diplomatic cover, Armenia may receivesuch
support at any time, at least within the framework of the Collective
Security Treaty Organization, and even fromthe UN Security Council if
necessary.

Moreover, the groundwork for the propaganda in this direction is
being laid. The secretary-general of the Collective Security Treaty
Organization, Nikolay Bordyuzha, has openly declared recently that
the intensive arms race in Azerbaijanand Georgia threatens the
security of the states included in this military-political alliance.
In addition, the Russian State Duma is expected to hold discussions
on the "frozen conflicts" in the CIS and also inviterepresentatives
from the "Nagornyy Karabakh Republic" there…