Eu rasia Insight:
AZERBAIJAN MAY BE INVOLVED IN TURKISH OPERATIONS IN IRAQ – PAPER
10/18/07
A EurasiaNet Partner Post from BBC Monitoring
Excerpt from report by Elgun Araz in Azerbaijani newspaper Gun Sahar
on 17 October headlined "Baku’s support for Turkey in the fight
against the PKK"
The Turkish government has asked the parliament to sanction its
military operations against the PKK [Kurdistan Workers’ Party]
terrorist organization in northern Iraq.
[Passage omitted: the Turkish parliament will presumably support the appeal]
Meanwhile, reports are being circulated that Azerbaijan will also
support Turkey’s antiterrorist operation. According to reports we have
received from an informed source in Turkey, Baku and Ankara are now
considering the participation in military operations of a special
mountain-infantry regiment located in Naxcivan.
We should recall that this military regiment has high combat readiness
and is able to carry out military operations in very difficult
circumstances.
The source did not clarify which side had come up with this
initiative. However, it added that this would be an important
incentive for the two fraternal countries’ current and future
relations. The source added that Azerbaijani servicemen are already
participating in military operations in areas where it is difficult to
conduct them – like Kosovo and Afghanistan. Support for Turkey, a
close ally of Azerbaijan, should not come as a surprise.
We think that this kind of support for Turkey from Baku may have a
positive influence on the further rapprochement between the two
fraternal countries and on opportunities to get military support from
Turkey, especially in the resolution of the Karabakh conflict.
Source: Gun, Baku, in Azeri 17 Oct 07 p 2