RADAR STATION AVAILABLE: ANATOLY SERDYUKOV TO INSPECT THE GABALA RADAR STATION
by Sokhbet Mamedov, translated by Elena Leonova
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
What the Papers Say Part B
November 28, 2007 Wednesday
Russia
Defense cooperation between Russia and Azerbaijan; Defense Minister
Anatoly Serdyukov is starting his first visit to Azerbaijan today.
The Russian and Azeri defense ministers will hold official talks,
discussing military cooperation development and the prospects for
using the Gabala radar station.
Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov is starting a working visit to Baku
today. Azeri Defense Ministry spokesman Eldar Sabiroglu told us that
the Russian and Azeri defense ministers will hold official talks,
discussing military cooperation development and the prospects for
using the Gabala radar station.
This is Serdyukov’s first visit to Azerbaijan. He arrived in Baku on
the evening of Tuesday, November 27, flying in from Astana, where he
had attended a meeting of the CIS Defense Ministers’ Council.
Relations between the defense ministries of Russia and Azerbaijan
are based on the principles of mutual benefit; their contacts are
regular and productive. All the same, the defense ministers have
much to discuss when they meet in person. For example, the Azeri
government has expressed concern about transfers of Russian military
hardware from Georgia to the 102nd Russian military base in the town
of Giumri, Armenia. The Azeri government believes that in the event
of hostilities being resumed, this hardware could be used by Armenia
against Azerbaijan. The Azeri government has also alleged that Russia,
co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group on Armenian-Azeri conflict regulation,
is effectively helping to strengthen the military forces of Armenia –
and Azeri President Ilham Aliyev has stated repeatedly that Armenia
is occupying almost 20% of Azerbaijan’s territory.
According to Azeri Defense Minister Safar Abiyev, these circumstances
pose a real threat to regional stability and could lead to a resumption
of hostilities at any moment. While visiting Astana the previous
day, Abiyev told journalists that armed conflict between Armenia and
Azerbaijan is "quite likely."
An equally important topic of discussion for the two ministers will
be the fate of the Gabala radar station. Vasili Istratov, Russian
Ambassador in Azerbaijan, commented on this as follows: "We believe
that the radar in Gabala can perform all tasks related to identifying
actual or potential threats. We also understand that the Americans
have not entirely rejected the possibility of using this radar. We
shall wait until the Americans respond to our proposal for shared
use of the Gabala radar." Istratov went on to say: "In any event,
decisions on using the Gabala radar can only be made after preliminary
consultations with Azerbaijan."
The Gabala radar station, located near the town of Zaragan in the
Gabala district of Azerbaijan, has been operating since 1985 and
is designed to detect ICBM launches in the Southern hemisphere. It
monitors the territories of Iran, Turkey, China, Pakistan, India,
Iraq, Australia, most of Africa, and islands in the Indian and Atlantic
oceans. A bilateral agreement signed in January 2002 gives the Darial
radar at Gabala the status of an information-analysis center, owned
by Azerbaijan and used by Russia under a ten-year lease.