BAKU PUTTING TOGETHER LIST OF ENEMIES
by Sokhbet Mamedov
WPS Agency
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
August 31, 2009 Monday
Russia
MILITARY DOCTRINE IS EXPECTED TO BE SUBMITTED TO AZERI PARLIAMENT IN
AUTUMN; After some delays the Azeri parliament will look into adopting
the country’s military doctrine
The work on the draft of this conceptual document on opposition to
threats and measures to ensure the country’s defensive capability
has been done for some time, still, its adoption has been postponed
several times in recent years.
Azerbaijan has been without a military doctrine so far. Still, taking
into account the country’s objectives – the return of territories
occupied by Armenia, resisting external threats, protecting areas of
national interest – for which more and more money is being allocated
each year, they began putting together just such a document. The
draft is ready, but it failed to pass the parliament. According to
independent military expert Uzeir Dzhafarov, the main reason for
the delay in adopting the doctrine is the political factor. "The
document should name the countries Azerbaijan sees as friendly and vice
versa. If we do that, we may find ourselves in disfavor with countries
like Russia, Iran, and such like", thinks the expert. Dzhafarov was
a member of the Azeri defense ministry military science center in
2003, and participated in putting together some of the details in
the military doctrine.
Most analysts agree to this view, and that Armenia should be named
an aggressor.
Despite the furor whipped up by the opposition media regarding whether
or not the doctrine would be adopted in autumn, it turned out the
document had not been presented to the parliament. "This project has
not been officially submitted and reviewed by the experts from our
committee", said the opposition parliament committee member Panakh
Guseyn. As to the reasons for the delays in the process, he thinks
they highlight the complexity of the problem.
"It is no secret Azerbaijan is in a complex geopolitical region, and
the military-strategic resources are such that the country’s defense
depends on both the armed forces and how well the participation in
the system of international relations has been conceived", said Panakh
Guseyn. He agreed that the question of which countries would be named
potential enemies would be the most interesting to the document,
and said, "I do not believe any other country would be named, other
than Armenia".