AZERBAIJAN ARMED BY ISRAEL?

PanARMENIAN.Net - So, according to "Muari", not long ago representatives of military institutions of Israel and Azerbaijan held secret negotiations in Ankara. The newspaper had got information, according to which those negotiations resulted in an agreement reading that 100 "Merkava" tanks and 30 used military planes will be delivered to Baku from Tel-Aviv. Besides, according to the author of the article, it was thanks to the attempts of the Jewish lobby of America that the solution of the issue of training of 70 officers of Azerbaijani military forces in the military academies of the USA became possible. It became also known that Israel and Turkey signed an agreement on carrying out marketing of military-industrial complexes of CIS countries. The research aims at defining of the prospects of deliveries of Israeli armament to Caucasus and Middle Asian countries. The matter concerns the output of the military-industrial complex of Israel assembled in Turkey. The Arabian press published several articles reading that Tel-Aviv had given its consent to delivery of Israeli tanks and planes with "Made in Turkey" label to Azerbaijan and some other Southern republics of CIS, the foreign policy guide-lines of which corresponded to the interests of Israel and Turkey.

Formally, Turkey will be considered the deliverer of the production. And it will be Turkey to quote prices. It is evident that for its alley, Azerbaijan, the price will be symbolic. But the main thing is that the indirect supplies will allow Azerbaijan to keep in secret its cooperation with Israel, which, of course, will be disapproved by other Islamic states. In Baku they continue to hide the contacts with Jews. This is what "Echo" newspaper of Baku has written on thin occasion: "Only the threat of a big split inside the Islamic states keeps Baku from demonstrating its kindly feelings for Tel-Aviv…". The concerns of Azerbaijanians are understandable taking into account, to put it mildly, the non-friendly relations between Israel and most of the Islamic states. Baku values very much the support of the Organization of Islamic Congress, which, being unaware of the secret partnership of Azerbaijanians and Jews, obediently confirms all the anti-Armenian resolutions proposed by Vilayat Guliyev. In may 2001 the participants of the conference of Foreign Ministers of OIC member-countries, unhesitatingly approved two documents suggested by the Azerbaijani delegation. If they knew about the secret flirts of Baku with Tel-Aviv, they would seriously think before voting for them.

Against whom does Israel arm Azerbaijan? Hardly against Armenia, because the relations between Tel-Aviv and Yerevan are generally normal. At the same time, Azerbaijan adjoins with countries the interests of which are contradicting the interests of Israel. First of all it is Iran. The authorities of Teheran are aware of duplicity of Baku. Nevertheless, the relations between Teheran and Baku have warmed up recently. In the end of December Heydar Aliyev is going to pay an official visit to Teheran. As it is known, the visit was planned for August, but was postponed because of the conflict around the oilfields in Caspian Sea disputed by the sides. The Ambassador of Iran to Azerbaijan told Aliyev last week that "in Teheran they are impatiently waiting for him". He has also added that "Iran will recognize the independence of Azerbaijan and will support Azerbaijan during the voting on Karabakh issue in the UN". This formulation would sound differently, if the appropriate services of Teheran could comprehend the information coming from Beirut about the secret negotiations between the representatives of military institutions of Azerbaijan and Israel held in Ankara. However, according to Baku press, "It would be too early to say that the cold war between Baku and Teheran has come to an end". Political scientist Eldar Namazov, for example, does not believe up to now that Heydar Aliyev's visit to Iran will take place. It is not excluded that the information about the planned secret deliveries of Israeli arms to Azerbaijan will play a certain role in the final decision of the issue of Aliyev's voyage. There are several other factors that also do not allow to believe in friendly feelings of Azerbaijan towards Iran. For example, Mahmudali Chahragani, leader of the Turk-language separatists leaving in the Northern Iran, has been invited to visit Azerbaijan. Besides, we must take into account the provoking demarche of the official Baku demonstrated in signing of a "separate" agreement about principles of division of the Caspian region.
Ashgabad also is not indifferent to the information about secret deliveries of Israeli military technique to Baku. Like Teheran, Ashgabad does not accept the policy of occupation of disputed territories of the Caspian region conducted by Azerbaijan. After the negotiations with President of Turkmenistan Saparmurad Niyazov, the special representative of Iranian Foreign Ministry on Caspian issues Mehdi Safari said that "Iran and Turkmenistan are in the same team." The side, which this team will take, is not going to be the one wished by Azerbaijan.
This is why the secret arming of Azerbaijan cannot leave Ashgabad indifferent.

Moscow also reacted rather seriously to the information about the secret supplies. The Russian experts do not hide their concern with the fact that the further militarization of Azerbaijan will lead to violations of agreements about quota and flank restrictions of ordinary arms in Europe. The "Nezavisimaya Gazeta" Russian newspaper recently reflected this misgiving by writing that this process may "provoke sharpening of old conflicts and emerging of new ones".

For some reason, the public opinion of Israel is very passive. The local press does not want to see that certain unbalanced initiatives of the Israeli government artificially provoke the negative attitude of series o friendly countries towards Tel-Aviv. It is noticeable that the negotiations on secret delivery of military technique to Azerbaijan took place only a month later, after the local Islamists in Baku again violated Jewish graves, destroying about 50 headstones…