What interest does Azerbaijan take in UN?

PanARMENIAN.Net - With specific reference to Azerbaijan’s membership, it should be noted that here we are simply dealing with a regular rotation that has nothing to do with the political weight of this country or with its influence on global processes. In general, the UN, which presumably should have been a non-permanent member institution, with the Security Council permanent members having the right to veto, has actually become an obsolete structure with at times incomprehensible decisions from the viewpoint of common sense. It is understandable that Baku should have wasted lots of money to make its way into the UN in an attempt to shift the settlement of Karabakh conflict to New York. Members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, in which Azerbaijan is playing a major role, voted, of course, in favor of Baku, which means 57 countries. A simple numerical advantage, which has always been a major factor.

Now about the Karabakh conflict. Naturally, Baku will not be able to change the format, since the co-chair countries that have veto power, will simply root out this initiative, as well as all others presuming a change in format. In addition, Baku should take it into account that Turkey, which is a role model for Azerbaijan, used to be a non-permanent member of the UN too, but did not shine in anything. And this was the Turkey that has a more or less distinct foreign policy based not only on the Karabakh conflict. So, what interest can Azerbaijan take in the UN? Is that the oil and gas? But membership would not be necessary here, since decision-making mechanisms are completely different in this structure. By and large, Baku can derive no benefit from this dubious “superiority” over Armenia. The same could be said about Armenia, if the latter wished to become a non-permanent member of the Organization. Well, it is prestigious, it pleases vanity, but no more than that.

Besides, there is nonsense in electing Azerbaijan as non-permanent member, which, by the way, happened because no alternative was available after Slovenia withdrew its candidacy. Baku was chosen from Eastern European countries, although there is no world map on which the South Caucasus countries form part of Europe. Let us go back to the times of the collapse of socialist countries and formation of the CIS. Then, against the background of general euphoria and attempts to weaken Russia, Eastern European states and the CIS were declared “European”, i.e. in the zone of interests of Europe and OSCE, stretching from Vancouver to Vladivostok. Following this logic, the South Caucasus countries too fall under Eastern Europe, and even Kazakhstan, which has nothing to do with Europe. Anyway. In fact, the U.S. is trying to “blur” the boundaries of Europe and weaken its influence, which recently has almost come to naught. By the way, not even Washington now enjoys the influence it had under previous presidents. Promotion of “its friends” into the UN proceeds exactly from this approach. The U.S. administration is simply reluctant to put up with the Islamic threat, and Azerbaijan, in whatever secular fashion it may dress up, is still a Muslim country, and there is no guarantee that she will not choose the road of Turkey or Iran.

And, of course, Baku immediately began to speak of the exceptional victory of Azerbaijani diplomacy and President Ilham Aliyev. According to Elnur Aslanov, Head of the Department of Political Analysis and Information Support of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration, Azerbaijan’s seat in such an influential international organization as the UN Security Council will serve as a platform to bring the country’s fair stance on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution to the international community.

As for Aliyev himself, he has not yet recovered from the military parade of September 21 in Yerevan and in each of his speeches he is trying to pass the desirable for reality: “Armenians do not have the best military equipment”, “Soldiers are not properly trained”, “Priests serve in the army”, and the like. Let us hope that UN membership will sweep away the wave of arrogance in Azerbaijani officials, who will finally realize that not everything is measured by hydrocarbons and money, and that the dismal end of Gaddafi should threaten any leader sitting on oil and gas, trying to pursue an independent policy. So, Baku does not have enough reasons for optimism, but of course, if there still remain reasonable and sober heads in Azerbaijan to realize this.