Orhan Sattarov, director of the European Bureau of "Vestnik Kavkaza"
A recent working visit of the President of Azerbaijan to Germany, after which Ilham Aliyev went to Davos, Switzerland, has left a lot of information to think about. For obvious reasons, many details of the negotiations and agreements were reached "behind closed doors". However, some results of the visit are evident today.
First, the working visit of President Aliyev to Berlin was initiated by the German Chancellor, and had been prepared in the shortest possible time. So Germany acted as the party which initiated a meeting with the Azerbaijani leader. What did the Germans so urgently need from Baku?
It is known that Germany, like the rest of the EU, is in a violent confrontation with Russia and attaches great importance to alternative sources of energy supplies. Angela Merkel said this at the press conference following the visit of Ilham Aliyev. It is noteworthy that in her statement, Merkel, speaking about the growing importance of Azerbaijan as a partner in Europe, did not dissemble and made the initial focus on the presence of the country's oil and gas reserves, as well as the "Southern Energy Corridor" project. In this context Merkel also stressed the possible role of German companies in the diversification of the Azerbaijani economy.
The second component of the visit, according to Merkel, is the current geopolitical situation of Azerbaijan and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Finally, the third component is the internal political situation in Azerbaijan, including human rights issues. In particular, the German Chancellor raised the topic of the functioning in the country of various German foundations and organizations on a solid legal basis.
It is quite symbolic that the background to the Berlin visit of Ilham Aliyev was the sensational statement by the head of "Gazprom", Alexey Miller, about the planned rejection of the transit of Russian gas to the European Union through Ukraine. To confirm his words, the head of "Gazprom" a few days ago set a deadline for stopping the flow of gas through Ukraine (2019). In the same year, President Aliyev said that the Trans Adriatic Pipeline project will be launched, through which gas from the Caspian basin will be delivered to Europe. At the same time, Russia is planning to build its own "Turkish Stream" instead of "South Stream", the implementation of which until the last minute was inhibited by Brussels. It would seem that the energy interests of Azerbaijan and Russia are intersecting again, but Moscow and Baku, despite this, have embarked on an active policy of rapprochement.Obviously, in this regard, the EU, which has not come to its senses after Vladimir Putin's "Turkish gas combination", had questions for Ilham Aliyev. The formation of a Moscow-Baku-Ankara energy triangle cannot buf worry the Europeans, especially taking into account the close relationship and mutual sympathy between the leaders of all three countries.
The European Union has joined in with an uncompromising geopolitical confrontation with Russia, seeking to win the immediate surroundings of Russia to its side. In the case of Moldova and Georgia, where the authorities are openly pro-Western forces and where quite a clear Atlantic foreign policy vector is marked, this problem can be solved relatively easily. Azerbaijan, which has much greater economic stability and, as a consequence, real sovereignty, is a hard nut to crack for the West. Baku is not going to sacrifice its relations with Moscow in favor of third countries, while the West has turned a blind eye itself to the occupation of Azerbaijani lands by Armenia.
The questions that German media posed to President Aliyev are quite revealing (as a rule, questions are agreed with the protocol service of the Chancellor). A journalist of public television ZDF asked the president of Azerbaijan how realistic the self-restoration of territorial integrity of Ukraine seems to him. And why should the President of Azerbaijan respond to such a question - the president of the country which doesn't even have a common border with Ukraine? What is this, if not merely a veiled attempt to provoke a head of state to anti-Russian statements?
However, this number did not work with graduate of Moscow State University Aliyev. Confirming Azerbaijan's commitment to the principle of territorial integrity, the President of Azerbaijan led the conversation in another direction: all conflicts that result in violations of the territorial integrity of states must be resolved by a unified approach - this is what Azerbaijan expects from the West. After this response, the Western partners apparently weren't satisfied, and a German journalist seems to have been given the command "bite" and critical issues related to the human rights situation in Azerbaijan in the western interpretation fell on the president. At the same time, the German journalists, unceremoniously violating the regulations of the press conference (originally it was negotiated that each of the leaders were to be asked two questions), asked for two or even three items at a time. This was done with the tacit consent of the moderator.
But let us return to the essence of the question: Is Germany ready for a common approach to conflicts involving the violation of the territorial integrity of states? Obviously not. At least, as long as Karabakh separatists such as "NKR Parliamentary Speaker" Ashot Gulian quietly enter the territory of Germany, hold their conference in Berlin with the participation of German experts, and even meet here with members of the Bundestag. Can you imagine a similar conference being held in Berlin by the leaders of the "DPR" and the "LPR"? At best, they would be turned back from the German border, and at worst, would be handed over to the Kiev authorities.
So the EU doesn't even think of demonstrating a unified approach to conflicts that violate territorial integrity. The principle of territorial integrity in different situations is becoming a priority for the European Union to a greater or lesser extent, only according to their own interests. Answering the question of an Azerbaijani journalist about why Germany does not impose sanctions against Armenia, which has occupied Azerbaijani territories, and that maybe this is a manifestation of double standards, Angela Merkel "passed the buck" to Russia. "Russia plays an important role in this conflict. Armenia and Russia stick to a common position on this issue, so you can assume that we have a unified approach," Merkel said.
As Vestnik Kavkaza noted, the Bundeskanzler's answer does not hold any water, because even before the Ukrainian events (even after the August war with Georgia) Europeans were very favorable to the Kremlin's role in the conflict, and didn't skimp, for example, to praise Dmitry Medvedev during his active mediation mission. But at this stage, when Russia and the West are in a state of confrontation, the position of Berlin has changed. Now, according to Merkel, Russia and Azerbaijan are almost opposing sides of the conflict. What is this, if not another attempt to pit Baku against Moscow? Finally, if this is the case, then how will Frau Merkel explain the annual allocation of financial assistance of tens of millions of dollars to the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh regime from the United States's budget, not Russia's? Is it possible to imagine that the US has provided direct financial assistance to Abkhazia, South Ossetia, the "DPR" or "LPR"? In the case of the Karabakh separatists, it happens the other way around, as the West has significant interests in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and uses it (as well as other centers of power) as a lever of pressure on both sides of the conflict - Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Taking a clear position of uncompromising respect for international law in the conflict, the West at the same time was "eliminated" from the struggle for political influence in Armenia. And there is no question that the EU and the United States persist in their attempts to win Yerevan over to their side. Their barely disguised support for inciting anti-Russian sentiments after the events in Gyumri is clear proof of this fact. Besides, we should not forget that the Armenian nationalists are in great favor in the West, because they played a significant role in destabilizing the political situation in the USSR under Mikhail Gorbachev, which ultimately led to the "greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century."
In such circumstances, under the pretext of Ukrainian sanctions already introduced against Russia, Germany is trying to justify the lack of political will to impose sanctions against Armenia - a sovereign (at least formally) state, whose troops, according to the Government of Germany (!), are located in Nagorno-Karabakh and the other surrounding occupied territories of Azerbaijan.
As Angela Merkel noted, Azerbaijan, as a member of the "Eastern Partnership", does not aspire to EU membership - such a model of cooperation, according to the Chancellor, was the starting point of the "Eastern Partnership".Yes, unlike Kiev, Tbilisi and Chisinau, self-contained Baku is not going to mark time in the waiting room of the EU. The central problem of the country is the occupation of one fifth of its territory. And in its relations with Washington, Brussels, Berlin and Moscow, Azerbaijan gives top priority to a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in accordance with their own national interests and on the basis of international law, which in this case means the same basic principles of settlement. And Baku will take into account this factor while building energy and political relations with Germany and the West in general, and with all the other partners.
