Interview by Ramin Naziyev, exclusively to VK
Independent political expert, professor of “The Caucasus” Institute, Farhad Mehtiyev, told VK correspondent about the results of Azerbaijan’s political efforts of the year.
- How did Russia and Azerbaijan get along this year?
- Azerbaijan needs good relations with Russia, not only because it balances Azerbaijan’s western policies. Russia is our neighbor and one of the region’s major powers. Azerbaijan can’t formulate its foreign policy without at least good-neighbourly relations with Russia. Russia shouldn’t see Azerbaijan as its rival or as a threat. And good relations should be supported not only at the highest level; the relations should be supported at the level of the two countries’ civic communities, universities, media and scientific institutions. I think the Russian-Azeri Humanitarian Forums held last year contributed greatly to the promotion of good relations between our peoples.
Azerbaijan aspires to integrate with the West, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the political aspect of integration. Azerbaijan is more interested in adopting the values, the way of life, etc. But Baku has never been a conductor of the West’s political will in the region, we have interests of our own and we don’t plan to threaten Russia’s interests.
The last year didn’t leave any unresolved issues between Russia and Azerbaijan. Even the gas issue didn’t end up in a conflict: Russia didn’t want Azerbaijan to export gas to the EU on its own and wanted to buy out the whole volume of Azeri exported gas, but now Russia is simply unable to buy all the gas it intended.
There are some Trans-Caspian Pipeline issues remaining, as Russia is against the Azeri and Turkmen position in this question, but I don’t think this issue would have serious negative consequences for Russian-Azeri relations.
As for the increase in rent for the Gabala Radar Station, the price remains nominal. The yearly rent used to be 7 million dollars, and in 2012 Azerbaijan increased the rent to 15 million dollars. For countries like Russia or Azerbaijan such a sum is insignificant. But certain ecological programs must be carried out in the Gabala region, as the population is suffering from various health conditions allegedly caused by the station’s radiation. If this is true, Azerbaijan will have to resettle the people, and that is a costly enterprise.
- And what about Azerbaijani-Turkish relations?
- The two countries’ partnership is a strategic one and it has been developing at the usual pace. We created a strategic council; another important achievement of the past year is the agreement on the Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline. Prior to this the gas issue was unresolved and thus created a negative nuance in our countries’ relations, but now it is resolved completely. Azerbaijani investments in Turkey increased in 2011. SOCAR bought the Turkish Petkim oil company and plans to invest 5 billion dollars on construction of an oil-refinery in Izmir. So it is unlikely that a neighbour would turn their back on a neighbour if they invest in each other’s economy. I think that the recent investments of Azerbaijan show that Baku trusts Ankara much more now.
The Trans-Anatolian Pipeline would bring major benefits to Azerbaijan, even though it possesses only a 10% stock share in the project (the main shareholders are BP and Statoil). But even this share of income and control over the pipeline makes Azerbaijan an even more important player in the region.
Of course, we will provide only 5% of the gas Europe requires, but for some countries, like Greece, Bulgaria and Southern Europe in general, this figure is pretty significant.
- What social and political events of the past year would you name among the most important ones for Azerbaijan?
- No radical changes took place in Azerbaijan last year. One could stress the deterioration in relations with Iran, but that was inevitable. Azerbaijan finds itself between two allies – Russia and Iran – and if it wants to conduct independent foreign policy, it inevitably spoils its relations with Iran. The relations could have been ruined long ago, but Azerbaijan waited, conducting a very cautious policy. Azeri officials condemned Iran’s information policy towards our country only recently, even though Iranian media have been conducting an anti-Azeri campaign for 3 or 4 years now.
Another memorable event was Azerbaijan’s victory in the Eurovision song contest. This year’s Eurovision will be held in Baku, and many Europeans will come to Azerbaijan and learn a lot about our country. This victory proved that Azerbaijan is part of the European family. By the way, during the latest summit of the ‘Eastern Partnership’ program, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia were officially included in the ‘Eastern Europe’ group of states. This is very good for Azerbaijan, as we orient ourselves to adopt European values.
