Iran the US and Azerbaijan

Wednesday, December 5, 2012 Iran, the U.S. and Azerbaijan: the Land of Fire By Stanley A. Weiss LONDON -- In December 1991, shortly after the fall of the Council. Soviet Union, United States Secretary of State James Baker gave a speech at Princeton University on the relationship between the One of the most surprising aspects of Azerbaijan -- which is 85 U.S. and the "Newly Independent States" of the former USSR. percent Shi'ite Muslim -- is its close alliance with Israel. Prime In his remarks, Baker took aim at a curious target: the tiny Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited during his first term in Republic of Azerbaijan -- about the size of the state of Maine -- office, in 1997, and the partnership has only deepened since -- which Baker described as undeserving of American recognition particularly as long-time Israeli ally Turkey has turned its back until it accepted a long list of conditions the U.S. had required of on Tel Aviv. Israel is now the second-largest importer of few other nations. Soviet watchers saw it as the work of the U.S. Azerbaijani oil, and with the recent signing of a $1.6 billion lobby of Azerbaijan's neighbor and sworn enemy, Armenia, to arms agreement, the military relationship between the two blacklist the ancient nation in the Caucuses region on the countries has raised eyebrows. Earlier this year, Iran accused Caspian Sea. Azerbaijan of supporting anti-Iranian activity by Israel's Mossad, while Azerbaijan charged 22 suspects in an Iranian plot But it proved to be the shortest blacklist in history. On Christmas to attack the Israeli embassy in Baku. In March, an explosive Day, 1991, the USSR ceased to exist and the U.S. recognized 12 Foreign Policy article reported Israeli plans to potentially -- and former Soviet states, including Azerbaijan. A few months later, unilaterally -- strike Iran's nuclear facilities using Azerbaijani Baker became the first U.S. Secretary of State to tour the region, bases for reconnaissance, refueling and rescue operations. and officially resumed diplomatic relations with the Azerbaijanis for the first time since 1918. Iran is displeased that its northern neighbor and sworn enemy are drawing closer together. But to Azerbaijan's President Ilham Whatever concerns Washington harbored quickly gave way to a Aliyev, that's partly the point. Ever since the 1828 Treaty of strategic reality. Azerbaijan is located, as journalist Thomas Turkmenchay split the Azeri homeland between Imperial Russia Golz has written, in the "devil's playground -- on top of one of and the Persian Empire without the consent of the Azeri people, the greatest ethnic, religious, and political fault lines in the both sides have struggled for cultural supremacy. Today, 20 world... the place where the semi-East meets the semi-West, million Azeris live in Iran, to Azerbaijan's eight million. Iran where Russia meets Iran and Turkey, and where Orthodox broadcasts Azeri language TV into Azerbaijan, while some Azeri Christianity abuts not simply Islam but both the Sunni and officials want to rename Azerbaijan "Northern Azerbaijan," Shi'ite varieties of it." Throw in the fact that Muslim-majority implicitly laying claim to Northern Iran. A U.S. Congressman Azerbaijan is a staunch ally of Israel, a secular counterweight to went so far this year as to propose legislation calling upon Iran Iran and an increasingly critical exporter of oil and natural gas, to give its Azeri population the right to vote on which country it and its importance to U.S. national security seems clear -- at wants to belong to. least, for every president until now. With Iran isolated internationally, Azerbaijan "is coming to Under President Bill Clinton, the U.S. deepened the relationship, relish its role as the region's anti-Iran." Women in downtown signing a $10 billion investment contract with Azerbaijan to Baku stroll, heads uncovered, into Versace stores, and edgy pop develop its oil fields. After the attacks of 9/11, President George stars like Jennifer Lopez and Rihanna have recently sold out W. Bush broadened the relationship to include military collabo- concerts. Angered by what it considered a "gay pride parade," ration, with Azerbaijan providing its airspace for the U.S. Iran briefly recalled its ambassador after Azerbaijan hosted this invasion of Iraq, while becoming the first Muslim nation to send year's provocative Eurovision Awards. its soldiers to fight alongside U.S. troops. When I was in Baku in 2008, one U.S. diplomat told me that Azerbaijan was "central Meanwhile, as sanctions squeeze Tehran, Azerbaijan produced to all we're trying to do in this part of the world." Then-U.S. nearly 100,000 barrels of oil and 15 billion cubic meters of Ambassador Anne Derse described it to me as "Houston on the natural gas last year, much of which it exported to European Caspian" -- the indispensable link to reducing European energy countries eager for reliable energy sources. When the Shah independence on Moscow, home to the only pipelines exporting Deniz II fields come online in the next five years, Azerbaijan Caspian oil and gas that bypass Russia altogether. will likely double its natural gas production, further enhancing its influence with Europe. But since President Barack Obama has taken office, "a process of alienation has developed," as scholar and regional expert, It's true that, like many former Soviet states and U.S. allies, Vladimir Socor, has said. The Obama administration did not Azerbaijan still struggles with civil liberties, human rights and invite Azerbaijan to attend the 2010 Nuclear Summit in Wash- fundamental freedoms -- issues Secretary of State Hillary ington, which included officials from Armenia and Georgia -- Clinton raised with President Aliyev during a trip to Baku last and didn't appoint an ambassador for more than a year. At one June, while announcing that "the U.S. remains strongly commit- point, the administration came out in support of normalizing ted to working with the government and people (of Azerbaijan)." Armenian-Turkish relations, without also referencing the ongoing conflict over the Azerbaijan territory of Nagorno- The Obama Administration needs to do more than that. It should Karabakh -- the Armenian-majority region occupied by Armenia explore whether a combination of aid, incentives and diplomacy since the two nations fought a war over the area in the early could help resolve Azerbaijan's festering conflict with Armenia 1990s. over Nagorno-Karabakh. It should add a small U.S. ground presence to demonstrate its commitment to the country's As one Turkish columnist noted, "It's no secret that Obama's security, while pushing for greater NATO cooperation with presidency has marked a new approach to the Caucuses, and that Azerbaijan. And, it should assist the EU in securing the Nabucco this has damaged U.S.-Azerbaijan relations." Dr. Elkhan West natural gas pipeline, which will ensure European energy Nuriyev, the former director of the Center for Strategic Studies security, enrich Azerbaijan and bring them closer to the West. under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, puts it more bluntly: "The U.S. lacks any coherent vision of where and how Home to more than half of the world's mud volcanoes, with Azerbaijan fits into a broader American strategic vision." flames that occasionally erupt hundreds of feet into the sky, "Azerbaijan" literally translates to the "Land of Fire." In the Which is odd because, in the rest of the world, Azerbaijan's role tinderbox that is the Caspian Region and the Middle East, a grows -- exemplified a year ago when it became one of five stronger U.S.-Azerbaijan partnership might help assure that countries elected by the 193 member-nations of the United cooler heads prevail. Nations to serve as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Stanley A. Weiss is Founding Chairman of Business Executives for National Security, a nonpartisan organization based in Washington. This is a personal comment. .

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