Pursuing NATO Integration

Azeri officials affirm their commitment to the alliance, although a professional, civilian-administered military is still a long way off. From EurasiaNet. by Khazri Bakinsky and Mina Muradova 20 March 2007 Azerbaijan is pressing ahead with plans to overhaul the country’s armed forces in order to bring them up to North Atlantic Treaty Organization standards. The pace of reforms will be gradual, according to senior government officials, who are quick to point out that Azerbaijan remains locked in an unresolved conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh territory.

The deputy speaker of the Azeri parliament, Ziafarat Asgarov, indicated that the legislature would adopt a new strategic doctrine by mid-2007, the Ayna newspaper reported. A draft of the doctrine is on the agenda for parliament’s spring session, he added. In the meantime, Baku has agreed to increase the number of Azeri troops serving with NATO in Afghanistan, according to Robert Simmons, the special representative of the NATO Secretary General for the South Caucasus and Central Asia. As of 2005, Azerbaijan had 22 troops in Afghanistan, according to NATO figures.

President Ilham Aliev has named NATO integration as a top foreign policy priority for Azerbaijan. The country’s participation in the alliance’s Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP), a set of requirements that must be met by alliance candidate-members, is scheduled to end in 2007. Azeri officials, who have already started work on plans for the next two-year slot of Azerbaijan’s IPAP, have indicated that they want to continue with the program.

A second IPAP, running from 2007 to 2009, is expected to be signed with Azerbaijan soon, said Simmons, who held consultations in Baku on 15 March with Defense Minister Safar Abiev. Azerbaijan began its IPAP program in 2005. An evaluation of the program’s initial two years was made in February. Simmons expressed satisfaction with Azerbaijan’s military reform process. Azerbaijan is a reliable NATO partner and its cooperation with the alliance is developing successfully, the APA news agency quoted Simmons as saying.

Turkey, a NATO member with strong cultural ties to Azerbaijan, is ready to act as an expediter of Baku’s reform process. A high-level military commission is expected to be set up to coordinate bilateral military cooperation, the Anatolia news agency reported on 1 March. Particular emphasis will be put on training, an area that General Ergin Saygun, deputy chief of the Turkish general staff, has described as the most important part of the cooperation between the two states. Turkey also plans to help Azerbaijan establish an army company that meets NATO standards, the general said during a trip to Azerbaijan in late February.

Several Turkish generals are planning to travel to Azerbaijan in late April on an inspection tour, after which they will make initial recommendations on Azeri structural reforms, the News of Azerbaijan news agency quoted Selami Chinbat, the Turkish embassy’s military attaché in Baku, as saying.

An independent military expert, Ismet Abbasova, expressed hope that the Aliev administration’s desire to develop closer ties with NATO could stimulate broad reforms in Azerbaijan. "I hope there will be development in the education system because the lack of skilled military staff indicates that the Azeri army is not up to modern standards," she said.

If all goes according to the government’s plan, the country’s armed forces would meet NATO standards by 2015. The changeover, however, will not come easily, cautioned Zahid Oruj, a pro-administration member of parliament who holds an influential position on the legislature’s Defense and Security Committee. "[T]aking into account that military reforms are more complicated than economic and political [reforms], and many officers have a Soviet education, it will take time," he noted.

The "frozen conflict" with Armenia over the disputed breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh could also hamper plans to create a purely professional army, commented Lieutenant General Vahid Aliev, a military aide to President Aliev. "Since Azerbaijan is at war right now, it would not be right to transform the entire army into a professional one," General Aliev told the APA news agency in late 2006.

Oruj said the government is currently "seriously" working on plans to promote civilian leadership of the Defense Ministry. At the same time, he downplayed media speculation that a civilian would be named as defense minister any time soon. "We did not undertake a commitment on this because the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan has not ended yet," he said. A Defense Ministry spokesperson said that he has no information about which ministry posts might be assigned to civilians.

Despite probable delays in establishing a professional, civilian-administered military, Oruj affirms that Baku’s commitment to NATO stands firm. "We do all this work because our national interests demand it, and it is our own choice to transition to NATO standards."

Other top government officials are more cautious. During a February interview with the German television channel Deutsche Welle, President Aliev hinted that Azerbaijan's eventual membership in NATO should not be considered a foregone conclusion. "What will be the result of this partnership, time alone will show," the Azeri president said.