Azerbaijan: Phone pranks raise terror concers

Konul Khalilova 4/20/04

A recent string of anonymous bomb threats in Baku has set Azerbaijan on edge. Though the threats proved to be hoaxes, they have prompted officials to express concern that Azerbaijan could be at risk of a terrorist attack because of Baku's participation in the US-led occupation of Iraq. Some independent analysts, however, are skeptical of the government's analysis.

The series of threats began April 1, when an anonymous caller told Azerbaijani authorities that a bomb had been planted in the Turkish Embassy. That call was followed by a threat against the Heidar Aliyev Palace, a large concert hall, at the time of an April 10 performance by the American rapper Coolio. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Subsequent calls targeted the city's subway system and, finally, on April 13, the US embassy. Other calls have warned about bomb explosions at Baku's Opera and Ballet Theater and Space TV, a privately owned television company. No explosives were found at any of the locations, but the US embassy has issued a warning to Americans in Baku to avoid using the city's subway system.

The telephone threats in Baku began immediately after militant attacks in Uzbekistan left at least 47 people dead. [For additional information see the Eurasia Insight archive] Uzbek authorities insist that an international radical Islamic terrorist network carried out the attacks in Tashkent and Baku. [For additional information see the Eurasia Insight archive].

So far, four people have been arrested in connection with the pranks. No connection between suspected terrorist groups and the detainees has been firmly established. But that hasn't stopped Azerbaijani officials and many analysts from playing up the radical Islamic terrorist threat. They suggest that Islamic militants may be targeting Azerbaijan in order to punish the country for its strategic cooperation with the United States

Sitting on the border of Iran and the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan has developed into a key US ally in the Caspian Basin. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. The late president Heidar Aliyev granted the US military over-flight rights following the September 11 terrorist attacks, and the country has since deployed about 150 troops to assist US operations in Iraq. Azerbaijani troops are also deployed in Afghanistan and Kosovo in similar peacekeeping capacities.

Security Minister Namig Abbasov suggested that the presence of Azerbaijani troops in Iraq had played a role in the Baku terror threats. One military analyst agreed. "Azerbaijan is face to face with terror," the expert, Khagani Huseinli, said. "The recent events in Spain and Uzbekistan show that terrorists are targeting not only the United States, but also its allies."

Other analysts downplay the notion that Azerbaijan is in imminent danger of a terrorist attack. Although concern is warranted about the possibility of terrorist acts in the energy-rich state, political analyst Rasim Musabeyov told EurasiaNet, it is unlikely that the Azerbaijani troop deployment in Iraq alone would spur Islamic radicals to target Baku. Madat Quliyev, head of Azerbaijan's Interpol National Central Bureau, also voiced doubts about radical Islamic involvement. In an interview with the Ekho newspaper, he indicated that if radical Islamic terrorists had been involved, they would not have issued telephone warnings about the potential bombings.

Those detained in connection with the telephone threats don't have readily evident ties to each other, or to any known radical organization. In connection with the April 13 threat against the US embassy, police have taken into custody Cavansir Sadikhov, the Turan news agency reported. Authorities suspect that Sadikhov was also responsible for making a threat against the US embassy in January.

Others arrested include a 15-year-old high school student from Baku, Nadir Aydinoglu Babayev, who is accused of threatening Space TV. Madina Mehdiyeva, a reportedly mentally ill woman from Baku, is the third alleged phone caller, while a fourth suspect, Ramiz Muradov, an ex-convict, has been charged with prank calling the police in Imisli District about an explosion in a railway hospital.

Authorities in Azerbaijan are taking no chances. The Baku subway system, as well as strategic facilities such as oil pipelines, oil refineries, water supply systems and Baku's electricity grid have all been placed under "special guard," Interior Ministry Deputy Security Chief Atas Masimov told Ekho. Reinforced police patrols have also started to monitor Baku's streets, the newspaper reported.

The possible terror connection appears to have resonated with many Baku residents, who retain vivid memories of a 1994 bombing in the Baku subway system. Rasmiyya Aliyeva, a secondary school teacher in Baku, said that the latest warning of a bomb attack stopped her from riding the subway altogether. "We don't want to live under the threat of terror again," Aliyeva said.

The bomb threats have come at a time when Azerbaijan is looking to secure strategic assistance from the United States. Baku is slotted to receive $12 million in security aid from the United States for fiscal year 2005, the highest amount for any country in the Caucasus. Georgia will receive approximately $8 million and Armenia $2 million in security assistance. The intended security funding for Azerbaijan is part of an overall $38 million US assistance package. That amount is second only to Georgia's overall aid total of $90 million.

As with Uzbekistan, human rights groups have long criticized the Bush administration for pursuing close strategic ties with Azerbaijan while overlooking political repression, media restrictions and routine human rights abuses. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Last October, some 300 Azerbaijanis were injured and more than 1,000 opposition members arrested following a crackdown on a protest against the controversial election of President Ilham Aliyev. His political opponents contend that Aliyev rigged the vote. [For background iformation see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Editor's Note: Konul Khalilova is a freelance journalist based in Baku.

Posted April 20, 2004 © Eurasianet