Turkish-Kurdish tension sparks sharp debate in Azerbaijan

Rovshan Ismayilov: 10/25/07

As Turkey ponders cross-border military operations against Kurdish militants in northern Iraq, an emotional debate is unfolding in Azerbaijan over the extent to which Baku should assist Ankara.

Politicians, media analysts and the general population in Azerbaijan unambiguously support Ankara's position on dealing with the Kurdish militant threat – a reflection of the strong cultural ties between the two countries. The slogan "Turkish Brothers – We Are With You!" appears daily on the front page of Yeni Musavat newspaper, a mouthpiece for the opposition Musavat Party. Such sentiments have been echoed by the governing Yeni Azerbaijan Party, and on October 19, activists from one youth movement staged a solidarity demonstration in front of the Turkish Embassy in Baku.

Beyond the rhetoric of solidarity, however, it remains unclear what action the Azerbaijani government is willing to take to assist Turkish efforts to contain the Kurdish insurgency.

At an October 22 press briefing, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Khazar Ibrahim described Ankara's actions as "the consequence of terrorism," but stopped short of asserting that Baku will label the PKK, or Kurdistan Workers' Party, a Kurdish guerilla group that opposes Turkey, as a terrorist organization. "In this and other issues, Azerbaijan has always supported Turkey," he said. "It is known that many states and international organizations consider the PKK a terrorist organization." Baku, however, he added, does not have a policy of officially labeling organizations as terrorist groups.

Unnamed Turkish sources told the Turan news agency that "the Kurdish problem" and possible military operations in northern Iraq had been discussed in Baku during an October 18 meeting between the security service chiefs of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

The deputy foreign ministers of Turkey and Azerbaijan, Unal Chevikez and Araz Azimov respectively, reportedly held closed-door consultations on security, military and political issues the following day.

Foreign Ministry statements of support for Turkey have been accompanied by a denunciation of another event that has provoked Ankara's wrath, the approval of a non-binding resolution by the US House of Representatives' Foreign Relations Committee to recognize Ottoman Turkey's 1915 slaughter of ethnic Armenians as genocide. An October 12 Foreign Ministry statement says that Congress' rejection of the resolution would show "that the US Congress holds an open-minded position and that it is not under the pressure of ethnic lobbies." The resolution is now not expected to come up for a vote before 2008, if at all. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

One expert in Baku, however, believes the government has given inadequate support to a critical strategic ally. Recognizing the PKK as a terrorist organization, or a parliamentary resolution to support Turkey, would have been a more systematic approach, argued Elhan Shahinoglu, director of Baku's Atlas political research center. "Otherwise, the international community did not receive a clear message from Baku about its moral and political support of Turkey."

Shahinoglu, however, termed appeals by members of parliament for Azerbaijan to send troops to northern Iraq to support Turkey against the Kurds an "emotional reaction ... designed to win popular support." The proposals were brusquely dismissed by Parliamentary Speaker Ogtay Asadov as "not serious."

Turkish President Abdullah Gul's first official visit to Azerbaijan, slotted for early November, could prompt a clearer statement on the topic from Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Shahinoglu said. During a recent trip to Ankara, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad endorsed Turkey's "legitimate right" to send military forces across the Iraqi border in pursuit of Kurdish militants. Such a statement could serve as a precedent for a similar expression of support by Aliyev, he added.

Meanwhile, energy issues are on the minds of Azerbaijani officials. An October 22 report issued by the Reuters news agency and republished in Azerbaijani newspapers stated that Kurdish militants have threatened to attack Turkey's pipeline infrastructure, including the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline. Part of the pipeline lies in Kurdish-populated regions of Turkey.

While dismissing the likelihood of a successful attack on Azerbaijani territory, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ibrahim said that the threat should be taken "seriously" and interpreted as targeted against the interests of all countries, including the European Union, that receive oil from the BTC pipeline. The Foreign Ministry has asked for the international community "to express a clear position" on the reported statement.

For now, though, neither Turkey nor Azerbaijan appears unduly alarmed. In response to the threat, Turkish Ambassador to Baku Huseyn Avni Karsiioglu has asserted that Kurdish militants "do not constitute any menace to BTC's successful operation," adding that "many countries are interested in the stable functioning of the pipeline," the Novosti-Azerbaijan news agency reported on October 22.

Ilham Shaban, a Baku-based energy analyst who traveled along the BTC route in 2006, says that a special optic cable laid alongside the pipeline to register vibrations means that any attack would be "immediately" signaled, and operations could be shortly resumed.

The pipeline, which runs through Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, is expected to ship 1 million barrels of oil per day in 2008, up from 750,000 in 2007, officials say. Under existing agreements, responsibility for security along the pipeline's route lies with the three host countries.

Editor's Note: Rovshan Ismayilov is a freelance journalist based in Baku.

Posted October 25, 2007 © Eurasianet