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BAKU: Paper warns of row with Georgia over military aid to Armenia

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  • BAKU: Paper warns of row with Georgia over military aid to Armenia

    Azeri paper warns of row with Georgia over military aid to Armenia

    Zerkalo, Baku
    2 Feb 05


    Excerpt from C. Sumarinli and M. Yasaroglu report by Azerbaijani
    newspaper Zerkalo on 2 February headlined "A military scandal is
    brewing between Georgia and Azerbaijan" an subheaded "If Tbilisi
    continues repairing Armenian tanks, this issue will be discussed at a
    parliament session"

    Zerkalo has repeatedly written about Georgia's inconsistent and more
    than strange policy towards Azerbaijan. In some issues, our Georgian
    neighbours pretend that they are giving us all-out support, but do
    quite the opposite in other cases.

    The information we have discovered may trigger a new incident between
    the two countries' authorities as it is directly related to
    Azerbaijan's interests in the Karabakh issue. The point is that
    [Russia's] Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported yesterday that the Tbilisi
    tank repairing plant of the Group of Russian Troops in the
    Transcaucasus [GRTT], which is the only plant of the sort in the South
    Caucasus, has been handed over to the Georgian Defence Ministry.
    [Passage omitted: details of the Nezavisimaya Gazeta report]

    In a word, no problem is anticipated between the Georgian and Russian
    defence ministries. However, problems may arise with Azerbaijan.

    The point is that until recently, not only Russian and Georgian tanks,
    but also armoured vehicles of the Armenian army were repaired in
    Tbilisi. Let us recall that several years ago, official Baku accused
    Georgia of giving military aid to unfriendly Yerevan. Official Baku
    turned down the Georgian and GRTT offer to provide the Azerbaijani
    army with the same services.

    What will neighbouring Georgia do now that it owns the plant? And one
    should not forget that Georgia is Azerbaijan's strategic partner.
    [Passage omitted: details of the Nezavisimaya Gazeta report]

    Interestingly, Azerbaijan's Defence Ministry displayed "enviable
    awareness" of the issue. To put it simply, the Azerbaijani Defence
    Ministry has no idea about this at all. At least this is what Col
    Ramiz Malikov, head of the Defence Ministry's press office, told our
    Zerkalo correspondent.

    "I have no idea about this information and that's why I cannot say
    anything specific," he said.

    Despite the spartan calm of the head of the Defence Ministry press
    office, a member of the parliament's standing commission for defence
    and national security, Alimammad Nuriyev, views this issue as quite
    serious. He says that official Baku should focus on the issue,
    "carefully study it and express its concern to the Georgian side".

    Nuriyev believes that the handover of the tank repairing plant to
    Georgia has fundamentally changed the situation. Given the fact that
    Russia and Armenia are military and strategic partners, the repairing
    of Armenian military hard ware at the Georgian plant is a logical
    reality, which, however, is not in Azerbaijan's interests. But if the
    situation has changed in favour of Georgia, official Tbilisi simply
    has to take into account the interests of Baku, which is its strategic
    partner. What's more, like Azerbaijan, Georgia has chosen to integrate
    into NATO.

    "Given all these factors, one should not view normally the fact that
    Georgia is repairing Armenian military hardware," Nuriyev said. He
    voiced his hope that the Azerbaijani government will express its
    position on the issue.

    Nuriyev believes that if the situation develops in the direction that
    goes against Azerbaijan's interests, the issue will be raised at the
    Azerbaijani parliament. He said Azerbaijan has many levers to pressure
    Georgia, and the Georgian side understands this. However, he refused
    to elaborate on this, as Azerbaijan has not announced its official
    position.

    In turn, independent military expert Col-Lt Uzeyir Cafarov said that
    official Tbilisi should take account of Azerbaijan's interests and,
    most importantly, of the fact that we are at war with Armenia. Georgia
    should limit its military cooperation with Armenia. Otherwise, the
    expert said, tensions may emerge in Azerbaijani-Georgian relations in
    the near future.

    Cafarov is sure that Armenia will continue having its military
    hardware repaired at that plant for a long time. However, sooner or
    later official Tbilisi will have to take into account Azerbaijan's
    interest, he said.

    The expert thinks that it is of benefit to Azerbaijan to have its
    tanks repaired at this plant instead of Armenia. As a person who used
    to serve in Georgia, he also noted the high professionalism of the
    plant's staff in this sphere. Many, including Azerbaijan, have
    refused the services of the plant, as a result of which the capacity
    of the plant has halved.

    "I think that the plant will be upgraded to modern international
    standards with the help of NATO. This will be possible in three or
    four years. It will be good if Azerbaijan also used the services of
    this plant," he said. [Passage omitted: minor details]
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