Straight talk about Azerbaijani-Ukrainian relations
Caliber.Az's response

ANALYTICS  13 March 2023 - 12:00

Azerbaijan and Ukraine are strategic partners. At the same time, the real nature of relations between our countries and nations is much closer than what is stipulated by treaties between official Baku and Kyiv. This is a time-tested strong friendship. And one of the benefits of friendship is the right to honestly and openly discuss a range of issues of interest and concern with friends.

Why am I saying this? Because Korrespondent.az published an interview with Volodymyr Kreidenko, Head of the Ukraine-Azerbaijan inter-parliamentary friendship group of Verkhovna Rada. The Ukrainian MP said a lot of warm and correct words about the role of our country in the world, as well as the nature of relations between our countries.

He also voiced concerns of the Ukrainian side. For example, according to Kreidenko, "since the beginning of Russia's full-scale aggression, Azerbaijani high-ranking officials have not visited Ukraine to, among other things, see with their own eyes the consequences of Russian crimes and occupation, although the Ukrainian side has repeatedly invited them".

He also complained that, at the same time, senior Azerbaijani officials prefer to visit Russia regularly. He is partly right. Indeed, in the year since the start of the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, no Azerbaijani dignitaries have visited Ukraine. Personally I believe that such a visit could have taken place. At least at the level of ministerial delegations. But the absence of such visits from our side does not affect the nature of relations between Azerbaijan and Ukraine. Particularly, the first aid from Azerbaijan to Ukraine was delivered three days after the outbreak of full-scale war - on February 27, 2022. At that time, 137 tonnes of humanitarian aid - medicines and medical equipment - were delivered to Ukraine.

In the year since the beginning of the war, there have been many such instances of humanitarian aid from Azerbaijan. Dozens of generators and transformers were also delivered as humanitarian aid to various Ukrainian cities. The total amount of state aid sent by Azerbaijan to Ukraine was approximately 20 million dollars.

In addition, with organizational support from the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, and Ministries of Health, Labour, and Social Protection, nearly 90 Ukrainian children have been accommodated in various social rehabilitation centres in Azerbaijan. A secondary school named after academician Zarifa Aliyeva that was destroyed during military operations in the town of Irpen has been fully repaired by the SOCAR representative office in Ukraine. SOCAR also donated more than 200 thousand litres of fuel to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine.

Azerbaijan will continue to render assistance to Ukraine because our country knows how to be a friend, and how to offer a helping hand in difficult moments. But I cannot help asking a simple question: how much humanitarian aid did Ukraine send to Azerbaijan after the 44-day war? The answer is zero dollars. And yet during the 44-day war, Ganja, Barda and other cities were bombed by the Armenian side. Would it have been possible to send at least one plane with humanitarian aid on behalf of one of Ukraine's twin cities, or on behalf of the Ukrainian leadership? It was possible. But this was not done.

How many Azerbaijani children, and we had a million refugees and internally displaced people after the First Karabakh War and the occupation of 20 per cent of our state's territories, did Ukraine take in at the state's expense? The answer is the same - none. Yes, Azerbaijan is a strong, economically powerful state that helps other countries. And we are able to deal with the consequences of the two wars with Armenia on our own. However, friendship is not measured by the amount of financial or other assistance, but by the very fact of assistance. And at least one plane with assistance from Ukraine to Azerbaijan after the 44-day war would be an example of Ukraine's willingness to follow the friendly spirit between our countries.

Let us go further. Yes, our country's officials have visited Russia and continue to do so. Judging by the statement of the deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Kreidenko, they are not happy about this. I am forced to remind you that every country has its own geopolitical interests and challenges. Azerbaijan does not share borders with Ukraine, but it has common borders with Russia. And this has an obvious impact on the relations between our countries.

There is also the factor of Russian peacekeepers, who are temporarily deployed in the Karabakh economic region of Azerbaijan. This is also an important factor for our country. To put it simply, we have not yet fully leveled the threats facing our country ourselves. Addressing them requires time and a delicate approach. How does it work? The whole world saw the example of Azerbaijan's victory in the 44-day war which happened against the plans of all three OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries, including Russia. We defeated Armenia, which is part of the same unions as Russia (CSTO, EAEC), armed with Russian weapons. Samples of which, already mostly rusty, can be seen in Baku's Park of Military Trophies.

I must also note that the existence of relations with the Russian Federation had no impact on Azerbaijan's position towards Ukraine. Our country, as a victim of long-time occupation, supports principles and norms of international law, integrity and inviolability of borders, and equality of States. We condemn the aggression and the occupation. President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly stated his support for the territorial integrity of Ukraine.

He is not the only one. At the end of February, Azerbaijan's permanent representative to the UN, Yashar Aliyev, spoke at the 11th extraordinary special session of the General Assembly devoted to Ukraine. The diplomat said that the crisis should be resolved on the basis of the norms and principles of international law governing interstate relations, including respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the inviolability of borders.

This is Azerbaijan's clear position. We are not cutting off relations with Russia, but we openly support Ukraine. And now, let's remember something else. Armenia held 20 per cent of Azerbaijani territories under occupation for almost three decades. Did Ukraine break off relations with Armenia then? No, it developed them based on its own interests.

Let me say more. Azerbaijan, while fighting with Armenia, did not and does not have any relations with this country. And Ukraine, even after the annexation of Crimea and Russia's support for the so-called "LPR" and "DPR", did not break off relations with Russia for several years. Russia remained Ukraine's largest trade and economic partner for years, even after the seizure of Crimea. Members of the Verkhovna Rada, in one way or another connected with Russia, still reside in Ukraine. How, in these circumstances, can anyone be criticised for refusing to break off relations with Russia?!

I should also remind you that when Viktor Yanukovich was president of Ukraine, a scandal broke out between Baku and Kyiv over the sale of Ukrainian arms to Armenia. It quickly emerged that these were the affairs of Yanukovich's son and his Armenian friend. It does not matter why this happened. It is important that such a fact took place. Was there a fact of Azerbaijan selling arms to Russia? No, it was not, and could not have been.

But that's not all. The deputy of Verkhovna Rada complained that, unfortunately, the representatives of Azerbaijan did not participate in the recent voting for the resolutions of the UN General Assembly, condemning the Russian military aggression against Ukraine. Yes, they did not. And not only in this UN vote. Why? Because we have seen for ourselves the uselessness of the resolutions adopted by this organization. Four Security Council resolutions condemning Armenia and calling for the urgent withdrawal of illegal Armenian armed groups from Azerbaijani territory turned out to be empty sound.

Azerbaijan restored its territorial integrity and historical justice by military and political means in 2020 and achieved the implementation of Security Council resolutions itself. We wish the same for Ukraine. And not just in words. That is why the representatives of Azerbaijan in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) voted for a resolution demanding the creation of a special tribunal to investigate the aggression against Ukraine.

The Armenian delegation to the PACE did not take part in the vote on the resolution. However, the Azerbaijani MP Erkin Gadirli spoke at the PACE about the Russian aggression and ended his speech with the phrase: "Glory to Ukraine!". But has there been at least one case in PACE when a deputy from Ukraine talked about the military aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan, about genocide in Khojaly, about Aghdam turned into "Hiroshima of Caucasus", about the bombardment of our cities during the 44-day war? Not at all.

Nor was there a phrase "Glory to Azerbaijan!" from a Ukrainian MP at PACE. There was, however, something else. In 2017, Ukrainian MPs who took part in the PACE debate on the anti-Azerbaijani resolution voted against the official Baku. There were four of them. Then some of them excused themselves. But the fact is that this was also in the relations between our countries. And Azerbaijan, despite all that, is and will be supporting Ukraine in every possible way. We hope for friendly thanks, but even more for the understanding of the challenges and dangers facing our country.

Akbar Hasanov

Caliber.Az