Azerbaijan - NATO: yesterday, today, tomorrow Commitment to cooperation

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg paid a visit first to Azerbaijan as part of his tour to the South Caucasus.

Stoltenberg said that this is his first visit to Baku as NATO secretary general, but he previously visited Azerbaijan several times when he served as Norway's energy minister. The NATO secretary general has the opportunity to visit Baku again this year. After all, the Azerbaijani President invited him to the COP29 conference, which will be held in the capital of Azerbaijan - Baku.

During a joint press conference with the Azerbaijani President, Stoltenberg emphasised that NATO has long-term relations with Azerbaijan. Indeed, May 4, 1994 is the date of the beginning of partnership relations between Azerbaijan and NATO when Baku joined the NATO Partnership for Peace (PfP) programme. The Azerbaijani peacekeeping forces were formed in January 1997. The same year, an Azerbaijani representative office was opened at NATO headquarters in Brussels and Baku joined NATO's Planning and Review Process.

“NATO Week” was held in Baku for the first time in NATO's history on July 14–19, 2004. NATO Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy Jean Fournet and other high-level representatives took part in it. As part of the week, a meeting of the NATO Science Committee, as well as several working seminars related to science were held in Baku. Round tables were organised and another NATO summer school was held.

Stoltenberg met with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and Azerbaijani Defence Minister, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov on March 18. Afterwards, the NATO secretary general left for Georgia, where he will meet with Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili and Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze. After Georgia, he will visit Armenia. Stoltenberg will meet with Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturyan and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Yerevan.

The NATO secretary general is expected to discuss in Yerevan the prospects for Armenia’s withdrawal from the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) and the expansion of Armenia’s partnership programmes with the NATO. Time will show the result. The goals which Stoltenberg intends to voice in Armenia are a very difficult task to achieve. Pashinyan said on March 12 that Armenia would leave the CSTO if representatives of the organisation did not answer the questions raised by Yerevan. However, we have repeatedly noticed that the Armenian leaders refute their own statements easily.

In any case, the NATO secretary general intends to visit Yerevan to understand Armenia’s readiness to leave the CSTO. It is absolutely obvious that there is a huge distance between Armenia’s withdrawal from the CSTO and its joining NATO. There are many friends of Azerbaijan in NATO, first of all, fraternal Türkiye, which can veto Armenia's joining NATO. So, Armenia’s future directly depends on its ability to improve relations with Azerbaijan and Türkiye.

Moreover, it is appropriate to recall the experience of Georgia, which Stoltenberg will also visit. Back in 2006, the Georgian parliament voted unanimously for the integration of Georgia into NATO. Georgia, simultaneously with the presidential elections, held a referendum on January 5, 2008, as a result of which 77 per cent of Georgian voters stood for joining NATO. However, as we see, Georgia has not been admitted to NATO yet.

NATO is intensifying cooperation with Georgia in such spheres as crisis management, cybersecurity, military engineering and secure communications.

“NATO will continue supporting you while you work to realise these aspirations,” Stoltenberg said at a recent meeting with Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze in Brussels on February 24.

NATO supports Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Baku’s position is the same. The ninth trilateral meeting of the Azerbaijani, Turkish and Georgian foreign ministers has been recently held. As a result of the meeting, the foreign ministers of the three countries signed the Baku Declaration, which outlines the respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia and Azerbaijan.

A Declaration was adopted back in January 1994, which condemned “the use of force to occupy territories and show disrespect for the territorial integrity, independence and sovereignty of the South Caucasus countries, which is an important element in establishing peace, stability and cooperation in the region”. As a result, Azerbaijan had to restore its territorial integrity, because Armenia did not submit to the requirements of the NATO Declaration and four resolutions of the General Assembly and the UN Security Council.

Achieving this historical goal was possible thanks, first of all, to the reforms in the Azerbaijani Armed Forces. Today, the Azerbaijani army is the most combat-ready, strong army in the entire South Caucasus and one of the strongest armies in the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and NATO knows this very well. The Azerbaijani army is still being strengthened.

“We are modernising our defence potential, and today we can demonstrate a high level of professionalism,” Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said. Indeed, expenditures on defence and national security in the Azerbaijani state budget for 2024 reach 6.421 billion manats ($3.777 billion at the current exchange rate). Thus, Azerbaijan is an absolute leader in the region. The total military expenditures of Armenia and Georgia are less compared to the military expenditures of Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan stands for peace.

“Now, as a result of the restoration of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, I think and hope that we are very close to a breakthrough. This will be a very serious geopolitical change in the Caucasus. This will mean that peace, the long-awaited peace, will be established in the Caucasus,” Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said.

The Azerbaijani President repeatedly emphasised the importance of the speedy establishment of peace in our region. Is Armenia ready for peace? Unfortunately, practice shows that the Armenian leadership only makes statements about peace without taking practical steps in this sphere. We can only hope that as a result of the NATO secretary general’s visit to Yerevan, we will see Armenia’s concrete steps towards peace. However, Azerbaijan is ready for any developments.

Akbar Hasanov