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AZERBAIJANI MEDIA: THAT DRONE WASN'T OURS -- IT WAS ISRAEL'S!
EurasiaNet.org
Sept 20 2011
NY
After the Armenian government in Nagorno Karabakh said they shot down
an unmanned Azerbaijani drone last week, Baku quickly denied that
it was theirs, but didn't provide any additional information. But
then the state news agency APA came out with an explanation that,
to be charitable, we can call "elaborate." Approvingly citing a
Turkish tabloid report, APA suggests that the drone may have in fact
been Israeli:
The anonymous sources close to Turkish diplomacy claim that the
pilotless jet belongs to Israel.
The newspaper says that according to the diplomatic office, the
pilotless jet belongs to the Israeli air forces: "The jet ascended
from the military base located in Armenia or occupied Karabakh to
make the reconnaissance flight related to Iran. Thus, the occupied
lands of Azerbaijan are used not for the drug transit and as a terror
base but turned into a military base for the secret operations and
military reconnaissance". The source also said that Israel currently
holds reconnaissance operations by means of pilotless jets over Middle
Eastern countries.
If Armenia really were allowing Israeli UAVs to spy on Iran from
its territory, why would they be based in the disputed territory of
Karabakh, rather than closer to the Iranian border in Armenia proper?
And why would Armenia -- which has good relations with Iran -- allow
such a thing in the first place? As this fascinating Wikileaked cable
describes, it's in fact Azerbaijan that has a close relationship with
Israel -- based in part on their similar perception of the threat
from Iran:
Azerbaijan's relations with Israel are discreet but close. Each country
finds it easy to identify with the other's geopolitical difficulties
and both rank Iran as an existential security threat.
Israel's world-class defense industry with its relaxed attitude about
its customer base is a perfect match for Azerbaijan's substantial
defense needs that are largely left unmet by the United States, Europe
and Russia for various reasons tied to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.
Aptly described by Azerbaijani President Aliyev as being like an
iceberg, nine-tenths of it is below the surface...
The APA/Turkish tabloid report goes on to note a couple of technical
details that it says disprove the Armenian version of events: that
the photos of the wreckage suggest a crash, rather than shootdown,
and that a part identified in the wreckage suggests that it's a
different model of UAV than the Armenians claim. I've asked a few
military aviation experts to weigh in on those claims, and no one
has, perhaps wisely not wanting to get involved with such an unlikely
conspiracy theory. So I can't speak to that. But if this is the last
word from Baku on this incident, it will certainly be a curious one.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/64194
EurasiaNet.org
Sept 20 2011
NY
After the Armenian government in Nagorno Karabakh said they shot down
an unmanned Azerbaijani drone last week, Baku quickly denied that
it was theirs, but didn't provide any additional information. But
then the state news agency APA came out with an explanation that,
to be charitable, we can call "elaborate." Approvingly citing a
Turkish tabloid report, APA suggests that the drone may have in fact
been Israeli:
The anonymous sources close to Turkish diplomacy claim that the
pilotless jet belongs to Israel.
The newspaper says that according to the diplomatic office, the
pilotless jet belongs to the Israeli air forces: "The jet ascended
from the military base located in Armenia or occupied Karabakh to
make the reconnaissance flight related to Iran. Thus, the occupied
lands of Azerbaijan are used not for the drug transit and as a terror
base but turned into a military base for the secret operations and
military reconnaissance". The source also said that Israel currently
holds reconnaissance operations by means of pilotless jets over Middle
Eastern countries.
If Armenia really were allowing Israeli UAVs to spy on Iran from
its territory, why would they be based in the disputed territory of
Karabakh, rather than closer to the Iranian border in Armenia proper?
And why would Armenia -- which has good relations with Iran -- allow
such a thing in the first place? As this fascinating Wikileaked cable
describes, it's in fact Azerbaijan that has a close relationship with
Israel -- based in part on their similar perception of the threat
from Iran:
Azerbaijan's relations with Israel are discreet but close. Each country
finds it easy to identify with the other's geopolitical difficulties
and both rank Iran as an existential security threat.
Israel's world-class defense industry with its relaxed attitude about
its customer base is a perfect match for Azerbaijan's substantial
defense needs that are largely left unmet by the United States, Europe
and Russia for various reasons tied to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.
Aptly described by Azerbaijani President Aliyev as being like an
iceberg, nine-tenths of it is below the surface...
The APA/Turkish tabloid report goes on to note a couple of technical
details that it says disprove the Armenian version of events: that
the photos of the wreckage suggest a crash, rather than shootdown,
and that a part identified in the wreckage suggests that it's a
different model of UAV than the Armenians claim. I've asked a few
military aviation experts to weigh in on those claims, and no one
has, perhaps wisely not wanting to get involved with such an unlikely
conspiracy theory. So I can't speak to that. But if this is the last
word from Baku on this incident, it will certainly be a curious one.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/64194