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The Times (London), UK
February 11, 2012 Saturday
A game in which everyone has something to lose
BY: Tony Halpin
Rival powers have always jostled for influence and information in
Azerbaijan, which sits uncomfortably inside the overlapping intrigues
of Russia, Turkey and Iran. The collapse of the Soviet Union brought
the United States into the game, initially for access to Azerbaijan's
oil reserves and to secure a route through the Caucasus to Central
Asia's energy wealth. But more recently, the US focus on the country
has been on intelligence gathering in Iran.
Forty per cent of ethnic Azeris live inside northern Iran, both a
source of concern and a potential lever in Azerbaijan's often
uncomfortable relationship with its neighbour. The regime of President
Aliev is suspicious of attempts by Iran to stir up Islamic
fundamentalist passions.
Azerbaijan has spent billions of dollars of oil wealth in recent years
rearming its military. The target of all this expenditure, however, is
its neighbour Armenia, with whom it has been locked in a dispute over
the region of Nagorno-Karabakh for decades. Azerbaijan has a large
western region under Armenian occupation since a military defeat in
the mid-1990s that caused a flood of refugees into the capital, Baku.
A similar influx from northern Iran that could destabilise the
government is one reason Azerbaijan fears a Western strike against
Iran.
Russia also worries about Iranian refugees into its unstable northern
Caucasus and is eager to pick up any intelligence about American and
Israeli intentions. So Azerbaijan is once again a playground for
spies.
'The regime is suspicious of attempts by Iran to stir up Islamic passions'
From: A. Papazian
February 11, 2012 Saturday
A game in which everyone has something to lose
BY: Tony Halpin
Rival powers have always jostled for influence and information in
Azerbaijan, which sits uncomfortably inside the overlapping intrigues
of Russia, Turkey and Iran. The collapse of the Soviet Union brought
the United States into the game, initially for access to Azerbaijan's
oil reserves and to secure a route through the Caucasus to Central
Asia's energy wealth. But more recently, the US focus on the country
has been on intelligence gathering in Iran.
Forty per cent of ethnic Azeris live inside northern Iran, both a
source of concern and a potential lever in Azerbaijan's often
uncomfortable relationship with its neighbour. The regime of President
Aliev is suspicious of attempts by Iran to stir up Islamic
fundamentalist passions.
Azerbaijan has spent billions of dollars of oil wealth in recent years
rearming its military. The target of all this expenditure, however, is
its neighbour Armenia, with whom it has been locked in a dispute over
the region of Nagorno-Karabakh for decades. Azerbaijan has a large
western region under Armenian occupation since a military defeat in
the mid-1990s that caused a flood of refugees into the capital, Baku.
A similar influx from northern Iran that could destabilise the
government is one reason Azerbaijan fears a Western strike against
Iran.
Russia also worries about Iranian refugees into its unstable northern
Caucasus and is eager to pick up any intelligence about American and
Israeli intentions. So Azerbaijan is once again a playground for
spies.
'The regime is suspicious of attempts by Iran to stir up Islamic passions'
From: A. Papazian