Azerbaijan–Ichkeria relations

Azerbaijan	Chechnya

The relations between Azerbaijan and Chechen republic of Ichkeria have their roots in the dissolution of the Soviet Union. During this time, Azerbaijan withdrew from the Soviet Union, while Chechen republic of Ichkeria declared independence from the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, although it was internationally unrecognized.

History

The relations between the Chechen republic of Ichkeria and Azerbaijan largely began in 1992. In early 1992, Abulfaz Elchibey, a leader of the Azerbaijani Popular Front Party, visited Grozny and established ties with the Chechen president Dzokhar Dudayev. ^[1] In June 1992, Abulfaz Elchibey was elected as the president of Azerbaijan. 300 Chechen volunteers recruited in Grozny arrived to Azerbaijan in early 1992 to participate in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War against Armenia. According to Azerbaijani Colonel Azer Rustamov, in 1992, "hundreds of Chechen volunteers rendered us invaluable help in these battles led by Shamil Basayev and Salman Raduyev". ^[2] Basayev was said to be one of the last fighters to leave Shusha (see Capture of Shusha). Chechen volunteers largely withdrew in 1993. Despite this cooperation, in an interview to Azerbaijani channel ANS in 2000, Basayev recalled the Azerbaijani army as disorganized and irresponsible during the battle of Shusha, and stated that he was disappointed with the Nagorno-Karabakh War because he "arrived to participate in Jihad" but did not find support for this idea among Azerbaijanis. ^[1]

In February 1993, an aide of President of Chechen republic of Ichkeria on external economic issues Ruslan Outsiev and his brother Nazarbek were murdered in London. According to British investigation, the killers were acting on the orders of Armenian security services. ^[3] The stated objective of brothers in the Great Britain was to commission a UK firm to print banknotes, stamps, passports and other documentation for Chechen republic of Ichkeria. However, their activities also involved opening several accounts, setting up overseas accounts, forming companies and negotiating various deals in oil and oil franchises. Among their objectives was also to acquire 2,000 ground-to-air Stinger missiles for Azerbaijan. ^{[3] [4] [5]} In May 1994, a sister-in-law of Armenian assassin was shot in an apparent revenge attack. ^{[6] [7]}

Despite these ties, the idea of North Caucasian unity often found Chechens and Azerbaijanis in disagreement on the issue of Lezgins in Azerbaijan. As such, the Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus, which mainly consisted of Chechens and propagated the idea of North Caucasian confederation, was frequently used against Azerbaijan due to its focus on North Caucasians. Jokhar Dudayev too openly used "Lezgin card" when he stated in an interview that if Azerbaijan agreed on a treaty on military cooperation with Chechnya, "the Lezgin issue would not be included on the agenda", as in that case he would pursue the Lezgins to cooperate with both Azerbaijan and Chechnya. Thus, it made conditional for Azerbaijan to have a good relation with Chechnya, or otherwise it would face the Lezgin problem. ^[8]

As for Azerbaijan's role in the Chechen conflict during Elchibey, in 1993, Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia proposed a resolution to support Chechnya in Organisation of the Islamic Conference, although it was rejected by heads of other member states. ^[9]

During First Chechen War, new Azerbaijani president Heydar Aliyev stated that "Chechnya is an internal issue of Russia" and did not support Chechens in order to avoid worsening relations with Russia. ^[10] However, Azerbaijan often served as a safe haven for Chechen secessionists, which led to Russian government passing a resolution "On measures for a temporary prevention of border crossings with Azerbaijan and Georgia" seven days after the outbreak of the First Chechen War, on 19 December 1994. ^[11] This decision was also implemented to prevent Azerbaijani and Turkish volunteers from arriving to Chechnya, as some reports indicated that this was taking place. Russia-Azerbaijan border was closed unilaterally, and the railway, sea and auto communications were shut down. Azerbaijani ships were banned from using the Volga–Don Canal. ^[12]

According to a head of Chechen foreign intelligence Ahmed Noukhayev, Azerbaijan greatly helped Chechnya to accommodate refugees, and their number in Azerbaijan reached 10,000 by 2000. Chechens also had extensive business connections in Baku. ^[13] In January 1995, a cultural center of Chechen republic of Ichkeria was opened in Azerbaijan, while in 1999 — the office of the representative of Chechen republic began functioning. ^[10] It was tolerated until the Second Chechen War broke out with the Russian government forces. This turn was linked to the positive changes in the Russia-Azerbaijan relations with the ascent of Vladimir Putin to the Russian presidency. The inter-ethnic clashes between Chechens and Azerbaijanis also played their part, as well as Moscow apartments bombings and September 11 attacks, which discredited the Chechen resistance movement in the eyes of Azerbaijani public. ^[12] Azerbaijani government tightened its border control and Azerbaijani-Russian security forces conducted joint operations to arrest Chechen military commanders on Azerbaijani territory. ^[14] This caused discontent among Chechen officials. Chechen refugees wrote to Azerbaijani president Heydar Aliyev an open letter ^[10] saying that they were ready to leave Azerbaijan, "even if this means torture and death on Russian territory, to avoid experiencing abuse from brotherly independent Azerbaijan". ^[15] As such, in May 2001, President of Chechen republic of Ichkeria Aslan Maskhadov said that "Azerbaijan ceased being a friendly country for Ichkeria". ^[10]

References