CICA and Azerbaijan

CAVID VELIYEV*

The Conference on Confidence Building Measures in Asia, or CICA, founded in 1992, has not gained a great reputation during the last 18 years, remaining largely in the shadow of alternatives such as The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, or SCO, and the Collective Security Organization, or CSO. Parallel to the growth of Turkey in the sphere of international relations, the name of CICA began to be heard. It seems that, Turkey will give more importance to Asia and CICA will be the essential part of Turkey’s foreign and Asia policy. Experts who participated at a Turkish-Asian congress in June referred to CICA as “The OSCE of Asia.”

Two definitions were adopted at the event for the solution of problems within the geography of CICA: 1. Security covers not only military, but also economic, energy and environmental issues. 2. The indivisibility of security – the security of all members affects each other and thus, cooperation between member states should be increased. In light of these principles, we can analyze the security relations between CICA and Azerbaijan in two ways: 1. The security problems of Azerbaijan as a CICA member state. 2. The potential of Azerbaijan in the security of CICA.

If “the security of one of us is the security of all of us” is a position taken by CICA, it should have a standard approach toward security problems. The biggest threat to security of Azerbaijan is the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh by Armenia or in other words, separatism. Not only Azerbaijan suffers from the threat of separatism, but also other CICA member states such as Russia, China and Pakistan. The occupation of Karabakh increases the race for armament in the region and creates the danger of war. Adopted as an uncontrolled zone, Karabakh, which is under the occupation, creates terrorism, drug trafficking and other security problems. Approximately 1 million refugees of Azerbaijan, a result the occupation, constitute a threat not only for Azerbaijan, but also for the whole region’s economic security.  As a result, the occupation of these territories is the greatest danger for the regional integration in the South Caucasus. The second major threat to the security of Azerbaijan is the ongoing geopolitical struggles in the region. Tensions between Russia and the United States and the United States and Iran directly affect Azerbaijan. Unlike the other two South Caucasus countries, Azerbaijan is not a side in these geopolitical games and is in favor of the development of regional cooperation. The problem of the Caspian Sea’s division and the probability of growing problems with radicalism and terrorism negatively affect Azerbaijan as well as other CICA members.

These pro-radical actions are passing to Azerbaijan through other member states of CICA.

After the Cold War, Asia’s security problems came to the agenda parallel to its economic growth. For the necessary raw materials, energy resources in particular, for Asia’s growing economy and for the sale of produced goods, more secure ways of trade need to be found. In that respect, Azerbaijan’s energy resources and its geographical location can play a very significant role for the energy and economic security of CICA states. Three of four pipelines transporting oil and gas from Azerbaijan are passing through Russia and Turkey, both CICA member states. Azerbaijan plays an important role in meeting the energy needs of CICA members like Turkey, India and China and is also an alternative route for the energy resources of CICA members Kazakhstan, Iran, and Turkmenistan.

At the same time, Azerbaijan is a trade corridor between Europe and Asia. Two of four trade corridors that connect Asia with Europe, the TRACECA and North-South pipeline are passing through Azerbaijan. The establishment of the Istanbul-Kars-Tbilisi-Akhalkalaki railroad was inked in 2007 and its foundation was set in 2008. In addition, the north-south railway between Azerbaijan and Iran was agreed on May in 2008. Energy resources and geography, however, are not enough for being a reliable partner. Measures should be taken to solve visa problems, standardize customs tariffs and taxes that vary for each country, ports, railways, roads should be modernized, new technology investments for the turnover of goods should be increased and free economic zones should be built. These kinds of steps will increase trade cooperation within the CICA geography and will also help to solve security problems. We live in a period in which economic cooperation facilitates the solution of military and political problems between states.

* Cavid Veliyev is the leading research fellow at the Center for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

 

Source: Hurriyet Daily News
URL: www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=cica-and-azerbaijan-2010-06-10

Posted by admin June 2010

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