U.S. State Dept.: Azerbaijan continues to strengthen its counterterrorism efforts
By Gulgiz Dadashova
The U.S. State Department has announced that Azerbaijan actively opposed terrorist organizations seeking to move people, money, and material through the Caucasus.
According to the Country Reports on Terrorism 2012 published on May 30, the country continued to strengthen its counterterrorism efforts and had some success in both reducing the presence of terrorist facilitators and hampering their activities.
The report says that in March, Azerbaijani security services reported the arrest of 22 individuals accused of working with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to carry out terrorist attacks against Western embassies and other groups with Western ties.
According to the report, in May, Azerbaijan's security service reported it had arrested 40 terrorist suspects and thwarted planned terrorist attacks during the May Eurovision Song Contest held in Baku. Planned targets during the event included major hotels frequented by foreigners as well as the song contest venue.
Azerbaijan has legislation in place that permits the freezing of assets without delay, and has presented a draft law to Parliament that proposes additional measures to streamline and simplify the confiscation and release of frozen assets. UN lists are updated and submitted to reporting institutions.
In 2012, Azerbaijan began a two-year term as a non-permanent member of the UNSC, supporting various terrorism-related UNSCRs. In May, Azerbaijan held the presidency of the UNSC, which focused on strengthening international cooperation in the implementation of counterterrorism obligations. Azerbaijan also participated in the Istanbul Process and supported counterterrorism confidence building measures referred to in the June 14 Heart of Asia Ministerial Conference Declaration. Azerbaijan also took part in working group meetings of Caspian Sea littoral states to coordinate law enforcement efforts aimed at countering terrorism as well as smuggling, narcotics trafficking, and organized crime on the Caspian.
Regarding the fight against radicalization and violent extremism, the report notes that only imams trained and licensed in Azerbaijan were permitted to give religious sermons and to lead Muslim religious ceremonies.
Azerbaijan as one of the countries suffering from terrorism has become a staunch supporter of the United States in the war against terrorism since the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Baku was amongst the first offering the United States unconditional support in the war on terror, providing its airspace and the use of its airports for Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. The Azerbaijani troops are serving under the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Iraq and since 1999 a peacekeeping platoon of Azerbaijan's armed forces has been participating in peacekeeping operations in Kosovo within Kosovo Force (KFOR).
The Azerbaijani government undertook necessary measures to cut off the terrorists' lifeline by freezing bank accounts of individuals and entities included in the UN Security Council Committee's list of terrorist groups and organizations.
Azerbaijan continues to work with the U.S., both bilaterally and multilaterally, through international organizations to prevent illegal trafficking and to secure borders.
Terrorism as a means of achieving the coveted political goals has always been broadly used by Armenia against Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan was subjected to Armenian terror as early as in the early 20th century. Then, members of the Armenian nationalist Dashnak party in concert with Soviet Bolsheviks massacred about 20,000 innocent Azerbaijani people, including the elderly, women and children, starting on the night of March 30, 1918.
The activity of the Armenian terror groups, such as the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA, established in 1975 in Beirut), Avengers for Armenian Genocide (established in 1973), "Group of June 9" (established in 1991 in Switzerland), "Suicide Squadron" (established in 1981 in France), whose terror acts were directed at the implementation of goals and demands of the Armenian political parties Dashnaktsutyun, Hnchak, Ramkavar, was mainly stepped up in the late 20th century.
The Armenian terrorism was always accompanied by separatism and it resulted in the occupation of 20 percent of the Azerbaijani territory.
To spread horror among the population, to inflict considerable casualties during the occupation of the Nagorno-Karabakh territory of Azerbaijan and the adjoining seven regions, the intelligence bodies of Armenia organized and committed terrorist acts in locations populated by peaceful Azerbaijanis far from the territories where the battles were waged, and as a result more than 2,000 of innocent people were killed or injured.
In September 1989, a passenger bus traveling on the Tbilisi-Baku itinerary was blown up. As a result, 5 people died and 25 were injured.
In 1990, a bus en route from Shusha to Baku was exploded. 13 people were wounded as a result of the terror act. Later the same year, a group of cars loaded with goods of the national economy was attacked in the Agdere district of Nagorno-Karabakh. 3 people were killed and 23 wounded.
As a result of explosion of a passenger bus moving on the itinerary of Tbilisi-Aghdam in August 1990, 20 persons were killed and 30 wounded. In September 1990, the Armenian terrorists blew up a broadcasting center in Khankendi. No casualties were reported.
On May 30, 1991, a Moscow-Baku passenger train was blown up near the railway station of Khasavyurt in Dagestan, Russia. 11 people were killed and 22 wounded, and as a result of the second attack by the Armenian militants on the Moscow-Baku train, 16 people were killed and 20 wounded.
On November 20, 1991, Armenian terrorists committed one of their bloodiest attacks. A Mi-8 helicopter carrying a group of eminent statesmen, political and military figures of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia, as well as other officials and journalists, was shot down by the Armenian terrorists over the Garakend settlement of the Khojavend district of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. All the passengers on board and crew members died.
Later, in January 1992, a civilian helicopter en route from Aghdam to Shusha, was shot down by the Armenian terrorists near Shusha. 3 of the 41 passengers on board, which mainly included women and children, were killed.
In 1993-1994, the Armenians attacked several passenger trains heading in the direction of Baku, blew up several roads that killed 14 and wounded at least 38 people.
In March 1994, an electric train was blown up in the 20 January subway station in Baku, which killed 14 and injured 42.
Also, an electric train was blown up between the "28 May" and "Ganjlik" stations of the Baku subway on July 3, 1994. As a result, 14 people died and 54 were injured.
The investigation led by the Azerbaijani Supreme Court completely proved that all the terror acts mentioned above were orchestrated, sponsored and logistically supported by functionaries of the illegal regime of Nagorno-Karabakh, special services and other governmental bodies of Armenia.
Azerbaijan has become a party to all 12 international conventions on counter-terrorism and reinforced regional cooperation on fighting terrorism through signing numerous agreements and participating in the activity of regional organizations such as NATO, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, etc.
The Azerbaijani authorities have repeatedly stated that the country is determined to continue its anti-terror and counter-terror efforts, and to make every contribution necessary to counter the menace of terrorism.