AMONG THE POWERS THAT BE

The leaders of the biggest economies and senior representatives of the European Union, the UN, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund gathered in Turkey's Antalya where a G20 summit was held on 15-16 October. The scale of the summit can be seen from the fact that the G20 member states account for 85 per cent of the world's economy, 80 per cent of global trade and two-thirds of the population of the planet. 

In recent years, the G20 summit has turned into a most up-to-date platform where not only economic but also the most important problems of international politics are discussed. The G20 gathered in Antalya immediately after the recent shocking terrorist attacks in Paris, Egypt and Lebanon. It is no wonder that discussion on issues of countering international terrorism partly overshadowed global economic problems for which the summit was designed. 

Azerbaijan was the only post-Soviet country (apart from Russia) represented at such a high forum. President Ilham Aliyev took advantage of the invitation to the summit to put across to world leaders the position of Azerbaijan which has been suffering from Armenian aggression and terrorism for more than a quarter of a century. 

The President of Azerbaijan was invited to the G20 summit by Turkey presiding over the organization in the current year. This was a graphic demonstration of the special allied character of Turkish-Azerbaijani relations and also emphasized the leading role played by our country in the South Caucasus. After all, Azerbaijan accounts for more than 70 per cent of this region's GDP, three-thirds of its foreign trade turnover and almost 100 per cent of its net international assets. Although its size and population places Azerbaijan in the category of small countries, the energy and transport-communications projects being implemented by us are important for entire Europe. 

Apart from brotherly Turkey and neighbouring Georgia, Azerbaijan's partners in these projects are leading companies of the USA, the United Kingdom, France and other states. In his speech at a working lunch held as part of the summit, President Ilham Aliyev laid special emphasis on the Southern Gas Corridor project reaffirming that it would be a success. This project has good investors, the Azerbaijani leader pointed out and expressed gratitude to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as well as US President Barack Obama and UK Prime Minister David Cameron for their support to its implementation. The BP company is the biggest investor in Azerbaijan, President Ilham Aliyev said. 

During the working dinner arranged on 15 November on behalf of Turkish Republic President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in honour of the heads of the G20 states and governments and directors of international organizations, discussions were held on the subject of combat against terrorism and the migration crisis. President Ilham Aliyev said in his speech that Azerbaijan takes an active part in combat against international terrorism and was among the first to join in the activity of the coalition forces in Afghanistan. He said that our country itself is suffering from Armenian terrorism and aggression. More than 2,000 citizens are victims of actions by Armenian terrorist organizations. In violation of international law, the armed forces of Armenia have occupied 20 per cent of the territory of Azerbaijan and carried out ethnic purges. As a result, about one million of our compatriots have been banished from their native soil. Contrary to four resolutions of the UN Security Council demanding the immediate, full and unconditional pullout of Armenian forces from the occupied Azerbaijani territories, Armenia ignores them with immunity. President Ilham Aliyev made a point that the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagornyy Karabakh should be settled solely in compliance with standards of international law on the basis of territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. 

Ilham Aliyev's participation in the G20 summit and his reasoned speech exposing the Armenian terrorism and aggression drove the Armenian authorities into anxiety and confusion. Shavarsh Kocharyan, Armenia's deputy foreign minister known for his inadequate judgements, found nothing better than to blame Baku for individual citizens of this country (like many a thousand citizens of France, Germany, the UK and Russia) involved in radical Islamist groups and fighting in Syria and Iraq and the fact that the Al-Qa'eda terrorist network reached its tentacles to Azerbaijani territory. This is a well-known trick where an exposed thief begins to yell loudly: "Stop thief!" However, the world's leaders are well aware that Azerbaijan is an active participant in the antiterrorist coalition and that it cracks down on any Jihadi activity on its territory whereas the Armenian organization ASALA has been recognized by the entire world as terrorist.  

The president of Azerbaijan touched on the topic of Armenian terrorism during his speech at the 38th session of the UNESCO General Conference dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the United Nation's humanitarian organization. The forum of the leaders was marred by a series of terrorist attacks in Paris, and all the heads of state who took the floor were talking about their solidarity with the people of France who opposed terror and violence.

Ilham Aliyev said that linking Islam with terrorism was totally unacceptable: "I represent a Muslim country that has suffered from Armenian terrorism, occupation and destruction of historical monuments. Of course, we will return to our lands, reconstruct our cities, build new schools and hospitals there, but we will not be able to restore historical sites".

In other words, the time has come to ensure strict rather than selective attitude towards compliance with the norms of international law and give up double standards.

Going back to the Antalya summit in Turkey, it would be appropriate to emphasize that the Turkish president spoke about the inadmissibility of double standards, too. The G20 summit in Antalya resulted in the adoption of a joint declaration on combating terrorism, in which the summit participants called on international organizations to stop the funding of extremists and declared their intention to work together to solve the problem of refugees and safety of air transportation. The summit in Turkey culminated in the adoption of the final communique which reflected all the main topics discussed here for two days.

Within the framework of the summit, a discussion of the problems of women in business and a special humanitarian programme were organized for the first ladies who accompanied the leaders of the G20 member states. These events were attended by Mehriban Aliyeva, First Lady of Azerbaijan and President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, and Leyla Aliyeva, Vice President of the Foundation.

Summing up the results of the G20 summit, the global media unanimously point out that Turkey has demonstrated its ability to conduct a major international forum at the highest level and fully ensure the security of its members, not only from terrorist threats, but also from annoying and noisy actions conducted by anti-globalists and other marginalized groups.

Turkey's allies in NATO, and especially the United States, regarded with understanding the concerns of this country immediately bordering on chaos-stricken Syria and Iraq, where the main jihadist forces and their assault structure in the form of the Islamic State are concentrated. The Americans promised to strengthen their air group at the military base in Incirlik and provide Turkey with air support. The European Union is ready to allocate significant financial resources (more than 3bn euros) for temporary provision of the necessary facilities to Syrian and Iraqi refugees in the border area in order to prevent their uncontrolled migration to Europe.

As for Azerbaijan, its participation in the G20 summit can be considered as quite successful. According Haber-ler.com, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, commenting on the results of the summit, said that Azerbaijan was not just formally taking part in the summit of the G20 leaders in Antalya, but appreciably contributed to the event.

As for the problems of overcoming the global economic crisis, it should be noted in conclusion that they require concerted and deliberate actions by the leaders of the countries with the largest economic potential, as well as international financial institutions. However, if we fail to check the proliferation of terrorist threats and bring the migration flows to reasonable limits, all our efforts to stimulate economic growth will be relegated to the background.

One cannot call to combat against Jihadi groups and at the same time to treat, for instance, Kurdish or Armenian terrorist threats with indulgence. It is necessary to tackle local conflicts (in Palestine, Cyprus, Nagornyy Karabakh and elsewhere) in a resolute and consolidated manner and on the fundamental basis of international law. By the joint effort of the great and regional powers, it is necessary to put an end to chaos in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen and other places, even if it takes holding ground force operations. Everything must be done to restore peace, law and order, and to resume cooperation between countries currently involved in conflicts or those whose mutual relations are burdened by reciprocal sanctions. It is necessary to give the required impetus to the global economy and contribute to its recovery from crisis.