"SURGICAL" INTERVENTION

There are different ideas about what secret services should be like. In the Anglo-Saxon world, for example, the names of special units often include the word "intelligence", which means "intellect", "education". This is quite logical, because in the United Kingdom and the United States people of extraordinary intelligence and abilities have been hired to do this kind of work. British intelligence officers have become heroes of legends and myths that are based on facts from real life. But there has been a reverse and far less romantic side to their work, causing terrible tragedies and irreversible consequences to their opponent's camp.

The reputation of Western secret services cannot be called absolutely flawless, because the world has often seen big scandals involving them, such as Irangate, Watergate, Wikileaks, and incriminating stories by former CIA officer Edward Snowden. 

However, in the East, we can see a different attitude to national state security services. The names of these agencies in many eastern countries include the word "khabar" ("news" or "tip-off"). For example, "mukhabarat" (Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt) or "istihbarat" (Turkey). Consequently, people's collective consciousness often associates secret service officers with some kind of "informers" with a negative connotation.

But Azerbaijan cannot be placed in either the first or second group of countries. National security agencies in this country have always been viewed in the style of "The Prince" by Machiavelli, which demonstrates a kind of synthesis of respect and caution. Over the years that it existed, Azerbaijan's National Security Mi-nistry (NSM) was renowned for its lack of corruption and had a clean and at the same time quite a formidable reputation. There was a popular belief among common people that "nobody is taken 'there' for no reason". This was the case until the mid-2000s and before. However…

Scandal 

… unexpectedly for all, President Ilham Aliyev dismissed National Security Minister Eldar Mahmudov on 17 October this year. Afterwards, media circulated an ocean of incriminating stories about what the leadership of this agency had done. In terms of how big it was, this scandal could even compare to the above-mentioned Western exposures. It is just that it is, perhaps, rather domestic. However, while the Watergate or Irangate incidents were fragmentary in nature, the metamorphosis of Azerbaijan's Na-tional Security Ministry could be described as a lengthy process of transformation of servants of law and order into werewolves in epaulettes. You can see all sorts of things in those media stories, which are usually based on investigation materials and statements by victims of the now former leadership of the NSM. Extortion, racketeering, giving patronage to multimillion-dollar financial fraud. The group also managed to "send metastases" to other state agencies, blackmailing their leaders into turning a blind eye to the criminal affairs of their subordinates.

What was happening

Eldar Mahmudov had previously worked in the police. He was appointed to the post of minister of national security in the summer of 2004. His entry to Olympus began with the high-profile exposure and arrest of a criminal group headed by Haci Mammadov, a senior Interior Ministry officer.

This operation actually let the new minister receive some kind of carte blanche, which he later used as window-dressing to lead people to think that his "super agency" was exceptional.

Certainly, the strengthening of the standing of this agency met interests of state security. First, Armenia, which occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijani territory, takes advantage of every opportunity to conduct subversive activities against Azerbaijan. Second, in those years, the post-Soviet area was haunted by the spectre of "colour revolutions, which Western special agencies masterminded to overthrow governments that were not loyal. Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan had already been sacrificed to the "gods" of liberal values. An attempted coup in Azerbaijan also took place ahead of the parliamentary election in 2005.

It is also important to take into account Azerbaijan's geographical location, because of which there are attempts that still continue to be made to involve this country in dangerous games against its powerful neighbours. The neighbors, actually, also convince [Azerbaijan] through their actions every now and again that this country's main and only ally are its army and agencies that are called upon to ensure national security.

However, years of flagrant abuse of trust and broad powers given to it effectively transformed the NSM from the pillar of to a real threat to national security. Over that period of time, many professionals were either dismissed from the secret services or had to resign.

One consequence of this was the fact that terrorist organizations put their tentacles into this country and easily recruited religious fanatics from among Azerbaijani citizens. An equally strong blow was dealt to business, representatives of which had their phones tapped and suffered from extortion and harassment by the now former senior staff of the NSM. However, the criminal group failed to completely undermine national security. The head of state intervened in a timely manner and established order in the national security agencies.

In addition to the dismissal of Eldar Mahmudov from his post, as many as 19 high-ranking officials of the ministry were arrested, and another 250 people appointed to posts by the disgraced minister were sacked. However, the head of state did not confine himself to a simple readjustment, even if a major one. He decided to radically reform the national security system.

On 14 December 2015, the president dissolved the National Security Ministry to replace it with two separate agencies - the State Security Service and the Foreign Intelligence Service.

All analysts, regardless of their political views, described the decision taken by the president as timely, correct, and necessary in all respects. Also noteworthy is the fact that the Foreign Intelligence Service has been established at a very sensitive time, when the situation in the region necessitates a prompt response to foreign challenges. Analysts have also drawn attention to the fact that all officers will now be subject to rigorous scrutiny before being employed.

Incidentally, the establishment of the two new agencies was also dictated by global practice. In the United States, for example, there operate in parallel the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency. In the UK, MI6 is the main intelligence service, and MI5 is the counterintelligence service. Germany's BND [Federal Intelligence Service] protects the interests of the country abroad, while the guardian of domestic state security is the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. The FSB in Russia is considered to be the successor to the legendary KGB. However, there is also the SVR [Foreign Intelligence Service] operating in Russia, which is responsible for intelligence.

In Azerbaijan, the State Security Service will deal with internal intelligence, while the Foreign Intelligence Service, as the name suggests, will deal with issues outside the country. This will ensure efficiency and broaden the scope of work.

So, the NSM is history now. Although the last head of this agency, Eldar Mahmudov, did ascend to Olympus owing to his exposure of "werewolves in epaulettes", he came down from it surrounded by the same kinds of werewolves.

The independent Azerbaijan is only 24 years old. This is just one instant in history. Many classics defined the state as a living organism. That is to say, our republic is not even young but still only a child. It is better to experience some diseases, especially serious ones, while you are a child, so that your body can develop immunity and a defence mechanism.