IT IS DIFFICULT TO MAINTAIN THAN TO GAIN

During the past century, Azerbaijan twice had an opportunity to gain independence. But if the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan (DRA), declared at the beginning of the century, was able to last for about two years only, the independence of its legal successor, modern Azerbaijan, is now an irreversible fact.

Thus, the justice has triumphed 70 years after the fall of the first democratic republic in the Muslim East. On October 18, 1991, Azerbaijan restored its state independence. However, as history teaches us, defending sovereignty is more difficult than gaining it, especially in those circumstances of the past.

The occupation war imposed by Armenia, the threat of the defragmentation of the country and other challenges from outside, as well as the internal political strife and economic crisis have put the future of the young republic under a big question. It took at least three years to create and shape a new independent state on the political map of the world. It first started with the establishment of a relatively stable Cabinet of Ministers, followed by army and state budget.

It was due entirely to the return of Heydar Aliyev, a politician of global scale, to the power in Azerbaijan. He had managed to extinguish the hotbeds of separatism imposed to Azerbaijan externally, to gain momentum in preventing a civil war, to establish ceasefire in Karabakh, and to ensure social and political stability within the country.

In 1994, despite all obstacles, he gave a clear message to the world that Baku did not intend to turn away from the path of independence. This was immediately followed by the signing of the Contract of the Century, which became the basis for the further development of the country. The same is true for the implementation of projects aimed at the construction of main export pipelines, namely the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline, as well as the contract for the development of the Shah Deniz gas field.

It later became evident that the repeated attempts of coups d'etat, attempts on the lives of prominent public officials, and the failed attempts to eliminate Heydar Aliyev were merely plots initiated by the external players irritated by Azerbaijan’s independent course. Despite this, Azerbaijan has proven repeatedly through its history of independence that it can pursue its own political agenda without looking back. Thanks to its actions, Baku has always demonstrated its exclusive adherence to national and state interests only. And most importantly, the weighted and balanced policy in building relationships is well understood by the partner countries.

Azerbaijan had literally saved Georgia from freezing, when Russia has stopped the gas supply to the country. Baku had also refused to support the Western sanctions against the neighboring Iran and Russia. Azerbaijan had placed special emphasis on trilateral relations during the recent deterioration in relations between Turkey and Russia. Many people believed that Baku would have to make a difficult choice between the two friendly states. But Azerbaijan has managed not to sacrifice neither the fraternal relations with Turkey, nor a strategic partnership with Russia. On the contrary, it took upon itself a conciliatory mission, for which both countries subsequently thanked the President Ilham Aliyev.

There are many more such examples. Azerbaijan’s independent policy has contributed to the worldwide recognition of its role in international affairs. A real gift for the 20th anniversary of independence of Azerbaijan was the country’s selection as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in October 2011. “This event is important not only because we were elected to the supreme body of the planet and twice presided there. It is important because 155 countries have voted for us in a bitter struggle. Some forces have united against us and tried to prevent Azerbaijan from election. That is, we have achieved this place with great difficulty. This is another indicator. So, when we say the world community, we mean all countries. Today the international community is supporting us”, RIA Novosti quotes the President Ilham Aliyev.

But there is always the flip side of the coin - the notorious double standards, when, under the pretext of protecting democracy and human rights, Azerbaijan becomes a target of groundless accusations. As President Aliyev has openly expressed his view during a meeting with a delegation of the Parliamentary Cooperation Committee the European Union (EU)-Azerbaijan. “There are several reasons. One of the main reasons is that Azerbaijan follows its own path. We conduct an independent policy, which is not directed against anyone, including those who continue dirty attacks on us. We have a very broad political, economic and energy ties with the countries, including the EU member-states. We have partnerships with the United States at the level of political contacts. But apparently, that is not enough for some circles in these countries, they want more. Maybe they do not trust in our reliability?”, said Mr. Aliyev in his interview with RIA Novosti.

It is hard even to imagine that Azerbaijan could follow external instructions or participate in some campaigns against the third parties. We are a self-sufficient state, which asks no one anything and builds partnerships on an equal basis.

During the years of independence, Azerbaijan has gradually transformed from a participant of international processes to their initiator or moderator. Baku implements projects not limited to regional scale. In particular, the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline has become an intercontinental project Southern Gas Corridor, able to deliver gas from the Caspian region and Central Asia to Europe.

Today we are also witnessing the occurrence of regional cooperation axes such as Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey and Azerbaijan-Russia-Iran. “We play an active role in the creation of the East-West corridor. The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars will be commissioned in the coming months. Thus, we will connect Europe with Asia in order to expand our opportunities even more, as this corridor will bring us a lot of economic benefits. The volume of cargo passing through this corridor will amount to tens of millions of tons. At the same time, we create the North-South Corridor”, says Ilham Aliyev.

It is also significant that Azerbaijan is one of the few members of the international space club. The country has already launched into space two satellites, with the third one on the way. In general, Baku chose the path of technological development and can already offer the world its intellectual products. In particular, several countries have already shown interest in the Azerbaijani brand “ASAN xidmət”, which has more than 250 e-services for the population and business. Thanks to this service, Azerbaijan has facilitated people's access to public services, thus eliminating bureaucracy and corruption.

In recent years, the country has also become a world center for dialogue among civilizations and a platform for large-scale international events - Baku hosted the song contest Eurovision in 2012, and the first European games three years later. Formula-1 races started in Baku since 2016. Currently, Azerbaijan is preparing for the Islamic Games to be held in the summer of 2017.

“We are a young state. This year Azerbaijan celebrates the 25^th anniversary of independence. The government has instructed us to make everything possible that Azerbaijan could be easily identified on the world map, and today we can see a large number of tourists visiting Azerbaijan. Quite recently, during the Chess Olympiad, we received information that 95% of the hotels were filled. This has never happened before in our history”, says Azad Rahimov, Minister of Youth and Sport of Azerbaijan in his interview to Vesti Nedeli.

The government of Azerbaijan pays significant attention to the development of social sector, education, and health. More than 3,000 schools and 600 health facilities, as well as entire villages for IDPs were built in the country.

However, the main problem of Azerbaijan, the occupation of 20 per cent of its territories by neighboring Armenia, remains unresolved. Baku adheres to the principle of peaceful resolution of the issue through the efforts of international mediators. At the same time, Azerbaijan reserves the right to liberate its lands by force. Fortunately, the military power of the country allows for it. In this respect, the response of the Azerbaijani army to the provocation of the Armenian armed forces in April of this year was quite indicative.

The enemy army is entirely dependent on external resources while Azerbaijan has managed to build the most powerful army in the Caucasus. Baku purchases weapons from Russia, Turkey, Israel, Iran, Belarus, and other countries. According to President Aliyev, the government has an intention to purchase weapons from Pakistan. In addition, the country has developed the production of its own line of weapons, which allows for maintaining the combat capability of the army at a high level.

In short, during the last 25 years, Azerbaijan has solved all major challenges to strengthen its independence and to establish a sovereign state. It created quite a fertile ground for further promotion of the chosen path, remaining a self-sufficient, reliable, and equal member of the world community.