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Azerbaijan The Foreign Policy Establishment
After regaining its independence in 1991, Azerbaijan faced
reorganization of its minuscule foreign policy establishment.
This process involved creating or upgrading various functional
and geographical departments within the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, recruiting and training diplomats, and establishing and
staffing embassies abroad. Because of the complexity of these
tasks, few embassies were established during the first months of
independence. Full diplomatic relations, including mutual
exchanges of missions, were first established with Turkey, the
United States, and Iran.
Post-Soviet Diplomacy
Even before the breakup of the Soviet Union, the Azerbaijani
diplomatic establishment had become more active, primarily with
the goal of countering a worldwide Armenian information campaign
on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. Initiatives in this policy
included establishing contacts with Azerbaijani émigrés living in
the United States and reinforcing diplomatic connections with
Turkey, Iran, and Israel.
After the breakup of the Soviet Union, most nations moved
quickly to recognize Azerbaijan's independence, and several
established full diplomatic relations within the first year. The
first to do so was Turkey in January 1992. During his presidency,
Elchibey stressed close relations with Turkey, which he saw as
the best hope for arbitrating an end to the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict. He also endorsed unification of the Azerbaijani
populations of his country and northern Iran and, to that end,
autonomy for the Iranian Azerbaijanis--a stand that alienated the
Iranian government.
During the June 1993 coup, Turkey expressed support for
Elchibey, but Aliyev and Turkish authorities subsequently
expressed willingness to continue cordial relations. Relations
did cool somewhat in the second half of 1993 as Aliyev sought to
improve relations with Iran and Russia, which had flagged under
Elchibey.
Meanwhile, the failure of arbitration efforts by the Minsk
Group, which included Russia, Turkey, and the United States, had
frustrated both Armenia and Azerbaijan by mid-1993. The Minsk
Group was sponsored by the CSCE, which in the early 1990s
undertook arbitration in several Caucasus conflicts under the
organization's broad mandate for peacekeeping in Europe
(see
Threats of Fragmentation, ch. 3). Aliyev's alternative strategies
included requesting personal involvement by Russia's President
Boris N. Yeltsin, who began six months of shuttle diplomacy among
the capitals involved, and initiation of direct talks with
Armenian leaders in Nagorno-Karabakh, a step that Elchibey had
avoided. Throughout the last half of 1993, the new contacts ran
concurrently with formal meetings convened by the Minsk Group to
arrange a cease-fire.
To broaden its relations with nations both East and West,
Azerbaijan joined a number of international and regional
organizations, including the UN, the CSCE, the Organization of
the Islamic Conference, the International Monetary Fund (
IMF--see
Glossary), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development,
and the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization. Azerbaijan
has observer status in the General Agreement on Tariffs and
Trade.
In the early 1990s, the primary criterion governing
Azerbaijan's relations with foreign states and organizations was
their stance on Azerbaijani sovereignty in Nagorno-Karabakh. Most
governments and international organizations formally support the
concept of territorial integrity, so this criterion has not
restricted most of Azerbaijan's diplomatic efforts. Relations
with some states have been affected, however. For example, in
1992 the United States Congress placed restrictions on United
States aid to Azerbaijan pending the lifting of the Azerbaijani
economic blockade on Armenia and cessation of offensive military
actions against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.
In messages and interviews early in his administration,
Aliyev asserted that his new government would not alter
Azerbaijan's domestic and foreign policies, and that his country
would seek good relations with all countries, especially its
neighbors, including Russia. He criticized the uneven relations
that existed between Azerbaijan and Russia during the Elchibey
regime. At the same time, Aliyev stressed that he viewed
Azerbaijan as an independent state that should never again be
"someone's vassal or colony." In the summer of 1993, Aliyev
issued a blanket plea to the United States, Turkey, Russia, the
UN, and the CSCE to work more resolutely toward settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Later that year, he sought repeal of
the Azerbaijan clause of the United States Freedom Support Act,
which had been amended in 1992 to prohibit United States
government assistance to Azerbaijan.
Data as of March 1994
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