Azerbaijan’s ascent to the “group of the strong” began in the tenth and continues in the twentieth years of the XXI century. And it applies not only to political and security issues, but also to the challenges of digital transformation, application of the best practices of the new technological leap in national industries, as well as the development of renewable energy on its territory, including the creation of macro-regional energy bridges.
Azerbaijan dictates the agenda
As the world arena undergoes a radical change of roles and actors, Baku does not stay behind the scenes waiting for the final distribution of geopolitical roles, but powerfully declares its national interests, possessing all the necessary mechanisms for their realization and confidently occupying a place in the group of leaders.
This was most clearly manifested in the realization of the key decade-old objective of Azerbaijani diplomacy. This is, of course, the return of the historical lands to the bosom of the state.
Notably, the same tools employed in awareness-raising activities aimed at confronting Armenia have allowed Azerbaijan to significantly expand the ranks of its allies near and far, on issues unrelated to the Karabakh settlement.
By filling the new gaps in the international arena, Azerbaijan has effectively begun to dictate the agenda that used to be shaped by a unipolar world under Western control.
An example of this is the tremendous work carried out by official Baku to evenly distribute COVID-19 vaccines. The online summit of the Non-Aligned Movement initiated by Azerbaijan in May 2020 at the level of the leaders of the participating countries led to a special session of the UN General Assembly in December of the same year.
Moreover, the NAM’s strong opposition to “vaccine nationalism” by the “golden billion” states, as well as subsequent UN resolutions calling on the global community for fair and universal access to vaccines for all countries, were proposed and organized specifically by the Republic of Azerbaijan as the chair of the NAM from 2019 to 2022.
During this period Azerbaijan actively opposed any attempts to use instruments of influence on the policy in the field of biological security, to give international organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) the right to investigate outbreaks of infections on the territory of sovereign states.
This naturally and logically resulted in the unanimous decision of the coalition of Non-Aligned Movement states to confirm the presidency of the Republic of Azerbaijan in this organization for 2023.
It should be noted that in the past year Azerbaijani diplomacy has taken consistent and constructive steps within the Non-Aligned Movement to reduce politicization in the global economic and social environment.
In particular, at the ministerial meeting of the Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement, President Ilham Aliyev proposed an initiative on the need to ensure full political neutrality of the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
At the prompting of President Aliyev, the Non-Aligned Movement also expressed the need for participation in the Games of representatives of all national Olympic committees without exception, and in this regard, Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, thanked the Republic of Azerbaijan for its principled position.
From the fight against neocolonialism to UN reform
Another major issue that Azerbaijan is developing within the framework of the Non-Aligned Movement is the consistent elimination of destructive colonial legacy.
There have been different periods in the history of colonial conquests and subsequent relations between future independent states and the so-called “first world” countries. There are examples of colonies getting post-independence governance, transportation and industrial infrastructures, but being deprived of political rights, the restoration of which took many years of wars and diplomatic efforts.
The French colonies in Africa and Southeast Asia were among those that were stripped of political autonomy and suffered enormous damage as a result of the imperial revanchism of the former colonizers.
Given that France was in the first row of those opposing Baku’s efforts related to the Armenian-Azerbaijani normalization processes, Azerbaijan made uncompromising and fully substantiated accusations with regard to both the historical policy of the French Republic and the current policy of official Paris pursued in the post-Soviet space.
In particular, Azerbaijan has repeatedly stated that by pursuing an openly militaristic policy on the territory of the former Soviet republics, arming Armenia and encouraging revanchist forces, France prepares the ground for the unleashing of new wars in the South Caucasus region.
In addition to the expulsion of French diplomats engaged in intelligence activities in Azerbaijan, Baku has very strongly raised the issue of France’s abuse of its status as a permanent member of the UN Security Council.
Speaking at various platforms, Azerbaijani diplomats emphasized that France should implement the decisions of the International Court of Justice related to nuclear tests in the Pacific Ocean and “put an end to the practice of lecturing other states.”
Thus, the expiring year is memorable for Baku’s impressive, precise and harsh statements against the destructive methods of the so-called Western community.
Baku’s special place
There is a curious difference in the reaction of the world’s leaders to Azerbaijan becoming a leading regional player. While Moscow has positively accepted Baku’s growing role in the global political arena, realizing that the best tactic is strategic interaction, Western leaders won’t come to grips with the loss of their influence and Baku joining the “first league” of countries that make independent decisions in their region.
Obviously, Baku realizes both the weight of its position and the harsh response it may provoke. But times have changed, and the old grand leaders are no longer able to close the gaps that they used to control for thirty years after the collapse of the USSR.
It should be understood that Azerbaijan’s statements and well-reasoned presentations at various world platforms are not a “thing in itself” for the sake of presence in the information agenda. Baku is preparing the ground for reforms of the United Nations and the Security Council as its key body.
Azerbaijan has proposed the concept of expanding the UN Security Council to make it more representative and geographically fair. Baku believes that one permanent seat on the UN Security Council should be given to the Non-Aligned Movement. Moreover, representatives of the countries holding the presidencies of the Non-Aligned Movement, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the African Union should have seats on the UN Security Council on a rotational basis and should have the right of veto (!).
Azerbaijan’s model of “smart power”
Looking ahead to the coming decade, it is difficult to say where exactly the processes of global fluctuations in the security architecture and the structure of trade alliances will lead. Perhaps a multipolar world system will be established with large nucleus alliances, which will become the governance circuits in their regions.
In this new world, the need for mutually beneficial agreements will be at the center of it: there are too many historical, religious, economic and territorial differences between groups of countries.
It is possible that the period of wars and running economies on militaristic rails will continue for the next decade. But in the end, a framework will have to be negotiated to balance existing conflicts and contradictions.
This is exactly what Azerbaijan did, first returning lost territories by force and then offering a platform for peaceful economic and social interaction (the “3+3” initiative) to offset the flaws, losses and degradation resulting from the long conflict.
Watching what is happening now in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip, it becomes obvious that Azerbaijan’s model of “smart power” has proved to be the most successful form of reconciling all the national interests of the South Caucasus region.
Ilgar Huseynov
Translated from Haqqin.az
