BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 3. The 8th congress
of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party was held in Baku, and,
naturally, the main event was the major programmatic speech by
party chairman and President Ilham Aliyev. Most of the issues
addressed by the head of state at the congress were easy to
classify as entirely predictable – the outcome of the Victory, the
economy, energy, transit corridors, and the reconstruction of
Karabakh. But in the section devoted to security, there was a
passage that made many people go back and read the transcript
again. Some did so more than once.
Ilham Aliyev spoke about how Azerbaijan armed itself, and about
who helped it and how. The short answer was: no one, in no way.
And, seemingly answering questions that might have been asked, he
uttered a phrase that probably shut quite a few mouths in very
different parts of the world: “Whatever we acquired, we purchased
with money.”
The quote is important enough to be read again, in full. Here is
what Ilham Aliyev said:
“We need no one’s help or patronage. When we needed help, no one
helped us. When we had one million refugees, no one reached out to
us. Whatever we acquired, we purchased with money. That includes
all weapons, which were bought with money at world prices—down to
the last bullet. I tell you this with full responsibility as
Supreme Commander-in-Chief and as the person overseeing all these
matters. You know how much Azerbaijan has armed itself since 2003,
establishing local production and purchasing from abroad. Not once
were we granted a single manat or single dollar discount. In fact,
sometimes they sold to us at prices several times higher than the
world market rate, and we were forced to turn a blind eye to
it.”
Ilham Aliyev’s short punchline contains several important points
at once: everything Baku received, it paid for, and it paid full
price. There were no discounts. At times, our partners were frankly
hiking prices, even above world-market levels, knowing that Baku
had no alternatives at the time. There really were no alternatives,
and Baku was forced to pretend it saw nothing.
Yesterday, Ilham Aliyev explained quite clearly that he had seen
and understood everything. And, by the way, not only that. The
president also made it clear that Azerbaijan needs neither
assistance nor patrons, while reminding everyone of the “big
backers” who help one warring country or another today. Behind
every side, there is such an backer; according to Aliyev, some have
several. Azerbaijan did everything on its own, the president
reminded all those who may suddenly have decided to join the queue
for “patronage.”
The fact that weapons were purchased is hardly a secret. What is
striking is something else: why did the president feel the need to
put it so bluntly, and why now?
The answer appears to lie in the information space of recent
weeks. In a number of foreign media outlets and among popular
bloggers – and it is not necessarily the case that this has
happened without the help of yet another set of big backers – a
narrative has been gaining traction that Azerbaijan was able to
regain Karabakh only because it was supplied with equipment and
weapons. From there comes the argument about “ingratitude” and
“insufficient loyalty.” The logic behind it is simple: if Baku
received something, then it owes something in return, and that debt
can be presented at any time.
Ilham Aliyev dismissed that self-appointed bill. If the weapons
were bought at full price, or even above it, then this was an
ordinary commercial transaction, not a gift, and it cannot carry
any political strings attached. The argument over authorship is
closed. No one owes anyone anything and no one ever did. And
someone else’s expectations are someone else’s problem.
It is also noticeable that Ilham Aliyev did not name the
addressee. This is entirely in keeping with the speech as a whole.
Azerbaijan, the president stressed, does not join any camps, and
its word “is worth as much as its signature.” Publicly picking a
fight with a specific partner under such a position would have been
strange. Ilham Aliyev took a much subtler approach: he put it in
such a way that the people who needed to understand would
understand it themselves, while leaving no grounds for a diplomatic
scandal. Those circles building campaigns around the idea that Baku
is “in debt” surely got the message: the account is closed, the
bill has been paid, move along.
At the same time, reducing the whole matter to a single
addressee would be wrong. Domestically, this is first and foremost
a reinforcement of the main narrative: the Victory belongs to the
people and the state, not to someone on the outside. Ilham Aliyev
himself linked this to ideological security, saying that pride in
the Victory is the best protection against “ideological
provocations.”
For foreign partners, it is a reminder of how Baku sees its
relations. Azerbaijan has built ties with all poles and signed
strategic partnership documents with both superpowers – China and
the United States. In such a system, there is simply no room for
“senior” and “junior” partners. And to those conducting information
pressure, the president made it clear that no one is going to
justify themselves. For those with a short memory, Ilham Aliyev
once again reminded them that Baku responds to every strike – and
does so several times harder.
In Baku, the question of who owns the Victory has long, and
quite rightly, been seen as a question of sovereignty. It is no
longer just history, but also an instrument of present-day
politics: the various backers claiming co-authorship of the Victory
are not doing so for nothing. They are claiming a semi-official
right to tell Azerbaijan, or even dictate to it, what to do next.
Ilham Aliyev patiently but firmly pushes back: do not tell us how
to live. Your “noble support” has a very measurable currency
equivalent, and you got what you were owed.
Ilham Aliyev was talking about weapons, but in reality he was
once again talking about sovereignty. And he was doing it in Baku’s
characteristic manner, without asking anyone to understand and
without trying to win anyone’s approval. Instead, everyone
interested was given a free lesson in political accounting. In the
“income” column: weapons and equipment. In the “expenses” column:
Azerbaijani money. And there was no column saying, “Now you owe us
for the rest of your life.”
Judging by how quickly various foreign journalists and bloggers
who were still intensely interested yesterday in the origins of the
weapons and equipment of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces suddenly lost
interest, Ilham Aliyev’s intended audience got the message.
Good for them.
