British MP: Ban on military ship sale to active peacekeeper Azerbaijan must be lifted

By AzerNews

Azerbaijan is an active participant in international peacekeeping processes, a British MP said.

Responding to the questions of the European Azerbaijan Society (TEAS), Penny Mordaunt said, "We should build bridges with countries that are West-oriented."

"We should support their orientation towards the West, their democracy, human rights, and freedom of society, as well as their attempts to organize a joint security. Azerbaijan is one of those states," Mordaunt, member of the Committee on Arms Export Controls, added.

According to Mordaunt, Azerbaijan is an active participant in global peace processes, and, to this end, has sent troops to Iraq, Kosovo, and Afghanistan.

She said that Azerbaijan has also been an important transit country for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), and will be a major transit country during the withdrawal of British troops and equipment from Afghanistan in 2014.

Mordaunt said the heavy military vehicles will pass through Kazakhstan and cross over to Baku by ferry via the Caspian Sea, and then will be transported to Turkey through the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway.

She called it a testament to the fact that Azerbaijan plays the role of a bridge between Central Asia and Europe.

The peacekeeping contingent of the Azerbaijani armed forces has been serving under the NATO-led ISAF in Afghanistan since 2002. The Azerbaijani peacekeeping contingent started with 22-people-strong staff and the number of the contingent increased in 2008, reaching the level of a detachment. Azerbaijani peacekeepers will stay in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of the U.S. troops from the country by the end of 2014.

In the past, the country also actively supported the operations of the Alliance in Kosovo.

Mordaunt also said that the United Kingdom, like Azerbaijan, has a valuable property in the Caspian Sea which is in need of reliable protection.

"If Azerbaijan intends to strengthen its own navy to ensure the safety of platforms, then, in my opinion, the UK must create a condition for the sale of British ships," Mordaunt said.

She went on to say that restrictions on the sale of flotilla ships, namely patrol ships, to Azerbaijan must be lifted.

"Sale of patrol ships is in our interests. It benefits us, not only in ensuring the security of oil installations, pipelines, and ships in the Caspian Sea, but also in increasing the export of our ships. Such transactions will not affect Armenia, which is in conflict with Azerbaijan," Mordaunt said.

She also said that the UK should reconsider the list of restrictions on the sale of military equipment to Azerbaijan.

"We should exclude those weapons that serve the national security of Azerbaijan and the UK and will not be used in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," Mordaunt said.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since a lengthy war in the early 1990s that displaced over one million Azerbaijanis, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions.

She said that the same arguments apply to the question of training Azerbaijani naval officers.

Mordaunt added that this kind of trainings only strengthen cooperation between the two countries' armed forces.

The UK recognized Azerbaijan's independence in December, 1991. Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in March, 1992.

Azerbaijan and the UK have benefitted from close bilateral partnership and cooperation since 1992, in the framework of international organizations such as the United Nations, OSCE, Council of Europe, and NATO. The relations have covered a wide range of issues, from high-level political dialogue to growing trade and investment, as well as strengthening cultural and humanitarian ties.

Economic cooperation between the two countries, especially in the energy sector, is at the core of the relations between Azerbaijan and the UK. The UK is the largest foreign direct investor in Azerbaijan, followed by the U.S. and Japan.

Azerbaijan cooperates with the UK in the exploration and transportation of oil and natural gas from the Azerbaijani part of the Caspian Sea.