On 28 March it will be 85 years since the first Azerbaijani special service agency was created.

To mark the occasion, Azernews staff writer Khalida Bagirova talks to Dr. Mammad Jafarli, head of the department of the Ministry of National Security. During the interview, Dr. M. Jafarli kindly shared stories from the history of security organizations and told us about their current work on the domestic and international level..

The special services, which are charged with the important and complicated task of national security enforcement, usually try to make their work intangible for the society. Meanwhile, the overwhelming part of the achievements Azerbaijan has made in combating international terrorism is the result of the work done by our special services. Is this a logical consequence of historical traditions and extensive experience gained by those services?

M.J. You raised a very interesting question. As you know, after the collapse of tsarist Russia the Azeri people, for the first time in the muslim orient, proclaimed on May 28th, 1918 the establishment of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. At last people got the independence that they had been longing for years. However, external interference complemented by internal reactionary forces hindered the protection of that independence. To combat against these obstacles the ADR government created a military intelligence and counter-intelligence service on March 28th, 1919. Later, this agency continued its activity as the Organization on Combating Counterrevolution (OCC). Unlike Georgia and Armenia, which had failed to establish their special services by that time, Azerbaijan managed to create an organization dealing with classic intelligence and counterintelligence, based upon the European experience. Members of the OCC were successful in guarding the Republic as they concentrated their efforts mainly in Ganja and Baku against the subversive activity of the Bolsheviks and Armenian dashnaks. However, despite the effort, the ADR fell due the Bolshevik military invasion in 1920. After regaining its independence in 1991, the Azeri people once again faced external and internal reactionaries, the subversive and terrorist activities of foreign special services and their independence was again under threat. Attempting to stop history from repeating itself, the staff of the ministry joined the struggle for the independence of Azerbaijan. Now, our independence is a historical reality.

What contribution has Azerbaijan made to the development of international co-operation in combating terrorism?

M.J. Azerbaijan completely supports all the endeavours of the international community in fighting terrorism, which is the main global threat to the world, and resolutely condemns all forms and manifestations of terrorism regardless of its grounds; political, economical, religious or other. Azerbaijan was among the first countries to join the global antiterrorist coalition after 9/11. Azerbaijan, used to be a target for terror attacks and has a moral right to stand in the front line of fighters against terrorism, and proves its commitment through deeds, not words. The significant contribution of Azerbaijan within the global antiterrorist coalition is highly valued by the international community. For instance, as a consequence of our operations since 2000, six branches of humanitarian organizations in Azerbaijan have been closed and their state registration cancelled for their engagement in financing mujahadeens connected with international terrorist organizations and directing them to conflict zones, as well as for radical religious propaganda incompatible with their official status. Generally more than 30, and after 9/11 dozens of foreigners, who were members of "Al-Qaida", "Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiyya", "Egyptian Islamic Jihad" and other organizations, have been extradited to their own countries. Furthermore, 8 people belonging to terrorist organizations and engaged in their financing have been arrested by foreign special services in different countries on the basis of information provided by the MNS. The frequently changing geopolitical realities of the modern world have upgraded the nature and quality of co-operation between the special services. Given those realities and in order to expand its international ties the MNS has engaged in bilateral and multilateral co-operation with foreign special services. In addition, the fight against organized crime in the economic sphere and drug trafficking are a focus for international co-operation. The MNS has played a significant role in the development of the agreement between Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey on combating terrorism, organized crime and other major crimes, signed in April 2002 in Trabzon. A similar agreement was signed by GUUAM member-states in July 2002. At the same time the MNS is continuously striving within the framework of UNO, NATO, OSCE, IAAE, Council of Europe and other international organizations for the enforcement of national interests, as well as for the exposure and condemnation of the policy of state terrorism and aggressive separatism conducted by Armenia. The achievements made by Azerbaijan in combating all manifestations of terrorism have been reflected in the annual reports for 2001, 2002, 2003 submitted to the Counter Terrorist Committee of the UN Security Council and the statements of the US Department of State. Thanks to the efforts of the MNS, a representative of the Azerbaijan Republic was for the first time elected a member of bureau of the CoE Committee of Experts on Terrorism (CODEXTER).

The Azeri people and the state have suffered from Armenian terrorism, which is an integral part of international terrorism. Could you tell us about what has been done to suppress Armenian terrorism?

M.J. You are absolutely right in calling Armenian terrorism a part of international terrorism. The history of Armenian terrorism is longer than 100 years old. Armenian terrorists, who assassinated statesmen of the ADR at the beginning of 20th century, continued during the repressions of 1937 conducted by USSR NKVD. Disclosed archive materials clearly demonstrate that Armenian judges and investigators repressed and thereafter demolished thousands of Azeri people branding them "enemies of the state". Even today Azerbaijan is still number one in the target list of Armenia supporting terrorism on the state level. I have to stress that the prevention of the aggressive policy of Armenia against Azerbaijan is one of the global tasks our ministry is charged with. At present the MNS, in co-operation with other state bodies, is working on a legal evaluation of the policy of genocide, deportation and ethnic cleansing conducted by Armenia against Azeri people. For that purpose, the facts are being documented in accordance with international standards and sent to the appropriate world organizations and institutions. Armenia recently expanded its subversive activity aimed at blocking the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline project and other international contracts of great political-economic importance. The creation of the "Apostle" terrorist group in April 2001 by Armenians living in Armenia, Syria and Lebanon assigned to conduct terrorist activity in Azerbaijan and Turkey, as well as the active subversive actions against BTC undertaken by the "Virk" party in Javakhetiya attracts attention and can serve a clear evidence for the above thesis.

We resolutely stop all the attempts by the state bodies of Armenia and diaspora to engage representatives of ethnic minorities, prisoners of war, hostages and third countries citizens in perpetration of diversions and affected intensification of inter-ethnic relations in Azerbaijan. Could you please share your views on the connections between international terrorist organizations and Armenian terrorist groups like "Dashnaksyutun", "ASALA", "Hnchak" distinguished for their ruthless style of terror against Azeri citizens?

M.J. Practice demonstrates that modern terrorist and extremist organizations of different manifestations are tightly connected to each other. Political and religious extremism, aggressive separatism, anti-globalisation, left and rightwing radicalism are links of the same terrorist "chain", complementing each other in different spheres of terrorist activity. Destroying with one link or one component would not constitute the valid resolution of the problem of terrorism as a whole. For instance, there won't be a complete and final resolution of the problem if the world community directs its efforts only to fighting international terrorism under the religious cover. This struggle should not be divided into the "primary" and "secondary" types; terrorism must be coped with along the front line. Given that, I'd like to reiterate that terrorism has neither nationality nor religion. Undoubtedly Armenian terrorist groups, as part of the international terrorist infrastructure, interact with other organizations including "Hezbollah" and "Hamas", and co-ordinate their steps in the field of organized crime. I regret to say that despite the fact that the international community is very well informed about Armenian terrorism it hasn't impartially assessed the policy of state terrorism and aggressive separatism conducted by Armenia against Azerbaijan yet. Let's take the example of the CIS countries suffering from aggressive separatism. Though Azerbaijan has, many times, addressed all the relevant structures of the CIS highlighting the need for the development of an interstate legal document dedicated to the problem of fighting separatism, that suggestion was blocked every time. Nevertheless, some international organizations and institutions have started criticising the destructive position of Armenia, which challenges the regional security of the Southern Caucasus, even though it's come rather late. The inclusion of expressions like "regions occupied by Armenia" in some documents of the European Union means now that Armenia is being acknowledged as an aggressor state. There is no doubt that this process will further develop in line with the political will of Azerbaijan because the global world of today is crushing all the stereotypes erected in the past. It was an old misconception to think that the security of one country can be ensured at the expense of another's. The security, sovereignty and territorial integrity of one country can only be ensured, when other countries have the same guarantees. All of us in civilized states are responsible for each other in this vulnerable world and the international community must force aggressors to follow these civilized rules for coexistence.

“Azernews” 25.03.2004