Naryshkin's Visit: "The West Does Not See Us as One of Their Own..."

The discussion about the issues raised during the visit of Sergey Naryshkin, Director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), to Baku on October 2-3 is still ongoing in Azerbaijan.

According to the SVR's statement (Azerbaijani official entities have not issued any information regarding the discussions during the visit), Naryshkin's meeting with Azerbaijani officials addressed the timely detection and prevention of anti-Russian and anti-Azerbaijani provocative actions abroad. "The importance of strengthening joint efforts against the use of non-systemic opposition and international terrorist organizations by foreign intelligence services to create socio-political instability in Russia and Azerbaijan was emphasized," the statement noted.

Hikmet Babaoğlu, a deputy from the ruling New Azerbaijan Party (YAP), told Turan that President Ilham Aliyev had previously mentioned during the opening of the 7th convocation of the parliament that a hybrid war was being waged against the country: "This is indeed the case. A hybrid war has many different components: terrorism, information terrorism, weakening of public opinion, the use of values such as democracy and human rights for specific goals, and others. There are numerous universal tools to conduct this hybrid war."

According to the deputy, in a globalized world, states cannot ensure their security alone: "Therefore, if we look closely, we will see that joint efforts against regional threats and information warfare in the context of regional security are more effective."

Babaoğlu also spoke about the methods chosen by Azerbaijan to counter hybrid wars. He noted that, first and foremost, a common struggle was identified within the framework of the Organization of Turkic States: “Once again, looking at it in a global context, meetings in this area are also held within the CIS. Therefore, if we evaluate Naryshkin's statements in this context, we can reach more accurate conclusions.”

In his view, the emphasis seems to be more on ensuring mutual security rather than interfering in the internal affairs of Azerbaijan or any other country: “As a result, the West does not see either us or Russia as one of their own. If we are ‘foreign’ to the West, then we are also targets of the West’s hybrid wars. If we consider France’s and the US's official stance towards us, how they have strengthened Armenia, and the statement by US Vice President Kamala Harris that ‘the return of the Armenian community to Karabakh is the key to stability in the region,’ it becomes evident that this is a threat to our rights and contrary to international law. Therefore, we must protect ourselves against this. Naryshkin's words should be viewed in this context.”

Seymur Hazi, Deputy Chairman of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (AXCP), which boycotted the recent parliamentary elections, told Radio Azadliq that the lack of any rebuttal from official Baku indicates a serious threat to Azerbaijan's state sovereignty: “This is a statement that demonstrates Russia’s dominance over Azerbaijan’s political geography. Politics is the internal matter of every state, and political organization is governed by the country's internal legislation. There is no organization within Azerbaijan that has been declared illegal. From this perspective, Naryshkin's statement was a provocative one.”

According to Hazi, all of this constitutes a threat to Azerbaijan’s sovereignty: “Rather than analyzing the concepts of ‘systemic’ and ‘non-systemic’ opposition, or pondering over ‘whom they mean here,’ we should focus on the fact that Russia is effectively conducting operations inside Azerbaijan. These operations are an intervention in Azerbaijan’s political sovereignty.”

Another opposition figure, Mustafa Hajibeyli, Deputy Chairman of the Musavat Party, also stated that Naryshkin’s remarks amount to interference in Azerbaijan’s internal affairs: “This is not the first time Russia has intervened in Azerbaijan’s internal matters. Years ago, the Secretary of the Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, questioned how it was possible that in Azerbaijan, candidates for parliament could openly criticize the government, yet still have their candidacies registered.”

In Hajibeyli’s view, there is one aspect that unites Azerbaijan and Russia: “In neither Russia nor Azerbaijan does the power belong to the people. They are cooperating to protect their own power. In Azerbaijan, even without Russia’s call, opposition that has not been sanctioned by the authorities is constantly under pressure.”