Richard Kauzlarich (*)
“… [O]ur path is clear…. The system of
government and style of society we are developing in Azerbaijan is based
on Western values, including democratic pluralism, the free market
economy, and a secular republic that respect (sic) universal human
rights.”
Heydar Aliyev (quoted by Thomas Goltz in Azerbaijan Diary pg. 477)
On December 3, 2014 the Heydar Aliyev era in Azerbaijan ended. With
it went the previously close political relationship between the United
States and Azerbaijan. Heydar Aliyev, who was President of Azerbaijan
from 1993 until his death in 2003, presided over a foreign policy that
emphasized energy relations with the West, and political and security
engagement with the United States and a range of transatlantic
institutions, such as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE), the Council on Europe (COE), European Union (EU) and
NATO. This policy eventually also led to Azeri military support for U.S.
operations in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. His son and successor,
Azerbaijan’s current president Ilham Aliyev, has increasingly moved away
from his father’s path and now seems to have approved a final rupture
with the past.
