AZERBAIJAN: Authorities and ecologists disagree about the future of Soviet-era Qabala radar station, ahead of the next round of lease negotiations between Russia and Azerbaijan

Record ID: 218155

  • Title: AZERBAIJAN: Authorities and ecologists disagree about the future of Soviet-era Qabala radar station, ahead of the next round of lease negotiations between Russia and Azerbaijan
  • Date: 14th March 2012
  • Summary: BAKU, AZERBAIJAN (RECENT - MARCH 2011) (REUTERS) AIDIN MIRZAZADE, MEMBER OF AZERBAIJAN'S DEFENCE AND SECURITY PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE, WALKING ON STREET (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) AIDIN MIRZAZADE, MEMBER OF AZERBAIJAN'S DEFENCE AND SECURITY PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE, SAYING: "Negotiations are in progress. There are no disagreements at all. I think that both sides would manage
  • Embargoed: 29th March 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan
  • Country: Azerbaijan
  • Topics: Environment,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA8BJ2K8Y9PPJPJA2Z4MH09JAAO
  • Story Text: Azerbaijan authorities and ecologists are divided over the future of the Soviet-era anti-missile Qabala radar, ahead of approaching next round of negotiations of the lease contract terms.
    Qabala, one of the world's biggest radars and a part of the most important elements of the USSR missile defence system, located in the northwest of Azerbaijan became Azeri property after the country gained independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
    Russia continued to use the radar station paying USD 7 million annually according to the contract which expires this year.
    Talks on extending the lease contract between Russia and Azerbaijan started last year, but brought the parties to a deadlock as Baku wants Moscow to pay more.
    Aidin Mirzazade, a member of Azerbaijan's Defence and Security Parliamentary Committee, says the deal will be reached in the near future.
    "Negotiations are in progress. There are no disagreements at all. I think that both sides would manage to agree, in particular on payments issues. Azerbaijan is interested in prolongation of the agreement. We see the similar interest in Russia. I do not think that the sides would stop cooperation. Both sides would benefit from this (deal)," Aidin Mirzazade told Reuters.
    "At the moment Azerbaijan wants to get 30 million (USD) for lease of the facility, and Russia wants (to pay) 15 million (USD) and at the same time it wants to halve the territory of the facility," Mirzazade said.
    Russia leased the radar station in 2002 for ten years and paid seven million USD annually for this missile intercepting facility 230 km (144 miles) north of Baku. The radar has a 6,000 km (3,750 mile) range and scans the Indian Ocean, the Middle East and most of North Africa, including Iran.
    But many in Azerbaijan are against the presence of Qabala radar in the region for environmental and security concerns.
    Ecologist Telman Zeinalov is one of those who voices these concerns and says the station should be closed down as soon as possible.
    "It (radar) affects not only the state of mind of people. Men become impotent, women either do not give birth at all, or they have children with mutations. We see a similar affect on agriculture. The crop capacity in the region fell by 30 percent and as a result the population of that region, once the richest part of the Azeri population turned into a poor one," Telman Zeinalov told Reuters.
    Telman Zeinalov said that current political developments in combination with the presence of the radar in his country were pregnant with danger for the population.
    Azerbaijan, a Muslim Caspian Sea state and former Soviet republic that borders Iran has a secular government and cordial ties with the United States and Israel.
    "I think that use the radar on the territory of Azerbaijan as a lever and a weapon in Russia's hands, plus bearing in mind Iran, it might be very harmful for Azerbaijan," Zeinalov said.
    Tension between Iran and Azerbaijan has increased in recent months following the deaths of Iranian nuclear scientists in attacks Tehran blamed on Israel and the United States.
    In February the Islamic Republic accused Azerbaijan of assisting Israeli intelligence in the assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist, Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, who was killed when a bomb was attached to his car.
    In 2007 Moscow offered Washington to use Qabala as an alternative to planned missile defence shield, but the United States rejected the offer.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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