Civil-Military Relations in Azerbaijan

Civil-Military Relations in Azerbaijan: The Prospects of Democratic Control on Army

• Jasur Mammadov (Sumerinli)

• The head of “Doctrine” Journalists’ Military Research Center (Azerbaijan).

• June 7-8, 2011, Warsaw, Poland

Establishment of civil-military relations and development process during 20 years of modern history of Azerbaijan:

• Patriotic Society (1991–94)

• The “Cease-Fire” Between the Army and Society (1994–98)

• The “Problem Boom” (1998–2005)

• International Support for Improved Civil-Military Relations (2005–present)

Patriotic Society (1991–94)

• this period saw numerous problems in the armed forces and in supplying and organizing the army;

• the media clearly had no intention of calling attention to these problems;

• there was almost no pressure placed on the military by the main ministries within the government;

• attention was drawn to problems within the army when some territory was lost or military operations were unsuccessful.

The “Cease-Fire” Between the Army and Society (1994–98)

• there were no mechanisms in place to aid in the establishment of civil-military relations;

• it was believed that any information or misinterpretation could lead to a new outbreak of armed conflict;

• the media was going to great lengths to obtain information, draw attention to problems in the army, and analyze them;

• military approaches typical of the old Soviet period were no longer accepted by society;

• most elements of civil society preferred not to stress the problems in the army.

The “Problem Boom” (1998–2005)

• several militarians began appearing in the media to inform society about problems in the army;

• various newspapers and TV channels reported on numerous problems in the army;

• military NGOs grew much more active, and held numerous news conferences;

• power ministries began to sense that they were under close scrutiny by society and the media;

• several government ministries filed numerous law suits against the media.

• media had a genuine opportunity to investigate what information they could obtain about the military.

International Support for Improved Civil-Military Relations (2005–present)

• Azerbaijan and NATO signed the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) in May 2005;

• within the framework of IPAP, Azerbaijan undertook numerous obligations;

• since 2005, the Azerbaijani public has gained access to alternative sources of information about the country’s defense and security;

• a significant information base was created that enabled journalists to analyze developments in the military.

IPAP document related:

• the transparency of the defense budget;

• issues of civilian democratic control over the military;

• structural changes in the MoD;

• increasing the involvement of civilians in the defense ministry apparatus;

• identifying posts that can be occupied by civilian staff; and

• codifying the necessary changes and addenda to legislation related to the defense system.

The PAP-DİB’s objectives include:

• effective and transparent arrangements for the democratic control of defence activities;

• civilian participation in developing defence and security policy; • effective and transparent legislative and judicial oversight of the defence sector; • enhanced assessment of security risks and national defence requirements,

matched with developing and maintaining affordable and interoperable capabilities;

• optimising the management of defence ministries and other agencies which have associated force structures;

• compliance with international norms and practices in the defence sector, including export controls;

• effective and transparent financial, planning and resource allocation procedures in the defence area;

• effective management of defence spending as well as of the socio-economic consequences of defence restructuring;

• effective and transparent personnel structures and practices in the defence forces;

• and effective international cooperation and good neighbourly relations in defence and security matters.

Foreign organizations which are helping to Azerbaijani government and society to build democratic

control on military forces

• Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE);

• Council of Europe;

• European Organizations of Military Associations (EUROMIL);

• Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF).

Democratic Control on Defence: real situation in Azerbaijan

• there has been no progress in implementing civilian control over the armed forces. Military spending and the budget are not transparent;

• the mechanism of the relevant ministries’ accountability to parliament is still not clear;

• there have not been sufficient improvements in the administrative system of the defense ministry staff;

• the process of separating the general staff of the armed forces from the defense ministry has actually failed;

• a number of changes that actually did take place as a result of the reforms have not been reflected in the country’s military legislation;

• human rights problems are on the rise in the Azerbaijani armed forces; • access to the process of drafting and adopting conceptual documents

has been extremely limited; • Azerbaijani society is in the dark about the program of reforms in the

armed forces.

What is our proposal?

• defence minister’s being civilian, increase of civil employees in defence and security sector;

• implementation of process of Headquarters’ separation from Defence Ministry apparatus;

• making up personnel engaged with strategic planning of Defence Ministry with civilians;

• implementation of parliament control mechanism; • amendments on democratic governing of army; • implementation of judicial and public control

mechanisms in execution level. • civil control on security and defense sector and increase

of foreign support in military field in the direction of democratic governing, stirring up NATO, OSCE, Council of Europe, DCAF and EUROMIL in this direction.

Thank you for attention!

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