Azerbaijan does not intend to send peacekeepers to Gaza

The Azerbaijani leader said that earlier statements by the US ambassador to the United Nations, which claimed that Baku had consented to join such a force, were both “false” and “unacceptable.”

By Etgar Lefkovits, JNS

Azerbaijan does not intend to participate in a much-touted Gaza international security force, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said on Monday.

In an interview with Azeri TV, Aliyev made it clear that the predominantly Shi’ite Muslim nation, which has close ties with Israel, intends to steer clear of the Gaza imbroglio despite earlier claims by U.S. officials that Azerbaijan had agreed to be part of such a force.

“I have always maintained that the affairs of Arab countries should be resolved by the Arab countries themselves,” he said.

“I remain deeply convinced that non-Arab Muslim countries should not get ahead of themselves. This will lead to no good.”

The Azerbaijani leader noted that Baku has had to deal with its own wars against former arch-rival Armenia, and does not intend to put its citizens in harm’s way after suffering heavy losses in its own conflicts.

“When we were in trouble, we were left to our own fate. No one protected us,” he said. “Furthermore, with all due respect and sympathy for Palestine, Palestine did not particularly protect us either.”

The Azerbaijani leader stated that earlier statements by the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, which claimed that Baku had consented to join such a force, were both “false” and “unacceptable,” even if they were intended to encourage other countries to join.

He noted that Azerbaijan had been in contact with the U.S. administration with a list of more than 20 questions about the operation of a peacekeeping force in Gaza, but had not received any clarification, with both the mandate and nature of the force remaining unclear.

The next phase of President Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan envisioned the deployment of an international stabilization force, a technocratic governing body for Gaza, the disarmament of Hamas and further Israeli troop withdrawals from the territory.

However, the future of the peace plan has been thrown into uncertainty due to Hamas’s refusal to disarm.

“The decision made by the Azerbaijani president reflects responsibility, discretion and strategic vision, taking into consideration the regional stability and a complex reality,” Roman Gurevich, honorary ambassador of the Jewish Agency in Azerbaijan, told JNS on Tuesday.