From Weapons to Humanitarian Aid, Azerbaijan & Pakistan Seen As Reliable Partners

Azerbaijan prides itself on enjoying special relations with the world’s only Muslim nuclear state. Geographically far away from the Caspian region and technically part of South Asia, Pakistan is the sixth-most populous nation on the planet, with a population exceeding 200 million.

This year Azerbaijan and Pakistan are celebrating 25 years of diplomatic relations, which kicked off on June 9, 1992. Pakistan was the second country, after Turkey, to recognize Azerbaijan’s independence, following the collapse of the USSR in 1991.

Pakistan is the only country in the world that has not recognized Armenia, which also became independent after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Islamabad refuses to do so until Armenian troops leave the territories they occupy inside Azerbaijan, including Nagorno Karabakh. Pakistan also demands justice for the Khojaly genocide committed by Armenian forces in February 1992 against the Azerbaijani population.

There, in a village inside Nagorno Karabakh,  more than 613 civilians, including 106 women and 63 children, were killed by Armenian and Soviet armed forces. Addressing the 13th summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization in Islamabad in February, President Ilham Aliyev named Pakistan as one of more than ten countries in the world that recognized the Khojaly genocide.

The two countries first signed a defense agreement in May 2003, which allowed Azerbaijani military personnel, in particular Special Forces units, to take part in Pakistan’s annual drills. More recently, however, Azerbaijan is actively looking to benefit from Islamabad’s military-industrial outputs in order to help diversify its weapons suppliers, at a time when 20 percent of its internationally-recognized territory remains under Armenian occupation.

Cooperation between the two countries entered a new phase in June, when Pakistan decided to sell 10 Super Mushshak trainer planes to Azerbaijan. The agreement includes operational training and technical support to Azerbaijan’s air force.

In February, prior to the signing of the contract, Pakistan’s Minister of Defense Production Rana Tanveer Hussain told media that Pakistan was ready to supply Azerbaijan with the Joint Fighter 17 Thunder and Super Mushshak trainer aircrafts. Both are jointly developed by Pakistan and China.

“We can cooperate in a wide spectrum of spheres, ranging from sub-munition to the manufacture of aircraft,” Hussain said.

More recently, at a meeting with Pakistan’s ambassador to Azerbaijan on July 28, Azerbaijani Defense Minister Col-Gen Zakir Hasanov underscored bilateral ties and committed to move forward with military-to-military relations, including technical and educational components. Hasanov had specifically noted that Super Mushshak trainer plane purchased from Pakistan will play an important role for Azerbaijani military pilots to improve their military prowess.

Azerbaijan is not the only benefactor of the relationship. Since 2005, Azerbaijan has been actively engaged in humanitarian projects inside Pakistan, conducted under the auspices of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation. The construction of a girls’ school in Muzaffarabad in 2005 was considered a pilot project, and over the past 12 years the foundation has implemented projects in healthcare, ecology as well as education.

In 2012, some 40,000 people were vaccinated against Hepatitis B, thanks to donations of the vaccine to Edhi Homes Orphanages in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad. Known for sending aid packages during Ramadan, the foundation also donated a fully-equipped ambulance as well as and 2,000 blood transfusion packets to the Hamza Foundation.

Other projects, like the Heydar Aliyev Water Supply program implemented in the Dera Ismail Khan district in 2014 provide thousands of people with clean drinking water.