VZCZCXYZ0001
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHKB #1842/01 3551051
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 211051Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY BAKU
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 2017

UNCLAS BAKU 001842 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ASEC EFIN KCRM KPAO PTER KHLS AEMR AJ KAPO
SUBJECT: AZERBAIJAN: 2006 COUNTRY REPORT ON TERRORISM 
 
REF: STATE 175925 
 
¶1.  Summary: Cooperation between Azerbaijan and the United 
States on counterterrorism predates the September 11, 2001 
attacks and the waiver of Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support 
Act in January 2002.  Over the past five years, the GOAJ has 
continued to step up its efforts to combat terrorist 
financing, and has aggressively apprehended and tried members 
of suspected terrorist groups.  It has rendered numerous 
terrorists and persons suspected of having ties to 
terrorists.  It has also closed Islamic organizations 
operating in Azerbaijan, which were suspected of supporting 
terrorist groups.  In April 2006, Azerbaijan sentenced two 
separate terrorist cells associated with militant Islam to 
prison sentences. End Summary. 
 
¶2.  Proposed report for Azerbaijan in 2006 Patterns of Global 
Terrorism Report to Congress. 
 
Azerbaijan and the United States have a very good record of 
cooperation on counterterrorism issues that predates the 
September 11, 2001 attacks.  Azerbaijan assisted in the 
investigation of the 1998 East Africa Embassy bombings and 
has cooperated with the U.S. Embassy in Baku to counter 
terrorist threats against the mission.  After the September 
11 attacks, the Government of Azerbaijan expressed 
unqualified support for the United States and offered 
"whatever means necessary" to the U.S.-led counterterrorism 
coalition.  Azerbaijan has granted blanket overflight 
clearance, engaged in information sharing and law-enforcement 
cooperation, and has approved numerous landings and refueling 
operations at its civilian airport in support of U.S. 
military operations in Afghanistan.  Azerbaijan has supported 
peacekeeping operations in Iraq since August 2003 with an 
infantry company of approximately 150 soldiers stationed at 
the Haditha dam.  A platoon of Azerbaijani soldiers has been 
working with the Turkish peacekeeping contingent in 
Afghanistan since November 2002, and President Aliyev 
announced plans to double this number to between 40 and 44 
soldiers.  Another platoon has been working with the Turkish 
peacekeeping contingent in Kosovo since 1999. 
 
Azerbaijan has also provided strong political support to the 
United States in the Global War on Terrorism.  With the 2005 
ratification of the International Convention for the 
Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism, Azerbaijan has 
acceded to all 13 United Nations Conventions on Terrorism. 
It has also joined 11 European conventions on combating 
terrorism.  In 2003, the GOAJ implemented UN Security Council 
resolutions 1368, 1373 and 1377.  In May 2005, the 
GOAJ joined the Convention of the Council of Europe on 
terrorism prevention.  The government also approved changes 
to the criminal code that increased the maximum penalty for 
acts of terrorism from 15 years to life imprisonment and 
added a provision making the financing of terrorist 
activities a crime under Azerbaijani law. 
 
While Azerbaijan has served as a route for international 
mujahedin with ties to terrorist organizations seeking to 
move people, money, and material throughout the Caucasus, 
Azerbaijan has stepped up its efforts and has had some 
success in reducing their presence and hampering their 
activities.  Azerbaijan has taken steps to combat terrorist 
financing and identify possible terrorist-related funding by 
distributing lists of suspected terrorist groups and 
individuals to local banks.  In May 2003, the GOAJ 
established an inter-ministerial experts group responsible 
for drafting anti-money laundering and counterterrorist 
finance legislation.  In December 2006, the experts group, 
through the President's office, provided its most recent 
draft to the U.S. Department of Justice and the COE for 
comment.  The draft law includes the establishment of a 
Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and expands the predicate 
crimes for money laundering beyond narcotics trafficking. 
The Embassy anticipates that comments in-line with 
international standards will be provided in mid-January and 
continued emphasis will be placed on adoption of the law. 
 
In April 2006, the Azerbaijani Serious Crimes court sentenced 
six men in a group called Al-Muvahhidun Jamaat to prison 
terms ranging from 10-15 years.  The group was convicted of 
the following crimes:  illegal purchasing of weapons, armed 
robbery, illegal border crossing, fabricating documents and 
resistance to law enforcement.  According to the Azerbaijani 
Ministry of National Security, the members of the group 
planned to travel to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and Turkey 
for military training.  The group was accused of planning 
bomb attacks on the U.S., Israeli and Russian embassies, the 
State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) 
building, and the National Bank of Azerbaijan, and "seeking 
the physical elimination of the leaders of Azerbaijan's 
government and security forces."  The group was originally 
arrested on July 13, 2005. 
Also in April 2006, in a separate trial involving a separate 
group, also called al-Qaida Caucasus (separate from a group 
of the same name sentenced in 2005), 16 group members were 
sentenced to terms of up to life in prison.  The group was 
convicted of the illegal purchase and bearing of firearms and 
also for the assassination in July 2005 of an officer of the 
Azerbaijani Ministry of Internal Affairs.  This group 
consisted of citizens of Azerbaijan, Turkey, Russia and 
Yemen.  Most of them were activists of various radical 
religious organizations and that had undergone training at a 
camp in Georgia's Pankisi Gorge. 
 
According to media reports, Azerbaijan also participated in 
the international investigation regarding bombings at the 
U.S. embassy in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in June 2004.  The 
investigation led to the conviction and sentencing of 
Kazakhstani citizen Zhakshibek Biymurzayev to 25 years in 
prison on terrorism charges in Kazakhstan.  Biymurzayev was 
one of the main orchestrators of the Tashkent suicide bombing 
and a high-level member of the Islamic Jihad Union. 
 
Since the September 11 attacks, Azerbaijan has turned over 
approximately 32 foreign citizens with suspected ties to 
terrorists, including eight to Egypt and three to Saudi 
Arabia.  Overall, the State Border Guard Service reported 
that it has extradited 39 international terrorists and 
deported 152 people on suspicion of ties to terrorist 
organizations.  In 2006, Azerbaijan turned one terrorism 
suspect over to Russia.  The individual was accused of a 
bombing in Dagestan in 2002.  He was originally arrested in 
Azerbaijan and sentenced by an Azerbaijani court in April 
2006 to seven years in prison.  He was then extradited to 
Russia for investigation. 
 
There is no evidence in 2006 that terrorists find safe haven 
in Azerbaijan or that there is any terrorist group operating 
in Azerbaijan which meets the guidelines as defined for this 
report. 
 
EMBASSY POINT OF CONTACT: 
 
EMAIL:  LEWISMW@STATE.GOV 
INTERNATIONAL LINE:  994124980335 
TIE LINE:  841-0000 
INTERNATIONAL FAX:  994124656671 
TIE LINE FAX:  841-4289 
 
ADDIONAL POC 
 
EMAIL: BENNETTJA@STATE.GOV 
HYLAND