VZCZCXYZ0002
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHKB #0965/01 3491314
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 151314Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY BAKU
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2163

UNCLAS BAKU 000965 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/CARC, S/CT (RHONDA SHORE) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER PGOV PREL AJ IR
SUBJECT: AZERBAIJAN: 2009 COUNTRY REPORTS ON TERRORISM 
 
REF: STATE 109980 
 
 Summary: Cooperation between Azerbaijan and the United 
States on counterterrorism predates the September 11, 2001 
attacks and the first waiver of Section 907 of the FREEDOM 
Support Act in January 2002. For the last several years, the 
GOAJ has increased its efforts to combat terrorist financing, 
and has aggressively apprehended and tried members of 
suspected terrorist groups. It has also closed organizations 
operating in Azerbaijan that were suspected of supporting 
terrorist groups, including some known to have directly 
targeted U.S. interests. End Summary. 
 
Proposed report for Azerbaijan in 2009 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 invaluable 
assistance 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 
Baku's civilian airport in support of U.S. and Coalition 
military operations in Afghanistan.  Azerbaijan supported 
peacekeeping operations in Iraq from August 2003 to November 
2008 with an infantry company of approximately 150 soldiers 
stationed at the Haditha dam. Azerbaijan maintains 90 
soldiers in Afghanistan and cooperates with the Coalition in 
medical and social services and civilian capacity-building. 
Azerbaijani forces also contributed for several years to 
peacekeeping operations in Kosovo, serving alongside Turkish 
units. 
 
Azerbaijan has also provided unstinting political support to 
the United States in the Global War on Terrorism. With its 
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, Azerbaijan implemented UN Security 
Council resolutions 1368, 1373 and 1377. In May 2005, it 
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 is a logical route for terrorist 
organizations seeking to move people, money, and materiel 
through the Caucasus, the country actively opposes them. 
Azerbaijan has stepped up its efforts and has had some 
success in reducing their presence and hampering their 
activities. In recent months, Azerbaijan has shown an 
increasing level of seriousness and urgency in taking steps 
to combat terrorist financing, and is proceeding with efforts 
to implement its law on anti-money laundering (AML) and 
counter-terrorism financing and establish a Financial 
Investigative Unit (FIU).  The Central Bank, which houses the 
FIU, prepared an action plan in October 2009 to bring 
Azerbaijan's AML/FIU into conformity with the standards of 
the United Nations, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) 
and other international organizations and conventions, and 
submitted the plan to MONEYVAL, the Council of Europe's 
expert commission on money laundering and terrorist finance. 
That institution, in turn, reviewed Azerbaijan's proposals in 
December and agreed to withdraw its advisory (on 
non-compliance) on Azerbaijan.  MONEYVAL noted, however, that 
issues and concerns on implementation remain, and that 
Azerbaijan is expected to take legislative action this 
spring.  MONEYVAL's plenary session will further review 
Azerbaijan's progress in March 2010.   The FIU has requested 
technical assistance from the USG to improve the legal 
framework in the AML/CTF area, establish information systems, 
build capacity for AML/CTF stakeholders, and develop a 
mid-term strategy plan for the FIU.  Azerbaijan continues to 
identify possible terrorist-related funding by distributing 
lists of suspected terrorist groups and individuals to local 
banks. 
 
Azerbaijan is located along drug transit routes running from 
Afghanistan and Central Asia or Iran to Russia and Europe, 
and trans-shipments of illegal substances from East to West 
via its territory remain Azerbaijan's primary narcotics 
issue. Domestic consumption and cultivation of narcotics as 
well as seizures have continued to increase.  The GOAJ 
continues to refine its strategy to combat drug transit and 
use in Azerbaijan, and is bolstering its ability to collect 
and analyze drug-related intelligence.  As a result, the GOAJ 
is engaging in more productive investigations against 
narcotics traffickers.  Corruption remains a significant 
problem in Azerbaijan, however, and permeates much of 
society.  The United States has funded counternarcotics 
assistance to Azerbaijan through the FREEDOM Support Act 
since 2002; Azerbaijan is party to the 1988 United Nations 
Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and 
Psychotropic Substances. 
 
In 2007, the Ministry of National Security (MNS) rounded up 
15 Azerbaijani citizens who were members of the "Mahdi Army 
Group," a jihadist organization the government linked to the 
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. 
 
On June 18, the Military Court of Grave Crimes sentenced 
Lieutenant Kamran Asadov and 20 accomplices to prison terms 
from two to 15 years for their participation in an abortive 
plot to attack the United States and British embassies in 
Baku in late 2007.  Asadov and his confederates stole weapons 
and ammunition from the army base where he was posted and 
committed an armed robbery at a Lukoil gas station, probably 
to finance their cell.  The Ministry of National Security 
(MNS) arrested the group members in October and early 
November 2007. The investigation established connections 
between Asadov and foreign Salafist extremists. According to 
press reports, members of the group told the MNS that they 
planned to attack the U.S. Embassy. 
 
On October 4, a Baku court sentenced two Lebanese nationals - 
Ali Muhammad Karaki and Ali Hussein Najmeddin - to 15 years 
each, and sentenced four Azerbaijani accomplices to terms of 
two to 14 years.  The court found that the group was planning 
attacks on the Israeli Embassy.  The investigation revealed 
links between Karaki and Hussein, Hizballah and supporters in 
Iran. 
 
In two separate trials in October, the Court of Grave Crimes 
sentenced 15 Azerbaijani nationals to prison terms ranging 
from six months to 30 months for participating in illegal 
armed formations in Pakistan and Afghanistan.  In the 11 
cases where the accused received six months, they were 
released, having already served that much time since their 
arrests.  Depending on the individual combinations of charges 
proffered, each of the 15 defendants had been in jeopardy of 
a sentence of up to five or seven years. 
 
On November 4, a Baku court sentenced 26 people - 23 
Azerbaijanis, two Turkish nationals and a Russian national - 
to prison terms from 2 to 15 years for the August 17, 2008 
attack on Baku's main Sunni mosque, known as Abu Bakr. The 
grenade attack killed three people and wounded eight others. 
The mosque has not reopened since the attack.  The 
Azerbaijani government linked the Abu Bakr Mosque attackers 
to the "Forest Brothers" organization of the North Caucasus, 
whose leader Ilgar Mollachiyev was killed in Dagestan in 
September 2008. 
 
 
There is no evidence in 2009 that terrorists find safe haven 
in Azerbaijan or that there is any terrorist group operating 
in Azerbaijan which meets the guidelines defined for this 
report. 
 
 
EMBASSY POINT OF CONTACT: 
 
POLITICAL OFFICER PETER ANDREOLI 
EMAIL: ANDREOLIPD@STATE.GOV 
INTERNATIONAL LINE: 994124980335 
TIE LINE: 841-4230 
INTERNATIONAL FAX: 994124656671 
TIE LINE FAX: 841-4289 
LU