I was very surprised several days ago when saw that Georgian and Azeri media had reported that the governments of these countries have concluded an agreement on joint protection of classified information.
Information was very scarce in the articles, which essentially had nothing to say, but given the political trends and political-military relations that now prevail in the Caucasus, one can assume that the governments of these countries want to hide some information from the world community.
Somehow, it has recently become an established trend in the Caucasus to establish economic ties with states that either do not recognize Israel, or have very bad relations with that country. Jordan’s Minister of Transport, Mohammad Quda, recently visited Georgia. Shortly before the visit, the King of Jordan had expressed harsh criticism of Israel.
On October 25, a ceremony was held at a new oil refinery in Turkey that was attended by Azerbaijan’s President, Ilham Aliyev. This factory can fully change the balance of power in the region. And Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan proudly said that Turkey would not tolerate the occupation of the “Karabakh.”
All this is occurring against the backdrop of the global economic Islamization of the Caucasian republics, and the establishment of military and economic cooperation between Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Iran.
Erdogan is expanding Turkey’s military and economic power. A week ago, the Turks launched their first military ship, and a few days ago they announced the creation of the first Turkish military unmanned drone.
Turkish armed forces say that they plan to use the drone “Anka” in the fight against terrorism. Earlier, Turkish Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz said that the UAV will go into service in 2012, and in April will be used in military operations.
Work on the creation of “Anka” started in 2004. The project was completed by about 180 engineers. The drone belongs to the class of devices capable of medium-long duration flight. This is the first independent development of Turkey in this field.
Turkey and Azerbaijan have agreed to manufacture ammunition for grenade launchers and sniper rifles.
Prior to that, the Caucasian republics, particularly Georgia, used the Israeli-made drone firm ELBIT.
Several years ago, Georgia purchased 12 drones, six of which Georgia was to pay for later, as was stipulated in the contract. But by 2011, Georgia had not paid the company supplying the drones, and the contract was terminated.
An Israeli company has filed a claim against Georgia in international arbitration, and is asking for compensation of US $100 million. This number, US $100 million, has become a fateful figure in the relations between Georgia and Israel. As I wrote before, it is how much the Georgian government has to pay to the Israeli businessmen Ronn Fuchs and Zeev Frenkel.
Against the background of terrorist activities enhancing the Iranian government and strengthening military and political relations between Turkey and Iran, and considering the attitude of Turkish and Iranian leaders toward the State of Israel, it would be appropriate to examine more carefully all military and economic relationships and contracts that are currently in place in the Caucasus and the Middle East.