Azerbaijan: Mossad Not to Participate in Eurovision (In Case You Were Wondering)

Two big news topics involving Azerbaijan recently have been a report about its alleged military cooperation with Israel against Iran and, of course, the ongoing saga of its preparations for next month's Eurovision in Baku. It didn't take long before the two topics merged.

A senior Azerbaijani government official has announced that Baku will neither help Israel attack Iran, nor will it need Israeli assistance to provide security for the international pop singers who will be in town for the Eurovision Song Contest. In response to media reports that claimed Mossad will be lending a hand at Eurovision, Ali Hasanov, the presidential administration's front-man for matters political, clarified that “Azerbaijan does not need the help of foreign special services, including the special services of Israel."

He went on to repeat denials that Azerbaijan is collaborating with Israel against Iran, saying that "Mossad does not have any secret or special chapter in Azerbaijan . . . "

"All of Azerbaijan's relations with other countries are transparent, and they are not and will not be directed against some other country, especially Iran,” he claimed.

Hasanov, essentially the voice of President Ilham Aliyev’s administration, has had quite a bit of denying to do lately on matters involving Iran and Israel. First, Azerbaijan foiled -- reportedly not without Mossad’s help -- a series of allegedly Iran-sponsored attacks against Israeli and US targets in Azerbaijan; then came a Foreign Policy story citing anonymous US officials who believe that Baku has agreed to let Israel use Azerbaijani airbases against Iran, should push come to shove with the international campaign against Iran's nuclear research program.

Hasanov angrily denied the report, but its author, Mark Perry, told NPR that Azerbaijani officials avoided addressing the key point in his article; that US military officials and diplomats believe that Azerbaijani “air bases could be used for landing rights or for drones and reconnaissance of for search-and-rescue missions.”

Some Azerbaijani military analysts, though, believe the story does not entirely reflect the reality on the ground; one of the airbases named as a likely candidate for use by Israel has been closed since the mid-1990s, and is situated next to a major highway that makes it unattractive for sensitive use, they told EurasiaNet.org.

Whatever the reality, though, Azerbaijani, Israeli and possibly Iranian security services will definitely be on alert during Eurovision, an excellent occasion for some international networking -- with or without sequins. Israel is also sending participants to the contest that, all of a sudden, is taking place at the forefront of a major international diplomatic battle.