Looks like it's Tuvalu time again. But, this time, in a different part of the breakaway-rich South Caucasus.
After Tuvalu and Armenia established diplomatic ties last month, commentators in Azerbaijan and its ally, Turkey, started casting suspicious eyes on the tiny South Pacific state.
They suspected that Tuvalu, already known for its surprise recognition of the independence of the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, might again be preparing to pull a fast one.
Granted, not on its own steam. Drawing on their own history with Russia constantly breathing down their necks, South Caucasus countries rarely see other small countries as operating on their own initiative; somewhere, in the wings, must stand a deep-pocketed Big Buddy.
Georgia, locked in a dispute with Moscow over Abkhazia and South Ossetia, is convinced that Russian rubles motivated what Tuvalu claims was an act of trans-Oceanic friendship. Now, it's Azerbaijan’s turn to ask questions.
Will Tuvalu accept money from Armenia (via Russia, Armenia's own Big Buddy) for recognition of the independence of Nagorno Karabakh?
“Not that I know of,” Tuvalu’s Permanent Secretary for International Affairs Tapugao Falufao told a radio program in New Zealand. “[T]here is no financial support that we have received from Armenia and there was no financial support that has been pledged by Armenia as far as I am aware,” Falufao said.
But Tuvalu also has a political opposition that is not happy about the country's foreign policy. An opposition member of the 15-seat parliament, Enele Sapoaga, is concerned over “the government’s drive to set up diplomatic ties with countries in the Caucasus,” and believes that the "peace-loving" island should be more selective in picking its friends, Radio New Zealand International reports.
Meanwhile, where Armenia itself stands on the topic remains unclear, but, then, perhaps that's to be expected. Despite a long and bitter war with Azerbaijan to back Karabakh separatists and go-nowhere international talks on the conflict, Yerevan has never actually recognized Nagorno Karabakh's independence.
Will it want a 26-square-kilometer country in the South Pacific to do the honors instead? If so, it's not talkin'.
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