When newly arrived Azerbaijani Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Mammad Talibov to his first national day reception last month (marking the 99th anniversary of that country’s founding as the first predominantly Muslim republic in 1918), he spoke about the “strengthening bilateral relations” and the broad spectrum of two-way cooperation in the fields of energy, trade, tourism, culture sports and science.
“Looking back, we can confirm that 25 years [of binational diplomatic relations] have laid the foundation to develop mutual understanding and a desire for bilateral cooperation,” he said in his official welcome speech.
“The period has generated new ideas, strengths and incentives for Mexico and Azerbaijan to be closer than ever.”
But bilateral diplomatic relations between Mexico and Azerbaijan have not always been stellar.
Despite an all-out push by the former Soviet republic over the course of the last 10 years to bolster the two-way relationship through increased diplomatic, cultural, economic, commercial and political cooperation, the otherwise sterling friendship has often been darkened by the shadow of a nasty incident that occurred back in 2012 involving a marble statue of the Caucasian country’s founding father and national hero, Heydar Aliyev.
The massive statue, which was part of a $10 million gift to the Mexico City government by Azerbaijan to help renovate a 1.7-hectare section of Chapultepec Park and the 1.6-hectare Plaza Tlaxcoaque in the Historic Center, was prominently displayed at the entrance of the renovated park segment along Avenida Reforma.
And all of this would have been fine had not a negative media campaign spearheaded by the Armenian community in Mexico sparked protests against the monument.
Armenia has been at a simmering war with Azerbaijan since 1991 as a result of Yerevan’s invasion into and steadfast occupation of the Azeri territory of Nagorno-Karabakh despite numerous UN resolutions demanding its immediate withdrawal, and the on-again-off-again conflict is frequently fueled through vicious media attacks originating out of Yerevan.
In this particular case, the Armenia-backed propaganda bulldozing worked, and public opinion in Mexico began to sway against Azerbaijan and, in particular, Aliyev, who was Azerbaijan’s first president and the father of that nation’s current president, Ilham Aliyev.
Tensions grew as the leftist government of Mexico City Mayor Miguel Ángel Mancera threatened to renege on the city’s bargain with Baku to allow the statue to remain at the location for 99 years as a symbol of Azerbaijan’s friendship with Mexico in exchange for having financed the park’s renovation, and the smear campaign to portray the staunchly authoritarian (but duly elected) Heydar Aliyev as a dictator went into overdrive.
Finally, on Jan. 26, 2013, the controversial statue was hauled away in the middle of the night by Mexican authorities and stowed in an undisclosed warehouse.
Understandably, the whole sordid affair ruffled diplomatic feathers in Baku, and Azerbaijan responded by twice downsizing its embassy in Mexico.
Azerbaijan also cancelled a proposed $3.8 billion project in Mexico as a result of the statue controversy.
Mexican government damage-control offers to remedy hurt feelings by creating an Azerbaijani cultural museum in Mexico City, where the statue would be displayed indoors, were not well received in Baku, and, slowly, the robust bilateral friendship that had started off with a bang when Azerbaijan first opened its embassy here in 2007, began to smolder.
Recognizing the diplomatic and economic consequences of having offended the Azerbaijani government, Mexico finally decided to open a resident embassy in Baku in 2014 and to appoint a resident ambassador the following year.
In the last three years, the binational relationship has begun to mend, little by little, with combined two-way trade nearly tripling to reach a total of $22 million in 2016 (which is still a drop in the bucket, considering the size of the Azerbaijani economy, with a GDP of $170 billion).
There have been a few small Azerbaijani investment projects in Mexico’s tourism industry.
But the vast, untapped potential of the bilateral relationship is still overshadowed by the statue fiasco.
It is in Mexico’s best interest to try to resolve this misunderstanding and to revitalize the relationship.
Why?
To begin with, Azerbaijan is an economic powerhouse, with vast natural gas and oil reserves, as well as booming construction, banking and real estate sectors.
Moreover, the pending completion of the geopolitically important Southern Gas Corridor pipeline linking Azerbaijan and Europe will open up yet another source of revenue from gas exports.
Azerbaijan is also an important player in regional politics, an anchor of social stability in a combustible expanse of volatility and conflict.
It is a geographic and cultural crossroads between Europe and Asia, and a model of religious tolerance and social inclusion in a region torn by sectarian fanaticism.
As Talibov pointed out in his national day speech, Azerbaijan is actively working to promote understanding between diverse cultures, having hosted numerous international forums on humanitarian issues in the last five years.
“As one of the few countries that is both a member of the Council of Europe and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Azerbaijan is making a practical contribution to the strengthening of dialogue between civilizations,” he said.
“Azerbaijan is … an economic and cultural bridge [between nations] and we can use this unique position to establish peace, multiculturalism and tolerance around the world.”
In the coming years, Azerbaijan will command a larger and larger seat at the global negotiating table, and it will behoove Mexico to court a closer relationship with Baku.
The Azerbaijani government is still stinging from the brickbat of the Aliyev statue debacle, but is clearly willing to move forward to repair the relationship.
It is time for Mexico to correspond accordingly, and for both sides to, finally, let diplomatic bygones be bygones.
Thérèse Margolis can be reached at therese.margolis@gmail.com.