December 4, 2023

On the war in the Caucasus and Nagorno Karabakh
International correspondence between the Belarusian anarchists and the Trotskyists of the FLTI

Response from the FLTI

Comrades of Anarchy Today,

We hope you will forgive the delay in responding to your questions and comments on our last statement on the conflict in the Caucasus between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno Karabakh. As we had told you in advance, we are currently focused on the situation in Argentina in view of the consummation of the electoral trap and on the genocide being perpetrated by Israel against the martyred Palestinian people in Gaza and throughout the Diaspora.

As we were saying, your criticisms and questions seem to us very important to advance toward the deep understanding of this conflict as well as to point to a revolutionary solution for it.
It seems important to us to have factual information on the underlying economic interests on this issue, as you have proposed. We can only agree on that this is necessary.

We would like to point out first of all why we attach so much importance to the interests of imperialism in Armenia, Azerbaijan and in particular in Nagorno Karabakh, as well as to the role of Turkey in the region.
Nagorno Karabakh is only 20 km from the BTE (Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum) and BTC (Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan) pipelines, and ensuring the passage of oil and gas through these channels is of vital importance to the imperialist companies that plunder these natural resources. And, as you correctly point out, the security of imperialist plunder of this region is threatened by the fact of being in this highly unstable conflict zone.
As you also state, Baku and Azerbaijan have oil and of good quality, which is plundered by the transnationals. But it is not only about Baku. It is about the whole Caspian basin and its different routes. In 2022 Azerbaijan pumped to Turkey 8.709 billion cubic meters of gas from the Shak Deniz field in the Caspian Sea and this year, it expects to export 10.2 billion cubic meters of gas.
The Caucasus, in addition to having oil, is the route by which the imperialist powers plunder the sources of raw materials of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, that is, of the former Soviet republics in Central Asia. To mention just one example, Kazakhstan in recent years has been engaged in enlarging its oil fleet and modernizing its port terminals, increasing the flow of oil to Europe through Azerbaijan and Georgia, via the BTC (Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan) pipeline and the port of Poti. A similar route is being sought by imperialism for uranium, of which Kazakhstan is the world's leading exporter.

Thus, through the construction of new pipelines, imperialism begins to dispense with the oil and gas pipeline infrastructure laid across Russian territory. This became especially relevant after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, when the disputes between US imperialism and the European imperialist powers were exacerbated, an issue which ended with the definitive closure of the Nordstream2 gas pipeline, and a drastic reduction in the flow of Russian gas reaching Europe. This, added to the embargoes and restrictions on the operation of Russian companies and businessmen, which together with the costs of the war have generated an enormous political and economic crisis in Russia, as well as the advance of NATO in the region, is a limit and encirclement of Russia, which imperialism seeks to subdue in order to recolonize and grab its enormous natural wealth.

For us, the imperialist powers are fighting for control of the world market, its sources of raw materials and branches of production and above all they are fighting for and need to take over directly the Chinese domestic market and the sources of raw materials of "Great Russia". And they will do this by means of counterrevolutionary offensives and wars on the planet, as we can see in Syria, in Ukraine, in Nagorno Karabakh, and also in occupied Palestine.

We also believe that Turkey plays a key role in this route, as the gendarme on behalf of NATO of the gas and oil pipelines leading to the Mediterranean.

Recently (July 2023) the President of Azerbaijan signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the European Community to double Azerbaijani gas supplies by 2027, bringing exports to 20 billion cubic meters via the Southern Corridor, which currently supplies the EU with 8 billion cubic meters of gas.  This Southern Corridor, starting from the Caspian Sea and making a detour to avoid passing through Armenia, carries Azeri and Caspian Basin gas to Italy, passing through Turkey in 3 sections: South Caspian Pipeline (SCP), the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP). It was put into operation in January 2020 and among its main investors, owners and also in charge of the project, BP is the majority shareholder together with Enagás, the Azeri SOCAR, the Italian Snam and the Belgian Fluxy. Hence the relevance we gave to BP in our article, because it is British imperialism that sucks in the black gold and gas of the entire Caspian basin through these pipelines, which are tightly guarded by Turkey.
We are sending you in attachment some maps that show what we are saying here.

Do you have more information about what is happening in the Caucasus?  What is your view regarding to this? We would like to know this in order to be able to adjust and correct if necessary our appreciation of what is happening in the Caucasus.

As for the second part of your note, it seems important to us to be able to develop our position, strengthening it with the elements that you bring to us.
We would like to start from the fact that in 1990 the people of Nagorno-Karabakh affirmed that they have the right to self-determination. It seems to us that this should be a key point, which the Azeri proletariat should adopt and include in their demands, recognizing the right of this people to self-determination. Because no people that oppresses another can liberate itself, and if it does not recognize the right to self-determination it would be participating along with its bourgeoisie in the oppression in Karabakh. Whether the Azeri working class recognize the right to self-determination of Karabakh is then a struggle against oppression, and we support every struggle against oppression. But this is only the starting point to be able to weld the unity between the Armenian and Azeri peoples, to confront the common enemy: imperialism and the lackey bourgeoisies of the regio. For us, none of the demands of the exploited of the region can be solved completely and definitively if it is not with the dictatorship of the proletariat in a Federation of Transcaucasian Soviet Republics, as Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia had formed in 1921.

We believe that the question of self-determination is not a question of whether to set up an autonomous state in Nagorno-Karabakh or to annex it to Armenia, but to recognize the right of the workers of Karabakh to do so if they want, and to demonstrate that no worker of any sister nation will oppress them. Only in this way, we insist, will it be possible to achieve unity among the workers and exploited on different places of these republics of the Caucasus, raising common demands, confronting the transnationals and their local lackeys, fighting to expropriate the oil and gas and put it under workers' control so that there will be work for all, dividing the working hours, with a wage equal to the family basket and all the program that we put forward in our notes.

We do not want to elaborate on this, but we do want to emphasize the question that it seems important to us to recognize the right of the workers of Karabakh to their self-determination and not only for what we have exposed about the Azeri working class, but also to wrest control of these workers from the Armenian bourgeoisie because we know that only the working class taking power will be able to guarantee even this right of the workers of Karabakh to self-determination.

These are some initial reflections and contributions to the debate, which we would like to deepen with you and which we consider fundamental. We appreciate any information, criticism, reflection and point of view that you would like to share with us on this subject, since you undoubtedly know and are part of the reality of this region.

We hope to hear from you soon.

Revolutionary greetings,

Eliza Funes and Nadia Briante