Reuters: Azerbaijan has no intention of sending a contingent of its troops to take part in peacekeeping operations outside its borders, including in Gaza, President Ilham Aliyev said late on Monday.
Aliyev, interviewed by Azeri television channels, said Azerbaijan had been in contact with Donald Trump’s US administration with a list of questions about the operation of a peacekeeping force in Gaza, the proposed International Stabilisation Force (ISF).
“We prepared a questionnaire of more than 20 questions and provided it to the American side. No participation in peacekeeping forces is envisaged,” Aliyev said.
“I am not considering participation in hostilities outside Azerbaijan at all.”
An Azeri government source had said last November that Azerbaijan would provide no troops for such an operation unless there was a complete halt to fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Meanwhile, diplomats involved in the discussions said on Monday that despite deep reservations and fears of domestic backlash, most Muslim-majority countries associated with the Gaza peace process want the proposed ISF to succeed, arguing that only such a force can ensure the security and survival of Palestinians in the besieged enclave.
“Israel has already killed [more than] 70,000 people in Gaza, and only an international force with a clear mandate can stop this genocide,” said a diplomat from a Muslim nation, directly associated with the process.
Another diplomat acknowledged that participation in the ISF would place contributing states in an extremely difficult position, but said the alternatives were even bleaker.
“We know we would be pushed into a very difficult situation if we joined the ISF,” he said. “But the alternative is even worse uninterrupted bloodshed in Gaza, and that’s not acceptable to us.”
