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Report from Gabala radar station

02 July 2007 13:31 (UTC +04:00)

Moscowâ€™s proposal to Washington on joint use of the station is sourced from realities. The US differently estimated the proposal. â€œPutinâ€™s interesting stepâ€, â€œRussiaâ€™s confessing threats from Iranâ€, â€œMoscowâ€™s gaining timeâ€ etc. are initial reactions of the US officials to Putinâ€™s proposal. Later Pentagonâ€™s doubts concerning the technical indicators of Gabala radar station firstly allowed media representatives in. Russian Defense Ministryâ€™s organizing visit of media representatives to Gabala radar station first of all aimed at dispelled Pentagonâ€™s doubts concerning technical indicators. How well did Russia achieve its aim? The answer will be determined due to the reactions of media representatives of visited Gabala radar station.
According to the bilateral agreement concluded between Ilham Aliyev and Vladimir Putin Azerbaijan rented Gabala radar station to Russia for a 10-year term.
Russia is to pay $7mln. to Azerbaijan. The payment is realized twice a year. The two countries could not come to an agreement on use of the station for a long time and all debatable issues as well as rental were only solved in 2002. According to the agreement, Russia paid $30mln. to Azerbaijan for using Gabala radar station in 1997-2002.
The station officially called Daryal Analitical-Information Center is situated away from the rest area of Gabala. The station resembling a huge dragon on the background of small houses â€œoccupiesâ€ 260ha area. There is kindergarten, hostel, hospital, shops, rest centers, basins in the area of the station and all conditions have been created for the servicemen working here. According to the agreement, Russia can not keep more than 1500 servicemen here, but Moscow sees no need to keep so many servicemen in the military facility. Over 1000 servicemen are trained in the station. There are Russian citizens and Azerbaijanis serving in the countryâ€™s army among them. Reports are often spread about Armenian officersâ€™ serving in Gabala radar station. Russia refutes these reports. Russian Defense Ministryâ€™s press secretary Yuri Khvedkin said that no Armenians serve in the station and advised not to pay attention to the issue.
At first sight no mutual relationship is observed between Gabala region and Gabala radar station. Gabala residents like people of other regions are engaged in agriculture, rent their houses to those who come to rest in the region and even do not remember the radar station situated in 20-minute distanceâ€¦ But this is so only at first sight.

â€œThis station worries us. This establishment is of no use to the local residents, it only creates problems,â€
â€œI am 32 years old, but no one give this age to me, they say that I am 50 years old. The station impacts badly on the population and we are growing old too fast. My mother is suffering from cancer. There are a lot of people in the region who suffer from this disease. Tumor has spread in this area. Russians say that there is no radiation. But we are feeling this radiation every day,â€ 32-year old Gabala resident Idrak said.
â€œInfertility is increasing in the region. Such cases were not met before the station. The majority of newly-born children in the region suffer from deafness and blindness, some of them have breathing problems,â€ 43-year old Sakina who is working in one of the local canteens said.
According to local residents, station is working hard on Tuesdays and Fridays. The officials of Gabala warning station find groundless the claims about military establishmentâ€™s intensifying environmental condition. Servicemen working in the radar station say that they are living in the region together with their families, and their children are normally growing up.
â€œWe are living here together with our family. Our children were borne here and are growing up in this region. Why they say that the warning station creates ecological problems? Monitoring is often carried out here for controlling the ecological condition here. No serious problem revealed regarding the ecology during monitoring,â€ he said.
The servicemen are involved here according to the agreement. The agreements are concluded for 3-5 years, according to the agreement, the servicemen and their family members should pass medical examination in the local hospital once a year. Every service here is 1.5 years in comparison with the other military establishments of Russia. This is the system which has been applied since Soviet period, such system is usually used in the poisoned places and in the areas dangerous for living. Why analogical system is applied in Gabala radar station? Is it dangerous for life or are their any causes? But we can not get answer to this question.
The military establishment on focus is comprised of three complexes: Radar Transmiting Center, Receiving Center and Energy-Mechanical Center.
Transmitters are established in 800 meters of distance. The main center of the facility is technological position. The space is under control here, parameters are being defined, information is being received, analyzed and transmitted. This technological position has been operating since 1985, military unit has been established here in 1987. The height of 18-storey building of Radar Transmitting Center is 120 meters. The early warning station can control 6 thousand kilometers area, including Middle East and Middle East, Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean.
Russian Space Forces representative, Major General Alexander Yakushin said that Gabala radar station could intercept the launch of over 150 â€œScadâ€ missiles during the Iran-Iraq war. Moreover, the station intercepted the testing of â€œShahab-3â€ from Hamadan exercise center in Iran in January this year.
â€œGabala radar systemâ€™s main duty is to control space situation,â€ said Yakushin refusing to answer journalistsâ€™ question regarding the ability of the station to shield missiles launched in the area controlled by the station, â€œI assure you this station fully meets all the required standards and can fulfill the required functions. The station can be modernized in a short time if there is a military-political decision.â€
Of course, it is easy to understand that Yakushinâ€™s message is addressed to American military men who do not want even to compare Gabala early warning system with a new missile shield intended to be deployed in Western Europe. However, even non-military men can see while looking through at mentioned station that this military establishment is many times far from meeting modern standards. The Soviet technology is used here, and it has almost not been renewed. There are no Pentium architecture microprocessors, instead outdated software written in Baysic alphabet are used in computers remained from the Soviet period. Calculators, telephones, lifts, loading equipment-all are remained form the former USSR. We are climbing to the top of the station by metal stairs which hardly ever slip and make us fall down. No slight reconstruction has been made in the mentioned station.
The station is not operating in full potential. It seems possible only after Russia and the US come to an agreement on join operation of the station. General-Mayor Yakushin refuses to inform in detail on the potential and current power of the early warning system. â€œI am not responsible for that. But I assure you the station will not cause any environmental problem for the region after it starts operating fully.â€
Local residents, however, are deeply concerned about the reports on join use of the station by Russia and the US. They worry that the full operation of the system after agreement of Russia and the US will pose a serious risk to the whole region. Here is sensational information that the local residents told the APA, â€œThere is a mini atomic power station under the radar station.â€ General Mayor Yakushin, however, refutes this report.
â€œWe use only eclectic energy in the station. The military establishment needs electric energy used in a city with 500,000 population. Electricity supply of Gabala RS is provided by a local electricity station,â€ said the General Mayor.
The paradoxes in Yakushinâ€™s statement are that Gabala RS operates all days a week, 24 hours a day, which need great amount of electricity. However, Gabala region is supplied with electricity only after noon. The situation is worse in winter. Since the local stations could not fully supply the region with electricity how it possibly supply the radar station with so much electricity. So, doubts over the use of alternative energy resource are not groundless.
Except those engaged in politics no one have ever heard about Gabala radar station while it was kept in spotlight after Russian Presidentâ€™s proposal. Vladimir Putin focused all the attention of the world on Gabala radar station situated in one of the most fascinating places of Azerbaijan by offering the US a joint use of the station at the G8 summit. The number of journalists making short-term trip to the station and representing their countries and media confirmed the big interest towards the radar station. Over 40 media representatives from Azerbaijan, Korea, China, Germany, Great Britain, Czechia, Poland, Qatar and the US participated in the introductory visit. Seems like the information concerning Gabala radar station will not be absent from news bulletin of the world popular media associations for a long time./APA/