Azeri government powerless to Karabakh, Uzbek mobile phone agreement

Yeni Musavat, Baku
9 May 04

Text of information section report by Azerbaijani newspaper Yeni
Musavat on 9 May entitled “Ilham Aliyev’s Uzbekistan ‘successes'”,
and subheaded “Azerbaijan so far cannot manage to stop communication
between this country’s mobile companies and Karabakh’s occupying
regime”

The government of Azerbaijani cannot stop roaming communication
[agreements which allow mobile telephone users to use partner networks
abroad] between Uzbekistan-based Daewoo Unitel mobile company and the
Karabakh Telecom company owned by the Nagornyy Karabakh separatists.

Let us recall that the South Korean Daewoo Unitel joint stock
company and Uzbekistan’s Coscom and SP Uzdunrobita mobile companies
have established roaming communication with Karabakh Telecom since
2003. The Azerbaijani government has only reacted to this issue
recently, and Ekho newspaper reports that official Baku is trying
to stop communication between the Uzbek companies and the Karabakh
separatists through diplomatic channels.

The Azerbaijani ambassador to Uzbekistan, Aydin Azimbayov, has already
met the Daewoo Unitel management and sent official protest notes to
the Uzbek and South Korean governments. However, his efforts have
not yielded results.

The intriguing point is that Baku’s endeavours to stop communication
between the Uzbek and Karabakh companies is occurring after Ilham
Aliyev’s state visit to Uzbekistan and yielded no results. Despite
the fact that an agreement b etween Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan rules
out the usage of their territories against each other.

Official propaganda spoke in depth of a “successful outcome” of
Ilham Aliyev’s visit to Uzbekistan. Obviously, Aliyev’s visit was so
“successful” that after it, Baku’s calls to the Uzbek government to
stop mobile companies’ contacts with the Karabakh separatists are
paid no heed.

This is also an indication of Aliyev’s influence as the president. If
Ilham Aliyev had concluded successful political negotiations in
Uzbekistan, the Uzbek government would have demonstrated efforts to
improve ties and overcome lukewarm relations between the countries.