Azeri leader fails USA at NATO summit – daily

Yeni Musavat, Baku
30 Jun 04

Azerbaijan will continue its political integration into the
Euro-Atlantic bodies, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said at the
NATO summit in Istanbul yesterday, Turan news agency has reported.

He said that Baku intends to continue its cooperation with NATO’s
peacekeeping missions in all the hot spots of the world. Azerbaijan
itself has suffered a lot from terrorism – over 2,000 people have been
killed in 32 terrorist attacks – and is ready to support other
countries’ fight against global terrorism, Aliyev said.

[Passage omitted: Aliyev’s remarks on Armenia]

This speech by Ilham Aliyev can be considered yet another
disappointment for the USA. As we have repeatedly written, American
strategists expected that Aliyev would make an unambiguous statement
on NATO membership at the summit. True to form, however, Aliyev tried
to get away with some general and indefinite remarks.