Azeri MP says Soros Foundation hinders major pipeline construction

Sarq, Baku
11 Aug 04

Excerpt from V. Allahverdiyeva report by Azerbaijani newspaper Sarq on
11 August headlined “Soros’ trace in problems around the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline” and subheaded “Zahid Qaralov: The Soros
Foundation wages expensive campaigns and involves people in
destructive activities”

It is difficult to say that all the problems aroused by the
construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline have been surmounted
because there are new reports about the local population preparing for
protests at the construction.

Most observers share the view that these problems do not emerge by
themselves, and that some people are purposefully creating them. Some
cite the Soros Foundation among them. The chairman of the Milli Maclis
Azerbaijan’s parliament commission on local government, MP Zahid
Qaralov, has recently unmasked the foundation. He said that there are
unhealthy intentions behind Soros’ activities. He sees Soros behind
problems around the pipeline’s construction. “I am absolutely certain
that the Soros Foundation too is involved in this. It wages expensive
campaigns and involves people in destructive activities. Under the
guise of charity, Soros has always obstructed what could benefit
relations of Azerbaijan with Iran, Russia, Georgia and Armenia. One
may ask – what is his interest in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan? The
Foundation does not want the local population to live well. It wants
to turn the region into a cauldron. They were also involved in the
proliferation of separatism in the early 1990s. They were hiding then,
but now they have surfaced.”

Moreover, Armenian ideology, big empires and people who want a
shortage of oil in the world markets are interested in halting the
construction, Qaralov said. “Some say that it is Georgia’s ecology
minister and some say that it is the parliament’s speaker who is
obstructing this issue. But these are all only implementers. They
acknowledge the importance of the pipeline but they also want
environmental security, the pipes to be laid deeper under ground,
additional security measures to be taken, and more compensation to be
paid to locals. These are all small wishes but together with the big
ones they become decisive.”

Passage omitted: Repeating same ideas