US general in Azerbaijan to ensure NATO drills go smoothly – paper
Ekspress, Baku
10 Sep 04
The deputy commander of the US European Command, Charles Wald, has
arrived in Azerbaijan to convince Baku of the importance of Armenian
presence at NATO exercises due to be held in Baku in mid-September
and to ensure that the exercises go smoothly, Azerbaijani newspaper
Ekspress has reported. The newspaper believes that it is not by
chance that the US general’s visit coincided with the Armenian
Defence Ministry’s appeal to the Azerbaijani authorities to issue
Armenian servicemen with entry visas. The following is the text of
Alakbar Raufoglu’s report by Azerbaijani newspaper Ekspress on 10
September entitled “Why has Charles Wald come?”; subheadings have
been inserted editorially:
, arrived in Baku yesterday morning. Express newspaper has learnt from
diplomatic sources that the Pentagon official is being accompanied
by members of the Joint Civilian Orientation Conference and several
other officers. The aim of the visit is to discuss military relations
between Baku and Washington and regional security issues.
US general, Azeri defence minister discuss military ties, Karabakh
Yesterday’s meeting between the US general and Azerbaijani Defence
Minister Col-Gen Safar Abiyev mainly focused on the Pentagon-led
projects that are being implemented in the South Caucasus and NATO-Baku
cooperation. The future development of military cooperation between
the two countries, the Karabakh settlement, and preparations for
the planned NATO exercises Cooperative Best Effort 2004 in Baku were
discussed during the talks.
“The processes under way here and the existing situation are
being closely observed by international organizations,” the US
general said. He highly praised US-Azerbaijani military contacts:
“Washington attaches great importance to this cooperation and supports
its expansion.” As for NATO’s Baku-hosted exercises, Wald believes
that the event will be successful and “we hope that the exercises
will bring Azerbaijan even closer to NATO”.
Speaking about the Karabakh settlement, Wald said that “the South
Caucasus is rife with unsettled problems. But the Karabakh conflict
should find its resolution at the international level. The USA,
Russia and Turkey should be closely involved in the resolution of
the conflict. Fighting terrorism jointly is important. Your country’s
problems should be quickly resolved and the region should see economic
prosperity.”
In turn, Abiyev said that the people of Azerbaijan are concerned
about the fact that the conflict has not been resolved yet. This
problem also has a negative impact on the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan [oil
pipeline] and other business projects. Therefore, the minister urged
the international community to make efforts to find a speedy solution
to the conflict. “However, everyone should know that Azerbaijan will
not cede an inch of its territory,” Abiyev said.
USA has no concern about Baku-hosted drills
At a news briefing after the meeting, Wald declined to go into the
detail of the visit and only said that “our countries enjoy close
ties, and relations are developing”. Asked by Express newspaper
about Armenians’ participation in NATO’s Baku-hosted exercises, Wald
answered that the USA “understands” Baku’s concern. Asked if it was
possible for Armenians not to come to Baku, Wald said that he had no
information in this regard.
Incidentally, before his visit to Baku, in his interview with the
Pentagon mouthpiece Defence News newspaper, the US general said
that NATO had no concern about the exercises in Azerbaijan and
“preparations for the event are nearing the end, and it meets both
Azerbaijan’s and the alliance’s interests”.
USA wants to ensure NATO drills go smoothly
As Wald’s Baku visit is rather unexpected and its agenda limited and
since it is being held behind closed doors, it is hard to guess what
is behind it. The statement by the US embassy in Azerbaijan on the
visit is so vague that we can only guess.
This is the third visit of the deputy commander of the US European
Command to Azerbaijan in the last five months. Based on Wald’s brief
statements aired in Baku, we could conclude that the USA is anxious
about the fate of the programmes being implemented in the region,
particularly in Azerbaijan. However, pundits believe that Wald’s
regular visits to Baku can also be interpreted as the USA’s wish to
show that it has interests in the region.
During his recent visit to Yerevan, Wald said that Armenian officers’
involvement in the NATO exercises in Baku was important and Baku
had officially guaranteed their participation. It is worth noting
that the US general’s unexpected visit coincided with the Armenian
Defence Ministry’s appeal to the Azerbaijani embassy in Georgia to
obtain entry visas. Apparently, the Pentagon general was compelled
to pay another visit to Azerbaijan to resolve the matter on the spot.
The former presidential aide [on foreign issues], Vafa Quluzada,
thinks that the latest frequent visits by Wald to Azerbaijan point
to the Pentagon’s interests in the immediate implementation of joint
military projects in our country: “These visits have a positive impact
on Baku-Washington military relations,” he told our newspaper.
Quluzada believes that Wald’s visit could also be linked with NATO’s
Cooperative Best Effort 2004 exercises: “This shows that the USA
wants the exercises to be conducted smoothly.”