NATO cancels war games in Azerbaijan over Armenia row

Agence France Presse — English
September 13, 2004 Monday

BAKU — NATO’s Supreme Command said Monday it had cancelled a
high-profile military exercise in Azerbaijan hours before it was due
to start after the authorities in Baku refused to let officers from
neighbouring Armenia take part.

There has been a public outcry in Azerbaijan over the participation of
Armenian servicemen in the war games because many Azeris have bitter
memories of a war between the two countries in the early 1990s.

“The (NATO) Supreme Command has decided to cancel the exercises,”
which had been due to get underway Tuesday, alliance spokesman
Lieutenant-Colonel Luis Aparicio said in a written statement.

“All (NATO) exercises are agreed and conducted on the principle
of inclusiveness for all allies and partners … We regret that
the principle of inclusiveness could not be held to in this case,
leading to the cancellation of the exercise.”

The announcement came after a wave of protests around Azerbaijan’s
capital, Baku, at the weekend against Armenian officers taking part
in the exercises, dubbed Cooperative Best Effort 2004.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said last week he did not want
servicemen from Armenia coming to Baku, and said he was taking
“necessary measures” to keep them out.

There has been bitterness between Azerbaijan and Armenia since
the two former Soviet republics fought a war over the enclave of
Nagorno-Karabakh.

The conflict left some 35,000 people dead and displaced about one
million civilians. It ended with Armenian forces in control of the
enclave, which under international law is a part of Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan and Armenia are both members of NATO’s Partnership for
Peace programme, which is seen as a springboard to full membership
of the alliance.