Armenian paper says cancellation of NATO war games might anger Azerbaijan

Ayots Ashkar, Yerevan
14 Sep 04

Text of Vardan Grigoryan’s report by Armenian newspaper Ayots Ashkar
on 14 September headlined “Cold shower for Azerbaijan”

We can state without exaggeration that the cancellation of the
Cooperative Best Effort 2004 exercises scheduled for 13-26 September
in Baku within the framework of the NATO Partnership for Peace
programme is a severe blow to the international rating and authority
of Azerbaijan.

The policy of constant blackmail that continued for a year, by means
of which the leadership of Azerbaijan was trying to prevent Armenian
servicemen from taking part in preparations for and in the conduct of
the NATO exercises, has finally resulted in the fact that yesterday,
on 13 September, the leadership of the most powerful geopolitical
organization cancelled the exercises in Baku in response to the gross
violation of the principles and spirit of the Partnership for Peace
programme. Baku thought that since Armenia is a member of the CIS
Collective Security Treaty Organization [CSTO] and Russia’s partner,
NATO would unconditionally fulfil its caprices. But thanks to its
flexible foreign policy, while being a member of the CSTO, Armenia
at the same time has obtained the same status as Azerbaijan within
the framework of the Partnership for Peace programme. Thus, Armenia
could on time foil Azerbaijan’s attempts to use NATO to change the
geopolitical balance in the region.

But taking the desired for reality, over the last year the
leadership of Azerbaijan hoped in vain that NATO would prefer it
to Armenia. However, Armenia, unlike Azerbaijan, has been gradually
using the opening opportunity of mutual cooperation because of the
improvement in NATO-Russia relations. We needed enormous tact and
restraint to confront constant caprices of Azerbaijan within the
framework of Partnership for Peace and to become a reliable partner
of NATO.

Over the past year Armenia, which always came across artificial
obstacles set by Azerbaijan at the preparation stage of the
Cooperative Best Effort 2004 exercises, proved to NATO and the
world community that it was doing its best to remain devoted to the
principles of partnership. On the one hand, [Azerbaijani President]
Ilham Aliyev promised and assured NATO generals that his country
would ensure the participation of Armenian servicemen, on the other,
he provoked anti-Armenian moods in Azerbaijan. Whereas in ensuring
the participation of all NATO partner countries, in fact, Azerbaijan
was dealing not with Armenia but with NATO.

So, the policy of blackmail against Armenia at some point turned
into obvious encroachment upon the main principles of NATO, and this
cannot but be punished. As a result, the Cooperative Best Effort 2004
exercises were cancelled. What happened will undoubtedly come as a
cold shower to Azerbaijan promoting the strengthening of anti-West
and anti-American moods in the country.

At the same time, this legal decision of the NATO leadership
is not only a serious victory of the principles adopted by the
geopolitical leadership of our country, but also an open warning
of new challenges to Armenia. We should avoid euphoria and fully
understand that Azerbaijan, which ran away from Russia towards the USA
and NATO but did not find treatment for its “Karabakh abnormality”,
is becoming more unpredictable because of this failure. The reason
is obvious: while it maintains the dangerous idea that the war has
not yet finished, there is only one step for Azerbaijan from a new
failure and new disappointment to a military campaign.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress