Azeri envoy says cancellation of Baku war games not to affect ties with NATO
MPA news agency
14 Sep 04
Baku, 14 September: The USA welcomes NATO’s decision to cancel the
Cooperative Best Effort 2004 exercises that were due to be held in
Baku as part of the Partnership for Peace programme, a representative
of the US State Department has said.
He said America regretted very much the decision to deny Armenian
officers entry visas.
Commenting on the statement by the State Department representative,
the Azerbaijani ambassador to the USA, Hafiz Pasayev, said that
“unfortunately, America, a country co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group,
did not take into account the position of the Azerbaijani public on
the Armenian issue and the possibilities for a peaceful solution
to the Karabakh conflict”. The diplomat said the cancellation of
the exercises would not damage Azerbaijan’s long-term cooperation
programme with the alliance.