BAKU WILL NOT ADMIT ARMENIA’S REPRESENTATIVES FOR PARTICIPATION IN NATO-LED EXERCISE

RIA Novosti, Russia
Sept 13 2004

BAKU, September 13 (RIA Novosti) – The Azerbaijani embassy in Georgia
will not issue entrance visas to Armenia’s military for participation
in the NATO-led Cooperative Best Effort-2004 exercise in Baku, said
Metin Mirza, head of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s press service.

“The Azerbaijani embassy in Georgia has not and will not issue
entrance visas to Armenia’s military for participation in the NATO-led
Cooperative Best Effort-2004 exercise”, he said.

In response to the question on the reasons of the refusal, Mr. Mirza
said that “these reasons are well-known and there is no need in
voicing them again”.

The NATO exercise to be attended by representatives of the alliance’s
20 countries and partners within the framework of the NATO program
Partnership for Peace will be held in Baku from September 14 through
26.

Political organizations and public of Azerbaijan as well as the
country’s mass media speak out against participation of the Armenian
representatives in the exercise. In particular, the Azerbaijani
parliament’s address to the NATO Secretary General reads that the NATO
leadership’s decision on invitation of “officers of the occupational
Armenian army” to the military exercise was taken extremely negative
in the republic.

“It is absolutely obvious that this decision, whose consequences has
not been thoroughly considered, may ultimately aggravate the tense
situation in the region”, states the address.

It also points out that the Azerbaijani people voice strong protest
against this decision of the NATO leadership and see it as “a step,
to chose the words carefully, absolutely inconsistent with interest
of our state and hurting feelings of Azerbaijani citizens”.

Addressing the fact that over 20 thousand Armenians currently live
in Baku, the Azerbaijani MPs point out that “the protests against
arrival of Armenia’s officers in Baku are not only ethnically based.
The protests are against arrival in the capital of occupied Azerbaijan
of officers of the aggressive Armenian army, which seized the
Azerbaijani lands and sentenced its residents to incredible sorrows”.

The address of the parliament’s members to the NATO Secretary General
expressed hope that “this ill-considered decision, which may impair the
NATO-Azerbaijani cooperation and threaten the talks towards peaceful
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, will be cancelled”.

All capitals of the Southern Caucasus and other countries pinned
their hopes on election of Ilkham Aliev the Azerbaijani president in
terms of intensifying the process of the peaceful settlement of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over belonging of Nagorny Karabakh,
Armenian enclave on the Azerbaijani territory. However, no visible
changes to the better have been seen, despite all endeavours of
intermediaries represented by the OSCE Minsk Group. The reason for
this lies in the irreconcilable position of the sides: Baku has no
intentions to put up with the loss of its territory (alongside with
the self-proclaimed republic of Nagorny Karabakh, a substantial
portion of the Azerbaijani original territories are still under
control of the Armenian troops) and appeals to the international
law, declaring primacy of territorial integrity to nation’s right to
self-determination. Stepanakert’s authorities intend to retain the
current status of an ‘independent’ state and feel Erevan’s support
in this.