Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
September 17, 2004, Friday

NATO HAS STUMBLED OVER KARABAKH

SOURCE: Vremya Novostei, September 14, 2004, p. 5

by Shakhin Abbasov

A scandal has broken out in Azerbaijan. Cooperative Best Effort-2004,
which NATO and Azerbaijan planned to conduct within the framework of
the Partnership for Peace program, has been cancelled. The cause of
this decision will be announced a bit later. Meanwhile, it is
possible that this has happened because of Azerbaijan’s protest
against the participation of Armenian servicemen in the maneuvers.
Newspapers reported yesterday that Azerbaijan refused to issue visas
to Armenian servicemen.

Many observers state that this incident is “the first serious defeat
of President Ilkham Aliyev”. It should be noted that relations
between Azerbaijan and NATO may aggravate. Actions of protest against
the arrival of Armenian servicemen were held in Baku on September
11-12. The opposition launched a campaign in the media. The
parliament noted in its message to NATO that the arrival of Armenian
servicemen may aggravate the situation in the region and damage
negotiations over the Karabakh conflict.

The situation was as serious that President Ilkham Aliyev was forced
to address the nation on Saturday. He stated: “Armenian servicemen
were invited by NATO. Azerbaijan does not want to see these people on
its land. I don’t want to see Armenians in Azerbaijan.”

(…)

Political analyst Ali Abbasov said that “government controls
democratic processes in Azerbaijan, which is why all actions of
protest are sanctioned by government”. The political analyst said
that the government of Azerbaijan wants to show the international
community that Azerbaijan will not make concessions regarding the
Karabakh problem.

It should be noted that the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan plan
to meet at the CIS summit in Kazakhstan on September 15. By the way,
Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend this summit. The
newspaper reports that precisely Putin initiated the meeting of the
leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan.

ORIGINAL-LANGUAGE: RUSSIAN