Agence France Presse
Nov. 4, 2004

NATO chief to meet with Azeri leadership during visit

BAKU (AFP) Nov 04, 2004

NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer arrived in Azerbaijan Thursday where
he is expected to hold talks with top officials including President
Ilham Aliyev as part of a Caucasus tour.
De Hoop Scheffer is on a two-day visit to the Caucasus, a region that
hosts a massive pipeline to carry Caspian Sea oil to the West but is
torn apart by three separatist conflicts.

De Hoop Scheffer is scheduled to meet defense officials in Baku and
address students at the Baku State University Friday morning.

He arrives in Azerbaijan form Georgia and is expected to leave for high
level talks in Armenia Friday afternoon. All three Caucasus countries
are signatories to NATO’s partnership for peace plan.

“One thing (de Hoop Scheffer) will say is that we, as NATO, are
interested in stability in the region,” a spokesman for the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization in Brussels said when asked what the
military alliance’s chief would discuss here.

Aliyev has pledged to hold to the course set out by his father, Heidar,
whom he succeeded as president last year, and further integrate into
Euro-Atlantic structures.

But he has stopped short of asking for NATO membership as Azerbaijan
navigates the choppy diplomatic waters between the US-backed military
alliance and its cold war foe Russia.

Although oil-rich, Azerbaijan’s underdeveloped energy sector and
stunted economy still rely on its biggest trade partner and the
traditional power broker in the region Russia, were an estimated 2
million Azeris live.

Heidar Aliyev, who died last December, had offered NATO the opportunity
to open military bases on its territory, said Vafa Guluzade, a former
aide to the late Aliyev.

“The offer was met with silence and smiles, so I think NATO is not
ready for us yet. We should wait until they are before making
announcements that would irritate Russia and Iran,” Guluzade said.