NATO chief supports peaceful solution to Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict

ANS TV, Baku
5 Nov 04

The brief visit to Baku by NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop
Scheffer is ending.

[Passage omitted: reported details]

Scheffer met Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Foreign Minister
Elmar Mammadyarov.

[Correspondent, over video of Scheffer and people accompanying him at
Baku’s Heydar Aliyev airport] Azerbaijan is one of NATO’s important
partners. Therefore, NATO attaches special importance to relations
with Azerbaijan. Scheffer also touched on the attendance of Armenian
MPs at the 58th Rose-Roth seminar of the Parliamentary Assembly of
NATO, due in Baku on 26 November. He said that although the presence
of any partner country in the seminar is beyond his purview, he sees
as necessary the attendance of Armenian MPs at the seminar.

[Scheffer speaking to microphone with Azeri voice-over] The holding of
the Rose-Roth seminar is outside the NATO secretary-general’s
sphere. I am not responsible for this. If the issue was within the
purview of the NATO secretary-general, as previously my position would
not change. My position is that the attendance of any guests is
admissible at this kind of seminar.

[Correspondent] The NATO chief left Bina airport [as heard]
immediately for a meeting with ambassadors of NATO member countries in
Azerbaijan.

This morning Scheffer visited the grave of ex-President Heydar Aliyev
in the Avenue of Honour. The NATO secretary-general had a meeting at
Baku State University. Delivering a speech in front of students,
Scheffer said that it was his first visit to Baku as NATO
secretary-general.

I have been to the region as OSCE chairman. But I see now there is
progress in Azerbaijan, end of quote.

The secretary-general said that Azerbaijan is cooperating with NATO
dynamically. Mr Scheffer recalled that Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev had submitted a plan of individual cooperation with NATO during
his visit to Brussels and said that NATO will cooperate with our
country more closely within the framework of that plan, as an
organization supporting peace and partnership in the region. Then he
answered questions from students. He was asked about the Nagornyy
Karabakh conflict and NATO’s position on treating identically the
aggressor and the side subjected to aggression.

Having been the chairman-in-office of the OSCE, I was familiar with
the conflict. Many people are suffering from this conflict. I hope
that the conflict will be resolved peacefully. The international
public and the OSCE Minsk Group should help you in this conflict.

Scheffer left Baku State University for the Foreign Ministry. He had a
40-minute meeting with Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov. Neither
Mammadyarov nor his deputy Araz Azimov disclosed details of the issues
discussed.

The Foreign Ministry press service reported that the meeting focused
on the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict as well and the NATO
secretary-general expressed his respect for Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity. The secretary-general said that even though NATO does not
directly intervene in the issue, it supports a peaceful solution to
the conflict.

Mahir Mammadli, Ceyhun Asgarov, Ibrahim Telmanoglu, ANS.

[Video shows Scheffer’s meetings at Baku State University and the
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry ]