Azeri defence minister offers military cooperation to Belgium

Bilik Dunyasi news agency
22 Nov 04

Baku, 22 November: “Armenia, which has occupied part of Azerbaijan’s
territory, has violated the provisions of NATO’s Partnership for Peace
programme and it is necessary to discuss this issue at the alliance,”
Azerbaijani Defence Minister Safar Abiyev has told a meeting with the
chief of the General [Defence] Staff of Belgium, Gen August Van Daele.

“By entering NATO’s Partnership for Peace programme, Armenia assumed
the responsibility not to make territorial claims to neighbouring
countries. I think it is time to discuss this issue at NATO,”
Abiyev noted.

Armenia’s destructive position on the resolution of the Nagornyy
Karabakh problem and the passivity of the OSCE Minsk Group were also
discussed during the meeting.

Agreeing to Abiyev’s opinion, Van Daele said that it was necessary
to increase the activity of the European Union in the settlement of
the Armenian-Azerbaijan conflict.

The parties also exchanged views on the conformity of the Azerbaijani
armed forces to NATO standards.

“Azerbaijan’s objective is to comply with these standards as much as
possible,” Abiyev said, coming up with an initiative to sign a treaty
on military cooperation between Azerbaijan and Belgium.

Gen Van Daele said that the leadership of his country would be
immediately informed of this initiative.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress