Azerbaijan wants more British support in Karabakh issue – aide

ANS TV, Baku
11 Dec 04

[Presenter] The country’s main Karabakh problem will be in the focus
of attention during Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s official
visit to London, which starts tomorrow. Official Baku intends to gain
political support from the visit, the head of the international
relations department of the Azerbaijani presidential administration,
Novruz Mammadov, has told us.

[Correspondent over video of Mammadov in his office] President
Aliyev’s meetings in London will focus on the Nagornyy Karabakh
problem and the expansion of economic relations between Azerbaijan and
Britain.

[Passage omitted: reported details]

Taking into consideration mainly the level of relations between the
two countries, the president will stress during the visit that
Azerbaijan also needs more support for the settlement of numerous
issues in the political sphere.

[Mammadov] In exchange for the relations we have, we expect the
British government to give us more support in the Karabakh settlement
and to be more active in this sphere.

[Correspondent] During his meetings in parliament, the president will
express official Baku’s stance on various visits by British MPs,
especially Baroness Cox, to Azerbaijan’s occupied region of Nagornyy
Karabakh. He will also touch on Britain’s neutral position on the
situation in Azerbaijan’s occupied lands discussed at the UN General
Assembly.

This is not the first time that we have seen such an attitude, Mr
Mammadov said. As for relations between the OSCE and the UN, numerous
countries of the world have been taking such a stance, he noted [as
heard]. We already know this, he said.

[Mammadov] We are surprised at this simply because that this position
is not fair. Today this does not help issues to develop in a positive
direction and solve problems in line with international legal
norms. However, these states express their positions in this
way. Azerbaijan expresses its position on the subject not only during
such meetings. The Azerbaijani president has expressed this position
in various ways in Azerbaijan. They also know this. We simply describe
this as double standards sometimes. And we are actually right to do
so.

[Passage omitted: more about the schedule of the president’s visit]

Aytan Safarova and Elxan Huseynov for ANS.