Azeri official sees Armenian minister’s US apology remarks as PR move

ANS TV, Baku
22 Jan 05

Excerpt from report by Azerbaijani TV station ANS on 22 January

[Presenter] The recent statements by [outgoing US Secretary of State]
Colin Powell and [US Assistant Secretary of State for European and
Eurasian Affairs] Elizabeth Jones have caused a wave of sharp public
outcry in Yerevan.

[Passage omitted: reported details; Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan
Oskanyan said that Elizabeth Jones telephoned him to apologize for
having earlier used the term of criminal separatists with regard to
Nagornyy Karabakh]

[Correspondent over archive footage] While commenting on the
developments unfolding over Elizabeth Jones’s statement, Azerbaijani
Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov, who is also the Azerbaijani
president’s special representative for the Karabakh negotiations, has
said that Oskanyan’s revelation was nothing but a PR move and advised
that statements of this kind should not be treated seriously.

He said Oskanyan’s anxiety over Elizabeth Jones’s statement was
further proof of Armenia’s role in the occupation of Azerbaijani
lands.

I think Mrs Jones’s statement was objective and reflected the
reality. She said nothing that did not reflect the official position
of the USA because the USA has repeatedly stated its recognition of
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. Colin Powell has repeatedly
pointed to the existence of separatist forces in regional conflict
zones and of the countries supporting them from the outside. And if
someone is worried about the situation that has shaped, then they
should take a more active part in the process of negotiations, end of
quote.

Ceyhun Asgarov for ANS.