The Messenger, Georgia
June 7 2005

Political Analysis: GUAM contemplates ‘GUAAMK’
By M. Alkhazashvili

GUAM is actively debating possible new members. While Kyrgyzstan’s
membership is widely anticipated, other candidates, like Armenia,
seem unlikely.

When the GUAM Parliamentary Assembly met in Italy last month,
Vladimir Litvin, the speaker of the Ukrainian legislative body, the
Supreme Rada, announced the organization was prepared to consider
Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Armenia and other countries as potential
members. However, Azerbaijan, a founding member of GUAM, raised
serious concerns about Armenia’s possible participation in the
alliance.

“We principally state that as long as 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s
territory is occupied by Armenia – and Armenia maintains a hostile
attitude toward us – we cannot have normal relations with them,”
Speaker of the Mili-Mejlis – the Azeri legislature – Murtuz Aleskerov
said during a press conference on May 31. He added that in addition
to blocking Armenia from entering the GUAM, Baku is actively trying
to stop it from joining the EU as well.

However, not all politicians in Baku are against Armenia becoming
part of the GUAM in the near future. According to Elmar Mamedov, the
foreign minister of Azerbaijan, if Armenia is ready to sign the all
of the base documents prepared by GUAM, their membership is
acceptable.

He added that the GUAM base document is concerned with on going the
struggle against separatism and the restoration of territorial
integrity. “If Armenia and Russia or Lithuania and Latvia share the
same feelings with GUAM member countries, they can apply and join
this organization too,” Mamedov was quoted as saying by the newspaper
Rezonansi.

According to reports, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Romania and
Bulgaria have all expressed interest in joining GUAM.

At the same time, the current members are considering a name for the
organization with a bit more ring. Earlier in May the Ukrainian
Ministers of Foreign Affairs Boris Tarasyuk announced that the
organization was considering a name change with one possible
appellation being the “Commonwealth for the Democracy and
Development.”

GUAM was started in 1997 by founding members Georgia, Ukraine,
Azerbaijan and Moldova. Uzbekistan joined the alliance in 1999, but
left this year. It was created largely as an economic alliance,
although recently GUAM has reinitiated efforts to solve the multitude
of separatist issues troubling several of the member states. Both the
OSCE and the United States have supported its work to solve
territorial problems.