USA SET TO URGE AZERI LEADER TO JOIN ANTI-IRAN COALITION – PAPER

Yeni Musavat, Baku
6 Apr 06

Excerpt from Mahabbat’s report in Azerbaijani newspaper Yeni Musavat
on 6 April headlined “Azerbaijani leader is called to Washington”
and subheaded “It will be officially demanded that Aliyev join the
anti-Iran coalition. The president has already given 90 per cent of
what the USA has requested for the forthcoming war”

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev will pay an official visit to the
USA at the end of April, Radio Liberty has quoted diplomatic sources
as saying. Ilham Aliyev will visit Washington for the first time
after the 2003 presidential election in his capacity as president.

The visit will be paid at the invitation of the White House. Ilham
Aliyev will reportedly meet US President George Bush.

[Passage omitted: Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov is visiting the
USA now]

Commenting on Aliyev’s visit to the USA, a source said that his
invitation to Washington is exclusively connected with issues around
Iran. As has been seen, high-ranking US officials have been visiting
Azerbaijan lately: “There are also visits that are not made public
officially. US officials in charge of specific areas also pay frequent
visits to Azerbaijan.”

The source also said that Ilham Aliyev has fulfilled almost 90 per
cent of US demands in connection with the Iran issue: “These include
unauthorized command of the army, unrestricted immediate access
for Americans to all secret areas, handover to the Pentagon of the
Azerbaijani air defence force and military units and aerodromes left
over from the Soviet period, and the establishment of intelligence
agencies.”

The source said that Aliyev has actually made Azerbaijan a member
of the anti-Iran coalition. The source noted that he has provided
the USA with more possibilities than any other official member
of the coalition. The difference is that Ilham Aliyev has not yet
officially announced Azerbaijan’s membership of the coalition. The
expert believes that if the president’s visit to the USA takes place,
on his return he will announce Azerbaijan’s accession to the anti-Iran
coalition: “This is what is demanded from Aliyev now: declare that
you are joining the anti-Iran coalition and make your position clear
in order for the world and the Islamic world to know that this is not
a war between Muslims and Christians. The world should see that this
is not confrontation between civilizations but a struggle to prevent
the production of nuclear weapons. The president has been invited to
Washington because at his meetings with US officials in Azerbaijan
he did not make his opinion on the issue clear for fear of Russia
and Iran. He will be urged at the highest level to declare this.”

The expert did not rule out that the president will be given promises
on some occasions: “Amongst these promises, they may offer relatively
good conditions for Azerbaijan and Aliyev towards the settlement of
the Nagornyy Karabakh problem. Nevertheless, if Azerbaijan allies
itself with the anti-Iran coalition, this will drag the country into
a disaster. It is very likely that the public will seriously protest
after Azerbaijan officially declares that it joins the coalition.”