Fox News
April 28 2006

Bush, Azerbaijani President Talk Iran, Energy Security
Friday, April 28, 2006

WASHINGTON – President Bush told the president of Azerbaijan on
Friday that his oil-rich country has “a very important role to play”
in guaranteeing energy security around the world. The two leaders
also discussed Iran, an area of potential difference.

Bush said he assured President Ilham Aliev that the United States
wants to resolve a crisis over Iran’s nuclear program through
diplomacy. Aliev has made it clear that he would not allow his
country to be used for any operations against its neighbor.

Bush and Aliev met in the Oval Office after the White House
acknowledged that parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan have not met
international standards.

Bush said he told the president that “democracy is the wave of the
future.” Aliev said, “We share the same values.” He said Azerbaijan
is a “secular, democratic country.”

Energy was a major issue. “I appreciate the vision of the government,
the vision of the president, in helping this world achieve what we
all want, which is energy security,” Bush said. “Azerbaijan has got a
very important role to play and we discussed internal politics and we
discussed the politics of the neighborhood as well.”

In a personal note, Bush congratulated Aliev on the wedding of his
daughter this weekend.

Ahead of the meeting, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov
called Iran “our big neighbor” and emphasized that the two countries
“share history, culture and religion.” He said Iran guarantees
Azerbaijan transit rights for land shipments and provides gas
supplies to its Nakhichevan enclave, cut off by Armenia and
Nagorno-Karabakh.

“All this plays a great role when we speak about the situation around
Iran,” he said.

Mammadyarov said the Bush-Aliev meeting signified the two countries
were entering a new level of cooperation as Azerbaijan becomes a key
energy transit country. The newly built Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline,
which provides an alternative to Russian routes and energy sources in
the volatile Middle East, is scheduled to deliver the first shipments
of Caspian Sea oil to Western markets this June. In the fall, the new
Baku-Tbilisi-Erzerum gas pipeline will provide a new source of energy
for the Turkish market.

“This answers our national interest and signifies the strengthening
of Azerbaijan’s independence, of our position on the international
arena and the region,” Mammadyarov told The Associated Press in an
interview.

Azerbaijani officials also hope Bush and Aliev will discuss the
18-year-old conflict over the ethnic Armenian-dominated enclave of
Nagorno-Karabakh. At least 30,000 people were killed and 1 million
made refugees during six years of war that ended with a shaky
cease-fire in 1994. Ethnic Armenian forces occupy the enclave inside
Azerbaijan.

The United States, together with Russia and the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe, is trying to mediate a
resolution.