AZERBAIJAN POSTPONES HIGH-LEVEL U.S. VISIT OVER WORDING ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT

International Herald Tribune, France
April 22 2007

BAKU, Azerbaijan: Azerbaijan said Sunday that it postponed a
high-level visit to the United States because of what it claimed were
changes in U.S. wording describing its dispute with Armenia over the
Nagorno-Karabakh territory.

The Caspian Sea coast nation’s Foreign Ministry warned that the
issue "may become a serious impediment to further security-related
cooperation between our countries" – a possible reference to
Azerbaijan’s contribution to the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq.

The government postponed the two-day visit for security talks, which
was to have started Monday and to have included high-level officials
from several ministries, because of "changes to the provisions"
on Nagorno-Karabakh in the State Department’s 2006 report on human
rights abroad, a ministry statement said.

The changes "distort the essence of the Armenia-Azerbaijan
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict" and their introduction "puts in doubt
the U.S. position of the ‘honest broker’ in the resolution of the
conflict," the statement said.

It did not offer details, and officials were not available for comment
after the statement’s release.

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vows his centrist movement is here to stay Nagorno-Karabakh is a
territory inside Azerbaijan that has been controlled by Armenian
and local ethnic Armenian forces since a six-year war that ended in
1994. Tension remains high between Armenia and Azerbaijan, ex-Soviet
republics in the Caucasus.

There was speculation in Azerbaijan that the government was angry at
the absence, in the State Department’s country report on human rights
practices in Armenia, of a statement saying that Nagorno-Karabakh is
Azerbaijani territory occupied by Armenia.

The country report on Azerbaijan, posted on the State Department Web
site, states that in 2006 "Armenia continued to occupy the Azerbaijani
territory of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding Azerbaijani
territories" – wording that is apparently acceptable to Azerbaijan.

The report on neighboring Armenia, however, says: "Armenian
forces occupy large portions of Azerbaijani territory adjacent
to Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenian officials maintain that they do not
‘occupy’ Nagorno-Karabakh itself."

The Azerbaijani statement said resolution of the conflict "based on
the territorial integrity of … Azerbaijan, with Nagorno-Karabakh
as its inalienable part, is a primary and foremost element" in its
security cooperation with the United States.

The United States said its policy had not changed.

"Any interpretation that our policy regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict has changed is not correct," State Department spokeswoman
Nancy Beck said Sunday. She said the U.S. was aware of Azerbaijan’s
statement announcing the postponement and was in contact with its
government.

"These talks are important and we look forward to them taking place
at the earliest date," Beck said.

On Friday, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack also said
there had been no change, adding: "The United States reaffirms its
support for the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, and holds that
the future status of Nagorno-Karabakh is a matter of negotiations
between the parties."

The United States, Russia and France, under the auspices of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, have been
encouraging Azerbaijan and Armenia to resolve the conflict for more
than a decade.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress