AZERBAIJAN POSTPONES HIGH-LEVEL VISIT TO US
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 23 2007
Azerbaijan said Sunday that it postponed a high-level visit to the
United States because of changes in U.S. wording describing its dispute
with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh territory, the foreign ministry
told the APA.
"Taking into consideration changes to the provisions on the
Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno Karabakh conflict in the initial 2006 State
Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, Azerbaijani
Government postponed the visit of the Azerbaijani delegation to
Washington for the bilateral security talks, scheduled for April
23-24," the ministry’s statement said.
The Azerbaijani delegation was to include high level officials from
Foreign Ministry, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Emergencies,
Ministry of National Security, Interior Ministry, Border Service,
Customs Committee, and Special Protection Service.
The Foreign Ministry warned that the issue "may become a serious
impediment to further security-related cooperation between our
countries".
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.
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".
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 US made these changes after the interference of American Armenian
National Committee.
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."