BBC Monitoring Trans Caucasus Unit
Supplied by BBC Worldwide Monitoring
April 5, 2008 Saturday

Roundup of Azeri, Armenian, North Caucasus reaction to NATO summit in
Bucharest

NATO’s refusal to grant the Membership Action Plan to Ukraine and
Georgia has caused mixed media reactions in Azerbaijan, Armenia and
Russia’s North Caucasus region.

NATO’s "weakness"

Zerkalo, an independent Russian-language daily in Azerbaijan,
believes that the decision, which it said was taken "under Russian
pressure", would create new "real and potential" problems for the
former Soviet countries suffering from separatism.

Zerkalo commentator Rauf Mirqadirov said that the refusal would be
followed by Russia’s increasing pressure on Georgia, Azerbaijan,
Moldova and Ukraine.

"Having felt the ‘weakness’ demonstrated by NATO, Russia will step up
its pressure on these countries," Mirqadirov wrote. "On Georgia and
Ukraine (one should not forget about the issues of Crimea and Eastern
Ukraine) [the pressure] will be direct, and on Azerbaijan it will be
through Armenia," he said.

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan’s recent statement that his
country can recognize Azerbaijan’s breakaway region of Nagornyy
Karabakh as an independent state was also reflective of that
pressure, Mirqadirov said.

The Azerbaijani-language daily Ayna, however, said that NATO gave
"the green light" to Georgia’s and Ukraine’s membership of the
alliance by welcoming their aspirations to join the military bloc.

The opposition newspaper Yeni Musavat said that the NATO summit in
Bucharest would mark the start of a new "Cold War" between Russia and
the USA.

The Azerbaijani media highlighted NATO’s expression of support for
the territorial integrity of the countries involved in territorial
disputes. Ayna quoted Azerbaijan’s representative office at NATO as
saying that "in the Bucharest declaration… the alliance once again
demonstrated its principled position on the recognition of
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. It said that the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict should be resolved on the basis of
principles of territorial integrity and sovereignty."

Zerkalo’s Mirqadirov noted that getting NATO to reiterate support for
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity was part of Azerbaijan’s
"diplomatic offensive". He suggested that it was time for Baku to
"determine its priorities", or to choose between NATO and Russia.

Meanwhile, the Azerbaijani ambassador to Russia, Polad Bulbuloglu,
told the Russian media that his country "is in no hurry to join
NATO", Azerbaijan’s ANS TV channel reported. Bulbuloglu added that
Azerbaijan maintained good neighbourly relations with Russia and that
the two countries were cooperating in a number of areas, including
culture, economy and politics.

"Cowardice"

The Chechen rebel website Daymohk described NATO’s refusal to accept
the membership bids of Georgia and Ukraine as "cowardice".

"The [NATO] decision was conditioned by only one thing – cowardice
before the Russians," said the website, accusing the West of
"trapping" Georgia and Ukraine.

"The slaves who had been seeking an easy way of liberation from the
elder brother [Russia] once again fell into the trap of a common
plot… Europe and the West have not yet realized with what problems
they have again left the Ukrainians and Georgians, who have got tired
of Russia’s unrestrained and constant attacks in the past 20 years."

Another rebel website Chechenpress criticized the "treacherous"
position of Germany, which was opposed to Georgia’s and Ukraine’s
membership of NATO. It quoted a German expert as saying that Germany
would not be willing to support former Soviet republics like Georgia
and Ukraine if their imperial master decides to recapture them. This
position encourages Russia to implement its "aggressive plans", the
website said.

"Starting point"

The Armenian pro-government daily Hayots Ashkharh said that the NATO
summit in Bucharest could mark a new starting point for geopolitical
developments in and around the South Caucasus region. It said that US
President George W. Bush’s efforts to include Georgia and Ukraine in
NATO’s Membership Action Plan were not fruitful. This shows that the
outgoing US administration’s European policies have ended in failure.
"This means that before November 2008 when a new leader of the White
House takes office it is unlikely that the US-EU-Russia triangle will
make any principled decision on strategic issues related to the South
Caucasus," the paper said.

The opposition newspaper Aravot said it was difficult to agree with
the statements that NATO’s refusal to grant Membership Action Plan to
Ukraine and Georgia was a victory for the Kremlin.

"As was expected, several Russian media have described this as the
Kremlin’s victory. However, it is hard to agree with those
statements. European observers say that Ukraine and Georgia have not
been rejected… Europe simply does not wish to spoil its relations
with Russia at a time when the change of the leadership of the
Kremlin is not over yet," Aravot commentator Tigran Avetisyan said.