Today.Az, Azerbaijan
April 12 2008
Zurab Todua: "USA will not help Azerbaijan to liberate Nagorno
Karabakh"
12 April 2008 [11:08] – Today.Az
"USA will not help Azerbaijan to liberate Nagorno Karabakh", said
famous Russian political scientist Zurab Todua commenting on the
influence of Azerbaijan’s possible accession to NATO on the
resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh problem.
He said that in case Azerbaijan joins NATO, it would spoil its
relations not only with Russia but also with Iran, as the United
States and NATO would use its territory for military operations
against it.
"No one among political scientists, or experts and polititians in
Baku, were able to tell me how Azerbaijan will defend itself in case
of the air force response attack from the Iranian side, if the United
States uses your territory for the possible armed operation against
Iran.
If Azerbaijan was the member of the Treaty for Collective Security,
it would have C-300 anti-aircraft complex, the best weapon of the
way, which resists everything. As far as I know, the United States
have modernized airdromes (prepared them for military operations) and
installed two radar stations, targeting Russia and Iran. But I never
heard that they installed at least a couple of Stingers for the
Azerbaijani armed forces", said the political scientist.
He also said that the United States would not help Azerbaijan to
liberate Nagorno Karabakh.
"They will make numerous promises, but this also occured in the
previous years. The occupation of Nagorno Karabakh is a grief of
Azerbaijani people, but other countries do not care much of it. You
know better that I do that during all official meetings the
representatives of the United States and western countries repeat the
only phrase that only peaceful resolution of Nagorno Karabakh
conflict is possible. They do not want the resumption of hostilities
in the conflict area as they fear to lose money, invested to oil
fields and pipelines.
Therefore, regardless of whether Azerbaijan is a member of NATO or
no, the West will use its influence to hamper the armed resolution of
Nagorno Karabakh conflict".
He said that if Azerbaijan access NATO, it would be asked, like
Georgia was, to send more soldiers to Iran, Afghanistan and somewhere
else.
"They would offer to purchase already utilized military technique
(perhaps, even make a present) and you will have to spend money on
their maintenance. And the most important is that in case of military
campaign against Iran, the territory of Azerbaijan would be used by
the United States and NATO for their purposes. At the same time, the
relations between Azerbaijan and Russia, which can be assessed as
positive at the moment, would be ruined", said the political
scientist.
He noted that since the early 1990s, Azerbaijan has done everything
to gain the favor of the United States and the West: it has conducted
policy "oil in exchange to Karabakh", signed contracts under
conditions which are unprofitable for it, excluded Iran from the list
of consortium participants, agreed to construction of a pipeline
bypassing Iran (though the Iranian way would have been economically
profitable), agreed on the use of its territory by American
militaries and made a number of other things.
"This list is too long. What has Azerbaijan got in exchange? It seems
to me that naivety of most Azerbaijani politicians has no limits",
Zurab Todua concluded.
/Day.Az/
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