AZERBAIJAN IS TRYING TO IMPOSE ITS CONDITIONS ON IRAN AND RUSSIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
29.04.2008 GMT+04:00

It is not clear, why a country having a lot of unsolved political
and economic matters needs another problem.

Lately in the relationship between Azerbaijan and Russia some kind
of tension regarding Iran, or to be more exact, regarding the nuclear
power-station equipment supply. Thermal equipment for the first Iranian
nuclear power-station coming from Russia was detained in Azerbaijan
about a month ago. On March 29 Russian road-train carrying thermal
equipment, destined for "Busher" nuclear power-station in Iran was
detained in "Astara". The negotiations of the representatives of
"Rosatom" with Azerbaijan about the equipment have been no success
so far.

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ At first Tehran decided not to interfere in the
process, declaring that problem should be solved by the general
contractor of the construction of the station; the Russian company
"Atomstroiexport". According to the official representative of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran Mohamed Ali Hussein, the Russian
party is trying to solve the problem as soon as possible. "In our turn
we demanded from the Azerbaijani Ambassador in Tehran also to take
some steps for the equipment to be in Iran as soon as possible. This
equipment is transported to Iran in the frames of international norms
and there should be no obstacle for that," said the Iranian diplomat.

The Azeri Ambassador in Iran Abbasali Hasanov is called to the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs of Iran regarding the detention of the Russian
road-train on the Azerbaijani border. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs
of Iran expressed his protest to the Ambassador regarding the created
situation. Tehran demanded from Baku to allow the transportation of
the equipment through Azeri-Iranian border.

The Azeri party confirms that Russia has not presented all the
necessary documents describing the character of the special equipment
intended for the construction of "Busher" nuclear power-station. The
Russian party in its turn says that the load has completed the
process of export control and the UN sanctions do not apply to
it. Earlier Russian sources in Moscow, which are familiar with the
created situation, said to RIA Novosti, that the road-train detained
in Azerbaijan is nothing but a political decision of the authorities
of the country.

After the detention of the equipment "Atomstroiexport" did not receive
any official inquiry from Azerbaijan concerning this load. Later the
Press Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan
Khazar Ibrahim announced that the republic has made inquiry about
the load to Russia.

"Azerbaijan calls upon Iran to keep from abrupt announcements
contradicting the diplomatic norms. No country has the right to talk to
Azerbaijan with ultimatum. This contradicts the relations between Iran
and Azerbaijan, as well as all diplomatic and ethnic norms. Azerbaijan
takes measures only in the frames of its legislation and international
regulations," said the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan. He
also mentioned that Azerbaijan will take a decision after receiving
an answer from the Russian party on the inquiry about the character
of the load.

The scandal definitely gains more and more attention and even had the
interference of the Department of States of the USA. According to
the Head of the Press-Service of the US Department of States Shown
McCormack, the question of the load for the nuclear power-station
construction in Iran, detained on March 29 on the border of
Azerbaijan and Iran must be solved by the governments of Russia and
Azerbaijan. "The USA has no reasons to suspect that the transportation
of load was against the UN Security Council," he said.

The measures of the official Baku are totally based on the policy
of Ilham Aliyev, who thinks that his country is so independent,
that it can impose its conditions on if not on the entire world,
at least on Russia and Iran. Of course realizing that the detention
of the Russian load will not bring to any success, Baku immediately
started to justify itself saying the Russian party does not provide
with all the necessary documents. On the other hand one can understand
Aliyev; he wants to get support from the USA in case of the attack on
Iran. However, Baku has missed one important factor, the international
laws are necessary for every country and no military budget or oil will
be able to solve the problem. It is not clear, why a country having
a lot of unsolved political and economic matters needs another problem.

No matter how much the Azeri press tries to convince everybody,
it is very hard to live in a country rich with oil and gas. It is
very unlikely that offcial Baku is happy with the situation of the
country, but trying to shake the fist won’t do any harm. And also,
making a base out of Azerbaijan for the US attacks on Iran will have
a negative response in the entire Islamic world, and first of all in
Turkey and Iran, with which spoiling the relations would not be of
any good for Aliyev.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress