FOREIGN SECRETARY ASKED ABOUT BRITAIN’S INTEREST IN CAUCASUS

news.az
nov 18 2009
Azerbaijan

David Miliband Azerbaijani MP Zahid Oruj asked Foreign Secretary
David Miliband about British foreign policy in the Caucasus during
the NATO Parliamentary Assembly session in Edinburgh.

David Miliband concentrated on Aghanistan in his address to the
assembly on Tuesday, Zahid Oruj said. The foreign secretary defended
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen’s call for more support
for the mission in Afghanistan.

After Miliband’s speech, Oruj drew parallels between the geopolitical
situation in the early 20th century and today, Oruj told APA news
agency. "I told David Miliband that at that time the USSR easily
occupied the region because British forces in the Caucasus preferred
economic interests to defending our independence and were forced to
leave the Caucasus.

"’What principles do you prefer in your present policy toward the
countries and conflicts: territorial integrity, sovereignty and
democracy or economic interests?’" Oruj asked Miliband.

"The foreign secretary said that he hoped the establishment of
regional cooperation would allow a solution to the conflict as soon as
possible. These problems should be solved not only by the diplomacy
of a single country, but by involving the international community in
the process," Oruj said.

He said that an Armenian representative was antagonistic over his
question to the secretary general. "He said Azerbaijan’s rapid armament
disrupts the military balance in the South Caucasus and threatens
Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh against a background of increasing
risks. The Armenian parliamentarian said the international community
should take action to divert Azerbaijan from these steps. I said
in my speech that the NATO Parliamentary Assembly is not the place
for discussions of disputes between the two countries, but we will
declare everywhere that Armenia is an aggressor and I said that we
will liberate our lands from occupation."

"There is no place for aggressor countries in NATO," Oruj said at
the assembly.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress