AZERBAIJAN THREATENS TO ‘RECONSIDER’ US RELATIONS

Tert.am
17.04.10

Azerbaijan accused the United States on Friday of siding with Armenia
in the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh and threatened to "reconsider"
its relationship with Washington.

"The United States does not implement policy towards Azerbaijan
as a strategic partner, and that’s why we might reconsider our
policy towards the United States," Ali Hasanov, Aliyev’s head of
public-political issues, told Reuters.

The comments underscored the strength of anger in Azerbaijan, a
supplier of oil and gas to the West, over a Western-backed bid to
reconcile Armenia and Azerbaijan’s close ally Turkey.

According to Reuters news agency Azerbaijan sees the rapprochement and
the potential reopening of the Turkish-Armenian border as a betrayal
of efforts to mediate a solution to the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.

The backlash threatens to spill over into the energy sector,
with Azerbaijan and Turkey bogged down in protracted gas transit
negotiations, complicating plans for the U.S. and European-backed
Nabucco pipeline.

As Azerbaijan and Turkey continue to talk terms, Azerbaijan has
sealed deals to sell gas to neighboring Russia and Iran, further
tapping resources courted by Europe in the Caspian Sea.

"We believe the Americans should not only think of how to help
Armenia overcome the economic crisis," he said, but as a co-mediator
in talks on Nagorno-Karabakh, Washington "should first of all promote
a solution to the Karabakh conflict."

Hasanov did not elaborate what steps Azerbaijan might take, but
said Baku was involved in a number of joint projects with Washington
including "major transnational energy projects."

Azeri anger has already helped slam the brakes on the deal signed by
Armenia and Turkey last year to establish diplomatic ties and reopen
their border, in a bid to overcome a century of hostility since the
Armenian Genocide by Ottoman Turks in 1915.

Turkey denies accusations of genocide and says Turks as well as
Armenians died in large numbers in a fierce partisan war.

The deal is believed to bring huge economic benefits to Armenia,
but Azerbaijan believes it will remove any pressure on Yerevan to
loosen its economic and military support for Nagorno-Karabakh.

Turkey closed the border in 1993 in solidarity with Muslim
ally Azerbaijan in its losing battle with ethnic Armenians in
Nagorno-Karabakh with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Stung by the
Azeri backlash, Turkey now says it will only ratify the accords with
Armenia if Armenia makes concessions on Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia
rejects any such link.

Azeri Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov also singled out Washington
for criticism, telling Reuters that its bid to bring together
Turkey and Armenia in isolation from the Nagorno-Karabakh issue was
"mistaken."