AZERBAIJAN CANCELS US MILITARY EXERCISES AMID TENSIONS
Hurriyet
April 20 2010
Turkey
Azerbaijan cancelled planned joint military exercises with the United
States amid increasing tensions between Washington and the energy-rich
former Soviet republic, the Defense Ministry said.
Ministry spokesman Eldar Sabıroglu refused to specify a reason for
the move late Monday, but other Azerbaijani officials have recently
expressed dismay with the U.S. stance on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The announcement came after Azerbaijan last week questioned
Washington’s neutrality as a mediator in the conflict over the
breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region and accused the United States of
increasingly siding with foe Armenia.
"The exercises have been cancelled," Azerbaijani defense ministry
spokesman Eldar Sabıroglu said on ANS television.
A U.S. Embassy spokesman confirmed that the exercises, scheduled for
next month and involving about 200 U.S. troops, had been cancelled
at Azerbaijan’s initiative. "The cancellation is from the Azerbaijani
government," the spokesman told AFP, declining to comment further.
‘Baku not happy’
Ali Hasanov, a senior aide to President Ilham Aliyev, last week said
that Azerbaijan was "not happy" with recent actions in Washington
and accused some in the United States of "losing their neutrality
and openly supporting Armenia."
The United States is one of three co-chairs, along with France and
Russia, of the so-called Minsk Group, which is trying to negotiate
a resolution to the longstanding conflict over Karabakh.
Tensions over Karabakh have risen in recent months amid U.S.-backed
efforts by Armenia and Turkey, a close ally of Azerbaijan, to establish
diplomatic ties and reopen their border after decades of hostility.
Azerbaijan insists that the reconciliation process should not
move forward without progress on Karabakh and has accused Western
governments and Ankara of ignoring its interests.
The energy-rich country is a key Western partner in strategically
important projects to ship oil and gas from the Caspian Sea region
to Europe through Turkey, bypassing Russia.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have cut direct economic and transport links
and failed to negotiate a settlement on the region’s status.