AZERBAIJAN CANCELS JOINT MILITARY EXERCISE WITH U.S. OVER CONFLICT RESOLUTION TALKS
Lilit Gevorgyan

World Markets Research Centre
Global Insight
April 20 2010

Yesterday, the Azerbaijani defence ministry spokesperson Eldar
Sabiroglu stated that his government was cancelling its joint military
exercise with the United States. Sabiroglu did not provide any formal
explanation. The U.S. embassy spokesperson in the Azeri capital Baku
has confirmed that the exercises scheduled for the next month and
involving 200 U.S. troops have indeed been cancelled on the Azeri
initiative. Although there has not been an official explanation,
the decision to cancel the exercises is almost certainly linked to
the Azeri government’s latest criticism of the U.S. role in the peace
talks over the status of its breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Only last week Ali Hasanov, a senior advisor to Azeri president Ilham
Aliyev, stated that his country was not happy with recent U.S.

government actions, and accused the U.S. government of openly
supporting Armenia. Hasanov did not specify what actions his government
was unhappy and how the US has supported Armenia but his statement
is most likely linked to the US backed peace process between Armenia
and Turkey.

Significance:The unusual chill in Azeri-U.S. relations is a result
of Aliyev’s plan to force the United States and Armenia to make
concessions on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh. More precisely,
Azerbaijan is joining efforts with its neighbour and ethic kin Turkey
in trying to link the peace talks over the status of Nagorno-Karabakh
to the peace process between Armenia and Turkey, which is backed
by the United States, European Union (EU) and Russia. The trouble
is that the latter process–initiated by the Armenian government
in 2008 and enshrined in two peace protocols signed in Zurich in
October 2009–is a delicate exercise of diplomacy in which both
sides have agreed not to impose preconditions. However the process of
ratification of Armenian-Turkish protocols and opening borders with
Armenia has hit problems in Turkey. Turkey is concerned about losing
its favourable relations with its Azeri brethren critical of warming
ties between Turkey and Armenia. Turkey has decided to backtrack on its
earlier commitment not to impose any preconditions–yesterday Turkish
prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that no borders will be
opened unless the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is resolved in favour of
Azerbaijan. The Azeri-Turkish plan is to push the United States to
adopt a more pro-Azeri stance in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process
mediated by the Minsk group, of which the United States, along with
Russia and France is one of the co-chairs. Furthermore Azerbaijan
is likely to improve its ties with Russia, which is traditionally
deemed as Armenia’s ally in the region. The United States has been
keen to bring peace to Turkish-Armenian relations and Azerbaijan’s
efforts to derail its peace efforts through ultimata are unlikely to
be successful.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress