BAKU-WASHINGTON RELATIONS DETERIORATE
By Messenger Staff

Messenger
April 27 2010
Georgia

Recently it has become quite evident that a black cat has run between
Baku and Washington. The usual explanation for this is the principled
rejection by Baku of the idea of Ankara and Yerevan cooperating and
opening their borders without settling the Karabakh conflict and Azeri
territory being liberated from the Armenian occupation forces. Some
Azeri analysts however think that this is not the main reason, as
Azerbaijan mainly agrees with the Madrid Principles suggested by the
OSCE Minsk group, which rejected Yerevan’s concept.

Azeri analyst Eldar Namazov thinks that the US and Azeri leaders
agree on this issue in particular. Furthermore international business
understands very well that because of Azerbaijan’s geostrategic
location and its reserves of oil and gas nothing viable can happen in
this region without Baku’s participation. Therefore Baku’s opinion
should be seriously considered in all respects and the White House
understands this.

Some analysts suggest that the main reasons for the strained relations
between the two countries are the limiting of US radio transmissions
in Azerbaijan, human rights abuses, the arrest of journalists and
other restrictions on democracy. The White House has many times stated
that countries which are not clearly democratically oriented cannot
become reliable partners for the USA. This is not only a philosophical
position but a practical reality.

Political analyst Namazov thinks that there are some human rights
problems in Azerbaijan and if there is no democratic progress in the
country the influence of the USA and EU will diminish. In a newspaper
interview Namazov has stated that confronting USA will not yield
positive results for Azerbaijan and drawing closer to Russia will
not compensate for losing the USA as an ally.

The Azeri leadership has always been concerned by the US’s position
towards it but relations became even more strained at the beginning
of March 2010 when The Washington Post published an article about
properties purchased by Ilham Aliyev and his family around the world.

It stated that 11-year old Heydar Aliyev, son of Ilham Aliyev, has
bought nine houses worth USD 44 million and Ilham’s daughters Leila
and Arsu own real estate worth USD 75 million. The newspaper also
stated that Aliyev’s salary as President of Azerbaijan is USD 228,000
per annum but this money is not sufficient to make such acquisitions.

Chairman of the Popular Front of Azerbaijan Ali Kerimli has stated that
everyone knows that Azerbaijan is one of the most corrupt countries
in the world.