Barring Armenians from NATO event to isolate Azerbaijan – aide
ANS TV, Baku
2 Oct 04
[Presenter Leyla Hasanova] Hampering Armenian MPs’ presence at the
Baku-hosted Rose-Roth seminar of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in
November is tantamount to isolating Azerbaijan from cooperation with
international organizations, the head of the Azerbaijani Presidential
Executive Staff, Ramiz Mehdiyev, has said.
[Mehdiyev, speaking to journalists] We should recall that several
Armenian officers had planned to attend a NATO event in Azerbaijan
[Cooperative Best Effort-2004 exercises in September]. As for our
[changing tack], frankly speaking, Mr President’s attitude to this was
negative from the very beginning because their visit here would not be
the right move. Why? Because even if these officers are not involved
in Azerbaijan’s troubles, others are.
On the other hand, Azerbaijan cannot be isolated from the world. We
have to participate in events conducted by international organizations.
It would also be incorrect to hamper the activities of international
organizations in Azerbaijan because this would willy-nilly form a
negative image for Azerbaijan. For this reason, we regard the
activities of international organizations in Azerbaijan as normal. It
is possible that representatives of Armenia might attend these
events. But they attend these events in Azerbaijan as members of
international organizations.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress