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BAKU: The KLO Protests Visit of Armenian Officers

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  • BAKU: The KLO Protests Visit of Armenian Officers

    THE KARABAKH LIBERATION ORGANIZATION PROTESTS THE VISIT OF ARMENIAN OFFICERS

    CENTRAL ASIA - CAUCASUS ANALYST
    Wednesday / June 30, 2004

    By Fariz Ismailzade

    This week police and demonstrators once again clashed in the streets of
    Baku. The cause of these clashes was the arrival of two Armenian
    officers in Baku to participate in a NATO conference. Several dozens of
    members of the Karabakh Liberation Organization (KLO) stormed the
    "Europe" hotel, where the conference was taking place and attempted to
    psychically remove the Armenian officers from there.

    This week police and demonstrators once again clashed in the streets of
    Baku. The cause of these clashes was the arrival of two Armenian
    officers in Baku to participate in a NATO conference. Several dozens of
    members of the Karabakh Liberation Organization (KLO) stormed the
    "Europe" hotel, where the conference was taking place and attempted to
    psychically remove the Armenian officers from there.

    "These officers represent the occupational army. Their hands are soaked
    in blood. They have raped our women and killed our children. There is no
    place for them in Baku," exclaimed Akif Nagi, the chairman of the KLO.
    Other demonstrators carried banners and posters and demanded that the
    Armenian officers immediately leave the country. Several of them even
    succeeded at entering the conference hall way and breaking windows
    before being forcefully removed by security. Police subsequently
    intervened and arrested several protestors, including Akif Nagi.

    The Karabakh Liberation Organization unites mainly the families of the
    war victims and displaced people from Karabakh. In the past, it has
    protested against the planned arrival of Armenian military servicemen to
    Baku to participate in NATO events, but this was the first case when the
    Armenian officers actually did come. In previous times, the visits were
    cancelled. The KLO belongs to the opposition in domestic politics and in
    the last presidential elections in October 2003, it supported the
    candidacy of Musavat Party chairman Isa Gambar.

    The majority of local residents in Baku also voiced their criticism at
    the arrival of the Armenian officers. Many respondents believed that the
    representatives of the enemy's army should not be allowed in Baku. "What
    will Armenians think? They will think that it was OK to occupy our land
    and now to come to the capital city of Azerbaijan, sit here, eat here
    and laugh at us! What a shame!" said an old man to a local media outlet,
    which widely covered the event. Even deputies in the Parliament debated
    the issue and expressed their anger at the situation.

    Meanwhile, the official Azerbaijani government took a constructive
    approach to this issue and decided to allow the Armenian officers to
    participate in the conference. "The relations between Azerbaijan and
    NATO should not become the hostage of our relations with Armenia," said
    deputy foreign minister Araz Azimov. He also added that reacting
    emotionally to these kinds of situations was the not best thing to do.
    "We need to be more pragmatic than this."

    Bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and NATO has been indeed
    increasing since Azerbaijan joined the Partnership for Peace Program of
    NATO in 1994. Lately, Azerbaijan has sent peacekeeping troops to the
    Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan and the recently signed an Individual
    Partnership Program between Baku and NATO will further increase the
    cooperation. That is why it was important for the Azerbaijani Government
    to host this NATO conference at the highest level.

    The visiting Armenian officers were tightly protected by security forces
    during their stay. During the debates in the Azerbaijani Parliament it
    was revealed that they did not even receive a visa from the Azerbaijani
    embassy in Georgia, as was announced earlier.

    The majority of analysts in Azerbaijan believe that the KLO protest was
    not a sporadic event but rather the logical consequence of the
    deadlocked negotiations in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process for the
    past 10 years. The Azerbaijani society has been getting increasingly
    frustrated with the stalemate and thus becoming more supportive of a
    military solution to the conflict. Many people do not believe that the
    international negotiations will produce any results and that the
    occupied lands will be returned. Thus, the internal hostility towards
    Armenia increases year by year. Several months ago, another indicator of
    this growing hostility took place in Budapest, where an Azerbaijani
    officer presumably (the court case is ongoing) murdered his Armenian
    colleague. These are simply symptoms of Azerbaijani society's increasing
    impatience towards the Karabakh problem.

    Meanwhile, dozens of Parliamentarians in Baku signed a petition calling
    for the release of the arrested members of KLO, and the ANS TV has
    voiced concerns at the brutality of the police forces while dispersing
    the crowd. Even the Azerbaijani Human Rights Ombudsman Elmira
    Suleymanova asked for the release of the arrested demonstrators.

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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