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Azerbaijani Bridgehead: The US Proclaimed Plans To Absorb Another Po

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  • Azerbaijani Bridgehead: The US Proclaimed Plans To Absorb Another Po

    AZERBAIJANI BRIDGEHEAD; THE UNITED STATES PROCLAIMED PLANS TO ABSORB ANOTHER POST-SOVIET REPUBLIC INTO NATO
    Yuri Roks

    WPS Agency
    June 27, 2008 Friday
    Russia

    AZERBAIJAN DOES NOT FORCE THE ISSUE OF MEMBERSHIP IN NATO FOR THE TIME
    BEING; The US ambassador in Baku said the membership of Azerbaijan in
    the Alliance was to be discussed soon. Observers and the Azerbaijani
    themselves called it wishful thinking.

    US Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Ann Derse, said Tuesday that the
    US-Azerbaijani consultations in Baku next month would dwell on the
    possibility to accept this country into the Alliance. The words of
    the US diplomat at the conference "Integration of Azerbaijan into
    the Euro-Atlantic Zone and Democratic Elections" raised some eyebrows
    in Baku.

    "Azerbaijan is no hurry to ponder membership in NATO. Our interaction
    is quite successful for the time being. As for the rest, time
    will tell," Azerbaijani Representative to NATO, Kjamil Khasiyev,
    said. Khasiyev denounced speculations on the nationwide referendum over
    NATO membership like the one in Georgia. "Azerbaijan participates
    in more than 250 NATO events, which makes it one of NATO's most
    active partners throughout the world and definitely the most active
    in this part of the Caucasus. Over 50 events within the framework
    of cooperation with NATO take place in Azerbaijan every year," the
    diplomat said but stressed that membership in the Alliance was not
    on the agenda at this point.

    All the same, Derse's words had a profound impact. Being the US
    ambassador, she has been playing a particularly active part in
    Azerbaijani social and political life. "To a certain extent, she
    is for Azerbaijan what US ambassadors are for Georgia," a prominent
    Azerbaijani journalist said on condition of anonymity.

    "Her statement is not to be dismissed even though it is clear that
    Azerbaijan is not going to end up in the Alliance tomorrow or the
    day after," the journalist added.

    Azerbaijan is therefore the third GUAM country after Georgia and
    Ukraine (the bloc includes Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijani, and Moldova)
    whose necessity Western officials promote. As for Moldova, observers
    suspect that its resolve to remain beyond the existing blocs may
    weaken or even disappear altogether after the presidential election
    this autumn.

    Ambassador of Turkey to Azerbaijan, Hulusi Kilich, elaborated on
    the idea of Azerbaijani membership in the Alliance. "Turkey offers
    Azerbaijan all aid and assistance en route to NATO," the diplomat
    said. Kilich commented on the progress Azerbaijan had made on the
    path to democratization despite the grave situation in national
    economy and the occupation of part of its territory. Speaking of
    the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Kilich said Ankara was for a peaceful
    resolution of the crisis within the framework of territorial integrity
    of Azerbaijan.

    "There is nothing surprising about the processes under way in
    Azerbaijan. They are natural, and I do not think that Moscow is overly
    surprised. Azerbaijan's road into NATO will be longer than the roads of
    Georgia or Ukraine because of the conflict in Karabakh... The Georgian
    situation is somewhat similar but not entirely. Where the Abkhazian
    and Ossetian conflicts are concerned, the West is beginning to see
    Russia as an involved party. That is why it is prepared to defend
    Georgia when it is highly unlikely that it will choose to defend
    Azerbaijan from Armenia. Azerbaijani membership in NATO meanwhile will
    create a new and interesting factor in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
    settlement. There is no way to say what role this factor will play,
    but that this role will be a central one is already clear," Professor
    Aleksei Malashenko of the Moscow Carnegie Center said.

    Zardusht Ali-Zade, Azerbaijani political scientist and ex-candidate
    for president, called membership in NATO a matter of the distant
    future. "When IPAP was completed, the Azerbaijani authorities did
    not even suggest another phase of interaction," he said. "Instead,
    they chose to repeat the previous phase all over again. They
    know after all that membership in NATO will compromise their own
    stability." Ali-Zade dismissed membership in NATO as absolutely
    pointless for Azerbaijan. Its members (Iran, Russia, Georgia) do not
    threaten Azerbaijan in the least while the remaining neighbor, Armenia
    that occupied some Azerbaijani territories, has the international
    community's support. "This statement is needed by whoever made it
    in the first place and by certain circles in Azerbaijan itself,"
    the political scientist said. "We'd better concentrate on learning
    from NATO how to develop an army where the safety of personnel is the
    first priority. We'd better focus on learning from them whatever is
    helpful. That will be more than enough."
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