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BAKU: Azeri Leader's US Visit "Very Useful" - Foreign Minister

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  • BAKU: Azeri Leader's US Visit "Very Useful" - Foreign Minister

    AZERI LEADER'S US VISIT "VERY USEFUL" - FOREIGN MINISTER

    Lider TV, Baku
    1 May 06

    The Azerbaijani foreign minister has described President Ilham Aliyev's
    recent visit to the USA as "very useful".

    In an interview with private Lider TV's "After the Voice" programme
    on 1 May, Elmar Mammadyarov said that the three most important issues
    discussed during the visit were regional security, including the
    Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, the Iranian issue and democracy.

    Speaking about the Iranian issue, which was discussed during the
    visit at the initiative of the US side, the minister said that it
    should be resolved only diplomatically. He noted that "there is no
    need for Azerbaijan's mediation" between Iran and the USA because
    Azerbaijan had not been asked to do so.

    Mammadyarov noted that he did not think threats to US economic
    interests in Azerbaijan could be expected from the Iranian side in the
    event of the USA starting war against Iran. Iran has always supported
    Azerbaijan, for instance, on the issue of its territorial integrity in
    the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, he said. He denied that such threats
    had ever existed at all. Asked about Azerbaijan's position between
    Iran and the USA, the minister said that "we prioritize Azerbaijan's
    national interests in its foreign policy".

    The minister went on to say that the USA had also needed the
    Azerbaijani president to pay a visit to the USA "very much" as "all
    high-ranking members of the US government, except only Secretary of
    State Rice, met Mr President". He noted that unlike previously when
    the USA was only interested in Azerbaijan's oil, now the two countries
    "have reached strategic partnership in their bilateral ties". He
    said that Azerbaijan had a chance to become a regional leader in the
    future and that the USA therefore listened to Azerbaijan's statements
    "very carefully and with a very great interest".

    The USA's statements that it will take all steps to resolve the
    Nagornyy Karabakh conflict mean that "both the US president and the
    government are ready to do their best to bring peace to the region",
    Mammadyarov said.

    He added that if it were not for the strong Armenian lobby in the
    US Congress, the resolution of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict would
    be faster.

    "The Armenian lobby is now also starting to understand
    that... Azerbaijan is turning into a regional leader," the minister
    said. The situation in the peace talks will change in a few years
    because in three or five years Azerbaijan may not agree to what it
    agrees now, he said.
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