The Washington Times
July 27, 2004 Tuesday
EMBASSY ROW
By James Morrison, THE WASHINGTON TIMES
WORLD; EMBASSY ROW
Restoring trust
The foreign minister of Azerbaijan told Washington officials that he
is “cautiously optimistic” of an eventual peaceful settlement in the
conflict with neighboring Armenia that, he said, has caused thousands
of deaths and displaced nearly 1 million Azerbaijani citizens.
Elmar Mammadyarov said the optimism comes from his belief in
negotiations, but the caution is rooted in the deep distrust between
the mostly Muslim Azerbaijanis and the mostly Christian Armenians.
“The most important thing is to restore trust,” he told editors and
reporters at The Washington Times last week. “The hatred inside the
two communities is very high.”
The two countries agreed to a cease-fire in 1994, but as much as 20
percent of territory claimed by Azerbaijan remains under Armenian
control. The conflict centered on an ethnic Armenian enclave called
Nagorno-Karabakh within Azerbaijan.
“We need to continue negotiations to bring our position and the
Armenian position closer to each other,” Mr. Mammadyarov said.
Negotiations are being organized through U.S., French and Russian
diplomats of the so-called Minsk Group of the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe.
In a meeting with Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, he also
discussed progress on the construction of a $3 billion oil pipeline
that will pump 1 million barrels of oil a day from the Caspian
seaport of Baku in Azerbaijan to the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the
Mediterranean, our correspondent Talar Beylerian reports.
“Most of the oil and gas fields are off shore in the Caspian Sea and
we are cooperating with the United States … and with some other
European partners with regards to the created security of the
offshore wells,” Mr. Mammadyarov said.
The pipeline is scheduled to begin operating in January.
Azerbaijan also is strengthening ties with the West, Mr. Mammadyarov
said.
On July 6, NATO welcomed the decision by Azerbaijan to develop an
Individual Partnership Action Plan. The initiative will help foster a
partnership between Azerbaijan and NATO and serve as a platform to
discuss all relevant issues related to defense and political reform.
“It is bringing us closer to the Euro-Atlantic structure,” he said.
Mr. Mammadyarov said the European Union’s inclusion of Azerbaijan,
Armenia and Georgia in the European Neighborhood Policy in June was
also an important step for the three nations of the southern
Caucasus.
The conflict-ridden nations remain far from membership in the
European Union, but the neighborhood policy involves a significant
degree of economic integration and a deepening of political
cooperation.
Azerbaijan was one of three Muslim states to join the U.S.-led
“coalition of the willing.” The country employs 151 military
personnel in Iraq and maintains contingents in both Afghanistan and
Kosovo.