Armenian paper says US bases to be deployed in Azerbaijan in “coming weeks”
Aravot, Yerevan
2 Jul 05
Excerpt from report by Dmitriy Martirosyan in Armenian newspaper
Aravot on 2 July headlined “Another US ‘outpost’ is being created”
The USA’s military presence in Azerbaijan will become reality in
several months. On 12 April 2005 the US and Azerbaijani governments
made an arrangement on the deployment of the US troops and bases on
the territory of Azerbaijan.
This arrangement between Washington and Baku was made during US
Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s “noiseless” visit to Baku. The US
forces will be deployed for a long period also because the US bases
fighting the Taleban in Central Asia [as given] have obviously become
less effective.
The first US bases will be deployed in Azerbaijan in the coming
weeks. The USA’s predicted military presence is not unexpected. The US
pressure in this sphere has coincided with Baku’s readiness to please
Washington. Fearing Moscow’s retaliatory action, Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev has been doubtful [about the issue].
[Passage omitted: the USA has urged the Azerbaijani government to
agree on the deployment of bases]
Experts think that the following points should be emphasized among the
important strategic purposes of the US troops in Azerbaijan: a) to
finish the process of the geopolitical blockade of Iran which will
give an opportunity for the US arms’ deployment to counter-attack our
neighbours; b) to provide energy resources and establish a strategic
corridor from Europe towards Central Asia, including the
transportation of military units and equipment; c) to get new levers
of pressure on Russia in close proximity to the North Caucasus, where
the situation is unstable because of the war in Chechnya; d) to
support pro-US states in the region and confront pro-Russian Armenia;
e) to fight international Islamist activists [as given].