Azeri diplomatic activities

Azerbaijan to Submit Protest Note to Albania

[note that Azerbaijan boasts that its military budget equals Armenia's national budget, yet still feels it has to restrict Armenia militarily]

Azerbaijan, Baku / corr. ë.Ramazanova, E.Hyseyinli / Azerbaijan calls for Albania to maintain the UN Security Council’s resolution and stop supplying Armenia with arms. “Supplying arms to Yerevan endangers the region. Baku Official is to submit a protest letter to Albania due to its supplying arms to Armenia,” Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov told journalists, Lider Channel informed. Recently, Turkey refused its territories being used for transporting arms to Armenia. The vessel with sixty containers, loaded with heavy artillery and ammunition, was delayed in the Istanbul port. The Minister stated that the Azerbaijani Government would submit the protest letter to the Foreign Ministry of Albania in reference to the delay of the Albanian vessel by the Turkish Government. “The text of the note has already been developed.

We note that neither country can supply arms to Azerbaijan or Armenia (conflicting countries) in compliance with the resolution of the UN Security Council,” the Minister added. The press reported that the representative of MEIKO company, who intended to supply arms to Armenia, has stated that selling arms to Armenia corresponds with the resolution. “Presently, we are considering other routes for transporting arms to Armenia,” MEIKO’s representative added.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries broke out in 1988 as a result of Armenia’s territorial claims to Azerbaijan. Since 1992, some 20% of Azerbaijani territory (Nagorno-Karabakh and seven nearby regions) have been occupied by Armenian Armed Forces. In May 1994, a ceasefire agreement was signed between both sides. The peaceful negotiations under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chaired by Russia, France, and the United States are on-going.

Peaceful Population of Nagorno-Karabakh Already Wish to Reside as Part of Azerbaijan: Deputy Foreign Minister (video)

28 July 2007

Trend News Agency (Azerbaijan)

[note that last line!!]

Azerbaijan, Baku /corr. A.Ismaylova / The Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan, Araz Azimov, calls on the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group to come to a common conclusion on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement by the end of year.

He stressed that if the situation continues so in this regard it will not be useful for any of the conflicting sides. “According to the political agendas of their countries and taking into consideration their personal and professional careers, the co-chairs should, by the end of year, define what needs to do. We hope that this troika will make serious and decisive efforts to clarify the situation,” Azimov said.

According to the Deputy Foreign Minister, Azerbaijan hopes that the co-chairs will insist on the project of base principles which was devised in the last three years.

As regards the to term-frame given to the Armenian side through the will of the Armenian President, Robert Kocharyan, during his recent meeting with the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, in Saint-Petersburg, Azimov noted that the given time was sufficient. “International organizations will liven up their activities from the mid August. Armenian Government is likely to summarize the interest of its society and to review its positions. I hope it will be constructive,” he said.

According to Azerbaijani diplomat, Kocharyan is protecting the interests of Armenian community of Nagorno-Karabakh more than the position of Armenia. “Sometimes it is outside the framework. We are considering the issue with the Armenian side. I believe the peaceful population residing in Nagorno-Karabakh already wish to reside as part of Azerbaijan,” Azimov said.

UN General Assembly session to discuss Karabakh conflict - Armenia

26 July 2007

BBC Monitoring Caucasus

[note: this is the second attempt by Azerbaijan to involve the UN where it hopes to obtain the support of other Islamic nations]

Text of report by Armenian news agency Arminfo

Yerevan, 25 August: Azerbaijan's attempts to refer the discussion on the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict settlement beyond the current frames of negotiation have a negative impact on this process and prove the lack of political will of the Azerbaijani side to reach a continuous conflict settlement. Acting press secretary of the Armenian Foreign Ministry Vladimir Karapetyan said this when answering a question of an Arminfo correspondent about how the discussion of the Karabakh issue will be reflected in the 62nd session of the UN General Assembly, and who is the initiator of the inclusion of this issue on the agenda of the session - Azerbaijan or GUAM [regional alliance of Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova].

He also noted that the agenda of the 61st session of the UN general Assembly includes two issues directly connected with the Karabakh conflict. One of them is presented by Azerbaijan and the other by GUAM. Karapetyan reminded that none of them has so far been discussed at the 61st session, and according to the regulations of the organization they [the issues] are automatically included on the agenda of the next session. He stressed that an issue is considered as included on the agenda of a session only in the case of the existence of a corresponding resolution or a decision, which, however, can be appealed by any member-country of the organization. In the case of a failure of voting the issue is not included in the agenda.

Source: Arminfo, Yerevan, in Russian 0349 gmt 25 Jul 07

> ARMENIA DEEPENS ECONOMIC TIES WITH IRAN

> By Emil Danielyan

>

> Eurasia Daily Monitor, DC

> July 25 2007

>

> Armenia and Iran have agreed to give new impetus to their

> bilateral relations and press ahead with the implementation of more

> multimillion-dollar energy projects. The agreements were announced

> in Yerevan after the July 20 meeting of their intergovernmental

> commission on economic cooperation, co-chaired by Iranian Foreign

> Minister Manuchehr Motaki and Armenian Energy Minister Armen Movsisian.

>

> Motaki also held separate talks with President Robert Kocharian

> and other Armenian officials. Official press releases cited them as

> praising the Armenian-Iranian relationship and stressing the need

> to utilize its untapped commercial potential. Motaki was reported to

> be satisfied with "thorough discussions" held during the commission

> meeting. He and Movsisian divulged key details of those discussion

> at a joint news conference.

>

> Movsisian revealed that in "one or two months" the two sides would

> start work on a third high-voltage transmission line linking the power

> grids of Armenia and Iran. The facility will enable a substantial

> increase in exports of Armenian electricity to the Islamic Republic,

> which is expected after the completion of a pipeline that will pump

> Iranian natural gas to Armenia. The pipeline's first Armenian section

> was inaugurated last March in the presence of Kocharian and Iranian

> President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

>

> Construction of its second, much longer stretch is due to be completed

> by the end of next year. That will allow Armenia to annually import

> up to 2.3 billion cubic meters of Iranian gas, or approximately twice

> the level of its current gas imports from Russia.

>

> It is expected that much of Iranian gas will be converted into the

> electricity that will be supplied to Iran.

>

> Another Armenian-Iranian energy project involves the construction of

> two big hydroelectric plants on either side of the Arax River, marking

> the border between the two countries. Movsisian announced that its

> construction would likely start early next year. It is still not clear,

> however, how the Armenian side will finance its share of the project,

> estimated at $200 million. Some analysts believe that it will borrow

> the required sum from the Iranian government. Tehran already lent

> Yerevan $34 million to construct the first pipeline section.

>

> Also on the agenda of the commission meeting was the Russian-backed

> ambitious idea of building a big oil refinery near Meghri, a small

> Armenian town close to the Iranian border. Kocharian reportedly

> discussed it with Russian President Vladimir Putin last January.

>

> Around that time an oil subsidiary of Russia's Gazprom monopoly

> confirmed reports that it is interested in the project and ready,

> in principle, to provide most of the hundreds of millions of dollars

> needed for its implementation. The project envisages that Iranian

> crude will be delivered to Meghri through a 200-kilometer pipeline

> before being turned into gasoline and other oil products that will be

> shipped to Iran by rail. Despite its vast oil reserves, the Islamic

> Republic lacks refining facilities and has to import gasoline to

> meet domestic demand. Officials have said the refinery would have

> the capacity to process about 3 million tons of oil each year.

>

> The governments of Armenia, Iran, and Russia recently formed an ad

> hoc working group tasked with looking into the matter. It is scheduled

> to hold its first meeting before the end of this month.

>

> According to Movsisian, high-level government officials from the

> three countries plan to meet in September to discuss the group's

> recommendations.

>

> It also emerged that Yerevan and Tehran plan to sign a free trade

> agreement soon in order to boost the volume of their commercial

> exchange, which remains quite modest in both absolute and relative

> terms. One of the apparent reasons for that is Iran's huge import

> tariffs that effectively keep the Iranian market off limits to Armenian

> manufacturers. A statement by the Armenian government quoted Motaki

> as telling Prime Minister Serge Sarkisian that facilitating imports

> from Armenia is now a "priority" for Tehran. Motaki sounded optimistic

> about broader Armenian-Iranian trade, telling journalists that its

> volume could more than double to $500 million this year.

>

> These developments come just over a month after the United States

> publicly expressed concern at Armenia's growing relations with Iran

> through its then charge d'affaires in Yerevan, Anthony Godfrey.

>

> Speaking at a June 15 news conference, Godfrey warned that those

> ties could run counter to U.S. sanctions imposed on Tehran over

> its controversial nuclear program. He said that although Washington

> appreciates the "transparent way in which the government of Armenia

> conducts its energy relations with Iran," it expects Yerevan to be a

> "more active partner" in US-led international efforts to prevent Iran

> from developing nuclear weapons.

>

> Armenia has until now managed to maintain close political and economic

> ties with Iran, while being one of the world's leading per-capita

> recipients of U.S. economic aid. The U.S. warning could make it

> more difficult for Yerevan to continue to pursue what it calls a

> "complementary" foreign policy. Still, Armenian Foreign Minister

> Vartan Oskanian insisted on June 19 that his country's growing

> cooperation with its large Muslim neighbor does not breach the U.S. and

> international sanctions and will not damage U.S.-Armenian relations.

>

> A warm rapport with Iran is a key element of Armenia's national

> security doctrine and a rare point of consensus among its main

> political parties. They believe that the landlocked South Caucasus

> state, blockaded by neighboring Azerbaijan and Turkey, has no choice

> but to be a close partner of what is one of its few conduits to the

> outside world.

>

> (Azg, 21 July; Regnum, July 20; Statements by the press services of

> Armenia's president and government, July 20; Arminfo, June 19)