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NATO not to create bases in Azerbaijan

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  • NATO not to create bases in Azerbaijan

    ITAR-TASS, Russia
    Nov. 5, 2004

    NATO not to create bases in Azerbaijan

    BAKU, November 5 (Itar-Tass) - NATO will not participate directly in
    the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, NATO Secretary-General
    Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said at a press conference here, ending his visit
    to Azerbaijan. He stressed that it is the OSCE Minsk Group for
    Nagorno-Karabakh, which is handling the problem and trying to find an
    effective way of settling it.

    According to Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, at present NATO cannot make a
    contribution to the settlement of the conflict, but it is going to
    support any efforts aimed at establishing peace.

    He stressed that the NATO countries respected the territorial integrity
    of Azerbaijan, and added that he would welcome the early settlement of
    the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which has brought a lot of suffering to
    people.

    Jaap de Hoop Scheffer described his visit to Azerbaijan as extremely
    useful. According to his information, he had a long tete-a-tete meeting
    with Azerbaijani President Ilkham Aliyev.

    He said he had met as well members of the commission working on the
    plan of individual cooperation between Azerbaijan and NATO, which, in
    his opinion, is a major step forward on the way of the development of
    NATO-Azerbaijan cooperation. The work on the plan will be continued
    both in Azerbaijan and in the NATO headquarters, with a view to giving
    a final touch to the document.

    Scheffer said he had discussed with Azerbaijani officials ways of
    developing cooperation in various spheres, ranging from the Silk Way
    project to cooperation in the sphere of science and ecology. He is
    positive the foundation for closer cooperation between Azerbaijan and
    NATO has been created already.

    Responding to questions of journalists, Scheffer said that NATO was not
    planning to create military bases on the territory of Azerbaijan.

    Commenting on a possibility of the financing by NATO of military
    reforms in Azerbaijan, Scheffer said NATO could not do that. `NATO
    renders assistance to military reforms within the framework of the
    Partnership For Peace programme,' he said.

    After the press conference was over, the NATO Secretary-General left
    for Yerevan.
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