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BAKU: Azeri speaker voices strong objections to Armenian officers'vi

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  • BAKU: Azeri speaker voices strong objections to Armenian officers'vi

    Azeri speaker voices strong objections to Armenian officers' visit to Baku

    Ayna, Baku
    8 Sep 04

    Five Armenian officers will arrive in Baku in the afternoon on
    12 September. According to information that we have obtained from
    military sources, a minibus has been allocated for them to move around
    the city. The report says that the Azerbaijani Defence, Interior
    and National Security ministries have started to carry out a plan
    of measures to ensure security of foreign servicemen due to attend
    the NATO [Cooperative Best Effort 2004] exercises. Special people
    will accompany foreign servicemen during the exercises. No actions
    of protest during the Cooperative Best Effort exercises on 13-26
    September will be allowed. A source in the law-enforcement agencies
    said that police officers are being seriously instructed on this.

    Two high-ranking Armenian officers (a general and a colonel) are
    expected to attend VIP events due at the end of the exercises. The
    low-ranking officers will stay at the Qaraheybat test range, while
    the high-tanking officers will be staying at Hotel Europe and the
    Hyatt Regency Hotel. [Passage omitted: reported details.]

    Azerbaijani official circles refuse to disclose information about the
    number of Armenian officers [due to arrive in Baku]. For instance,
    the head of the A zerbaijani Defence Ministry press service, Ramiz
    Malikov, said in an interview with our newspaper that the number
    will be known only in the run-up to the exercises. Malikov thinks
    that their number will be less than the mentioned one.

    Speaker Murtuz Alasgarov made a statement at the parliament's plenary
    session yesterday [7 September] denouncing the participation of
    Armenian officers in the NATO exercises due in Baku. He said: "NATO
    will never resolve the Karabakh problem. The alliance is trying to
    establish a base for itself. NATO intends to enter the Caucasus."

    The speaker said he understood people's anxiety and added that "the
    killers of our children cannot enter Azerbaijan". Alasgarov said
    that the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry should be seriously engaged in
    the issue.

    "Armenians have occupied our lands. By coming to Baku, they want to
    boast. Of course, every sober-minded citizen of our country cannot
    reconcile to such a disgrace. I understand people's protest, but
    everything should be carried out reasonably. The talks with NATO's
    leadership are necessary. I regard the military exercises inopportune,"
    Alasgarov said.
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