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Aliyev finally invited to Washington

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  • Aliyev finally invited to Washington

    AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT FINALLY INVITED TO WASHINGTON
    By Alman Mir - Ismail

    Eurasia Daily Monitor, DC
    June 15 2005

    Azerbaijani President Aliev plans to visit the United States. On June
    7, Azerbaijan Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov made a sensational
    announcement. According to him, President Ilham Aliev plans an official
    visit to the United States, and Azerbaijan's ambassador to Washington,
    Hafiz Pashayev, is in talks to determine the date of the visit.

    The news, which might seem routine for others heads of state, is
    highly important for the Azerbaijani president and regional politics
    in general. For nearly two years, since his election to the presidency
    in October 2003, President Aliev has waited for an official invitation
    from U.S. President George W. Bush for him to visit Washington. While
    his Georgian and Ukrainian counterparts Mikheil Saakashvili and Viktor
    Yushchenko were given warm welcomes at the While House immediately
    after their elections, the extended delay in the invitation for
    Mr. Aliev had become embarrassing, to put it mildly. Aliev and
    Bush have met on several occasions during summits of international
    organizations, yet only a handful of Azerbaijani watchers believed
    these get-togethers could compensate for the humiliation that the
    Azerbaijani authorities were forced to experience.

    The Azerbaijani opposition has cheered the cold shoulder from
    Washington, pointing to the allegations of election fraud in 2003
    and the stated unwillingness of the American president to "work
    with authoritarian regimes." Indeed, the majority of local experts
    believe that the 2004 U.S. presidential election made it impossible
    for the incumbent Bush to invite President Aliev to Washington, in
    order not to risk attacks from his opponents. The lack of democratic
    developments in Azerbaijan, particularly evident with the ban on public
    rallies and the crackdown on opposition parties, further delayed the
    invitation. This, in turn, worsened bilateral Azerbaijani-American
    political relations. In Azerbaijan, a country where symbolic gestures
    carry considerable significance, the lack of attention from the
    American political leadership was perceived as a slap in the face.

    Immediately following the recent invitation, local analysts began
    speculating on the causes for the changed American attitude. Some
    believed that it was tied to the recent opening of the strategic
    Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, actively supported by the White
    House. After all, U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman participated
    in the inauguration of the pipeline in May and brought with himself
    a congratulatory letter from President Bush. Others argued that the
    invitation was a reward for the Azerbaijani consent to host mobile
    American military bases. The rumors about such bases have been in the
    air for more than a year, and the repeated visits by U.S. Secretary
    of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to the Azerbaijani capital only further
    increased them. The ongoing negotiations over the Karabakh conflict
    and the seemingly growing rapprochement between the Azerbaijani
    and Armenian positions are cited as another possible reason for
    the invitation.

    Yet, there are also those who believe that the invitation from
    President Bush is related to the November parliamentary elections in
    Azerbaijan and the desire of the American policymakers to encourage
    free-and-fair elections. This interest can be tied to President
    Bush's recent drive for freedom and democracy in the world, and his
    enthusiastic support for democratic reforms in the post-Soviet space
    and Middle East, shown during his visit to the Georgian capital,
    Tbilisi, last month.

    Indeed, experts on Azerbaijani politics believe that only through
    engagement and active lobbying can the U.S. administration achieve
    tangible results in this country. Immediately after the U.S. State
    Department condemned the crackdown on the Azeri opposition rally on
    May 21, the Azerbaijani authorities, for the first time in 19 months,
    allowed the opposition to stage a street demonstration on June 4. And
    it is not a coincidence that the invitation from the White House came
    at a time when Senator Charles Hagel (R-NE), chairman of the Senate's
    Foreign Relations Committee's Subcommittee on International Economic
    Policy, Export, and Trade Promotion, visited the Azerbaijani capital
    and stressed the importance of democratic elections.. "At the meeting
    with President Ilham Aliev we discussed the necessity of providing
    transparency, fairness, and democratic parliamentary elections,"
    Senator Hagel reported during the press conference in Baku. Similarly,
    on June 7, President Bush sent a letter to the 12th Caspian Oil and
    Gas Exhibition, once again showing the growing American attention to
    the Caucasus region.

    Sources close to diplomatic circles say that the American
    administration will use Aliev's visit as an opportunity to show their
    support for more political and economic reforms in Azerbaijan. This, in
    turn, might untie President Aliev's hands in his efforts to modernize
    the country and fight the conservative old guard that maintains tight
    control over the political and economic life of the nation.
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