ARMENIAN DAILY SAYS AZERI LEADER GOT "NEW STATUS" AFTER US VISIT
Aykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan
2 May 06
Text of unattributed report by Armenian newspaper Aykakan Zhamanak
on 2 May headlined "New status"
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's visit to the USA has made us
more nervous than expected. He went to Washington as an authoritarian
president from the South Caucasus but returned in the role of a
mediator in the settlement of the most urgent conflict between Iran
and the West.
Five days before Aliyev's visit to the USA Iran's Defence Minister
Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar was in Baku. In fact, he confirmed that he
had come to Baku to send messages to Washington via Aliyev. After
meeting Aliyev, George Bush declared that he had assured the
Azerbaijani president that he wanted to resolve the Iranian crisis
only by peaceful means. A statement like this from the US president is
strange because a week before meeting Aliyev he said that he treated
pessimistically an opportunity of a peaceful settlement to the
Iranian problem. Finally, who is Ilham Aliyev for the US president
to report about his intentions? The same US president did not take
into account the views of the French, Russian and German presidents
when attacking Iraq.
For this reason, this change in the American president's mood may have
the following explanation: Aliyev has passed some Iranian messages
on to Bush which made Bush think that a peaceful settlement to the
conflict was still possible. This means that Bush has also sent
reply messages to Iran. That is to say, over this period of time the
Azerbaijani president will have permanent contacts with the leaders
of the USA, Iran and several European states. This process will lead
to a sharp increase in Azerbaijan's and its leader's rating in the
world. If Aliyev really manages to facilitate a peaceful settlement
to the conflict, the world community will be ready to offer him its
services and the Karabakh issue may be one of them.
[Armenian President] Robert Kocharyan and [Foreign Minister] Vardan
Oskanyan, who do not want to accept an opportunity to settle the
Karabakh conflict in the context of the Iranian issue, are playing
a cruel game with Armenia and Karabakh. The primary condition for
overcoming the problem is to understand that, but our authorities do
not understand. They are simply looking forward to swallowing 235m US
dollars promised by America [under the Millennium Challenge Programme].
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Aykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan
2 May 06
Text of unattributed report by Armenian newspaper Aykakan Zhamanak
on 2 May headlined "New status"
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's visit to the USA has made us
more nervous than expected. He went to Washington as an authoritarian
president from the South Caucasus but returned in the role of a
mediator in the settlement of the most urgent conflict between Iran
and the West.
Five days before Aliyev's visit to the USA Iran's Defence Minister
Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar was in Baku. In fact, he confirmed that he
had come to Baku to send messages to Washington via Aliyev. After
meeting Aliyev, George Bush declared that he had assured the
Azerbaijani president that he wanted to resolve the Iranian crisis
only by peaceful means. A statement like this from the US president is
strange because a week before meeting Aliyev he said that he treated
pessimistically an opportunity of a peaceful settlement to the
Iranian problem. Finally, who is Ilham Aliyev for the US president
to report about his intentions? The same US president did not take
into account the views of the French, Russian and German presidents
when attacking Iraq.
For this reason, this change in the American president's mood may have
the following explanation: Aliyev has passed some Iranian messages
on to Bush which made Bush think that a peaceful settlement to the
conflict was still possible. This means that Bush has also sent
reply messages to Iran. That is to say, over this period of time the
Azerbaijani president will have permanent contacts with the leaders
of the USA, Iran and several European states. This process will lead
to a sharp increase in Azerbaijan's and its leader's rating in the
world. If Aliyev really manages to facilitate a peaceful settlement
to the conflict, the world community will be ready to offer him its
services and the Karabakh issue may be one of them.
[Armenian President] Robert Kocharyan and [Foreign Minister] Vardan
Oskanyan, who do not want to accept an opportunity to settle the
Karabakh conflict in the context of the Iranian issue, are playing
a cruel game with Armenia and Karabakh. The primary condition for
overcoming the problem is to understand that, but our authorities do
not understand. They are simply looking forward to swallowing 235m US
dollars promised by America [under the Millennium Challenge Programme].
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress