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AZERBAIJANI LEADER RECEIVES US DEFENCE SECRETARY
news.az
June 7 2010
Azerbaijan
Aliyev receives Gates Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev received US
Defence Secretary Robert Gates yesterday.
They discussed military cooperation between Azerbaijan and the United
States, according to a report from state-run news agency AzerTAj.
Robert Gates handed the president a letter from Barack Obama.
He said that the US president was pleased to remember that Azerbaijan
was the first country he visited as a senator.
Ilham Aliyev asked the defence secretary to convey his thanks to the
US president for the letter.
Supplies for US forces in Afghanistan were expected to dominate the
defence secretary's talks in Azerbaijan.
About a quarter of the supplies for US forces in Afghanistan pass
through Azerbaijan, according to the American Forces press service.
'The secretary has not really had a chance to engage with them,'
Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said last week, 'and this
is an opportunity for him to express our appreciation, and also to
figure out how we can work better together to maintain the level of
support that is now flowing through Azerbaijan.'
The Pentagon wants to make sure there are no problems that could
slow President Barack Obama's 30,000-troop surge in Afghanistan,
Reuters commented.
Robert Gates told reporters on his plane before landing that the
trip was spurred, in part, by 'concerns in Azerbaijan that we weren't
paying enough attention to them'.
'It's important to touch base and let them know that in fact they do
play an important role in this international coalition,' he said.
Gates will try to allay the Azerbaijan president's concerns about
Nagorno-Karabakh, a US official told Reuters without elaborating.
Azerbaijan has criticizing the USA in recent months. Presidential
official Ali Hasanov in April accused the USA of bias on the Karabakh
conflict in favour of Armenia. He said that Azerbaijan was not
satisfied with the US role as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group and
said Washington was more concerned with helping Armenia economically
than with peace in the region.
His comments echoed remarks by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev
at a cabinet meeting. 'Certainly, when our interests are ignored,
the occupation of our lands is not taken into account and attempts
are made to help the occupying country get out of its tough economic
state, the Azerbaijani community cannot accept this', the president
said, without naming the USA.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and Armenian President Serzh
Sargsyan were invited to the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington in
April, but Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev was not. US Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton said this was a 'misunderstanding' which she
had explained to the Azerbaijani president by telephone, Turkish PM
Recep Tayyip Erdogan told journalists.
Azerbaijan since postponed military exercises with the USA, which
were to have been held in May in accordance with the US-Azerbaijani
agreement on bilateral military cooperation.
From: A. Papazian
news.az
June 7 2010
Azerbaijan
Aliyev receives Gates Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev received US
Defence Secretary Robert Gates yesterday.
They discussed military cooperation between Azerbaijan and the United
States, according to a report from state-run news agency AzerTAj.
Robert Gates handed the president a letter from Barack Obama.
He said that the US president was pleased to remember that Azerbaijan
was the first country he visited as a senator.
Ilham Aliyev asked the defence secretary to convey his thanks to the
US president for the letter.
Supplies for US forces in Afghanistan were expected to dominate the
defence secretary's talks in Azerbaijan.
About a quarter of the supplies for US forces in Afghanistan pass
through Azerbaijan, according to the American Forces press service.
'The secretary has not really had a chance to engage with them,'
Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said last week, 'and this
is an opportunity for him to express our appreciation, and also to
figure out how we can work better together to maintain the level of
support that is now flowing through Azerbaijan.'
The Pentagon wants to make sure there are no problems that could
slow President Barack Obama's 30,000-troop surge in Afghanistan,
Reuters commented.
Robert Gates told reporters on his plane before landing that the
trip was spurred, in part, by 'concerns in Azerbaijan that we weren't
paying enough attention to them'.
'It's important to touch base and let them know that in fact they do
play an important role in this international coalition,' he said.
Gates will try to allay the Azerbaijan president's concerns about
Nagorno-Karabakh, a US official told Reuters without elaborating.
Azerbaijan has criticizing the USA in recent months. Presidential
official Ali Hasanov in April accused the USA of bias on the Karabakh
conflict in favour of Armenia. He said that Azerbaijan was not
satisfied with the US role as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group and
said Washington was more concerned with helping Armenia economically
than with peace in the region.
His comments echoed remarks by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev
at a cabinet meeting. 'Certainly, when our interests are ignored,
the occupation of our lands is not taken into account and attempts
are made to help the occupying country get out of its tough economic
state, the Azerbaijani community cannot accept this', the president
said, without naming the USA.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and Armenian President Serzh
Sargsyan were invited to the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington in
April, but Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev was not. US Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton said this was a 'misunderstanding' which she
had explained to the Azerbaijani president by telephone, Turkish PM
Recep Tayyip Erdogan told journalists.
Azerbaijan since postponed military exercises with the USA, which
were to have been held in May in accordance with the US-Azerbaijani
agreement on bilateral military cooperation.
From: A. Papazian