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ARMENPRESS
27 July, 2012
YEREVAN
YEREVAN, JULY 27, ARMENPRESS: Today's visit here by Elmar Mammadyarov,
the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan heading up a delegation of Azeri
officials and businessmen, is part of a Latin American swing whose
motive is to "initiate future economic and political co-operation"
although this word order might well be reversed-surely the political
intentions of this trip outweigh the economic, reports Armenpress
citing Buenios Aires herald.
Simple: kicking off in Colombia, the delegation arrives today in
Argentina, continuing on through Uruguay and Peru to end the month
in Paris, where Mammadyarov will put the icing on the cake by meeting
with his French counterpart Laurent Fabius.
For those unfamiliar with Azerbaijan, it is an oil-rich Islamic
Caucasian country nestling on the Caspian Sea and run by the Aliyev
dynasty, in power for the last 14 years (the president announced
yesterday that he would be seeking a third term in 2013), a former
Soviet Socialist Republic which is today allied to Turkey and at the
same time pampered by Israel in the form of arms co-operation. But
over and above its economic perspectives, Azerbaijan also faces
a historic dispute with its neighbour Armenia over the enclave of
Nagorno-Karabakh. It just so happens that the Azeri foreign minister
will be touching down today in Argentina with Latin America's largest
Armenian community and will end his trip in France with Europe's
largest. This raises the issues of the intentions of the Ilham Aliyev
government-to dislodge the strong influence of businessmen of Armenian
origin by flaunting Azeri black gold and at the same time install
the notion that Armenia is refusing to negotiate the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, today subject to the pacification efforts under the umbrella
of the OSCE Minsk Group (Russia, France and United States).
Toward this aim (presenting a counterweight to Armenia) the Aliyev
government began its conquest of Latin America a couple of years ago .
An embassy in Mexico City (the first in North America) was followed
by one in Argentina (late 2010, the first in South America) and
now in Brazil. To which should be added the trips officials and
parliamentarians of Azerbaijan have made to Colombia and Argentina,
as well as Mexico, where they have achieved as a result that
parliamentary foreign affairs committees in Mexico and Colombia
have made declarations in favour of the "territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan."
Although the Azeri Foreign Ministry assures that the Nagorno-Karabakh
issue will be "discussed separately" in the meeting with Fabius in
Paris, don't rule out its being raised in Buenos Aires, as it already
has been in Mexico City and Bogota.
ARMENPRESS
27 July, 2012
YEREVAN
YEREVAN, JULY 27, ARMENPRESS: Today's visit here by Elmar Mammadyarov,
the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan heading up a delegation of Azeri
officials and businessmen, is part of a Latin American swing whose
motive is to "initiate future economic and political co-operation"
although this word order might well be reversed-surely the political
intentions of this trip outweigh the economic, reports Armenpress
citing Buenios Aires herald.
Simple: kicking off in Colombia, the delegation arrives today in
Argentina, continuing on through Uruguay and Peru to end the month
in Paris, where Mammadyarov will put the icing on the cake by meeting
with his French counterpart Laurent Fabius.
For those unfamiliar with Azerbaijan, it is an oil-rich Islamic
Caucasian country nestling on the Caspian Sea and run by the Aliyev
dynasty, in power for the last 14 years (the president announced
yesterday that he would be seeking a third term in 2013), a former
Soviet Socialist Republic which is today allied to Turkey and at the
same time pampered by Israel in the form of arms co-operation. But
over and above its economic perspectives, Azerbaijan also faces
a historic dispute with its neighbour Armenia over the enclave of
Nagorno-Karabakh. It just so happens that the Azeri foreign minister
will be touching down today in Argentina with Latin America's largest
Armenian community and will end his trip in France with Europe's
largest. This raises the issues of the intentions of the Ilham Aliyev
government-to dislodge the strong influence of businessmen of Armenian
origin by flaunting Azeri black gold and at the same time install
the notion that Armenia is refusing to negotiate the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, today subject to the pacification efforts under the umbrella
of the OSCE Minsk Group (Russia, France and United States).
Toward this aim (presenting a counterweight to Armenia) the Aliyev
government began its conquest of Latin America a couple of years ago .
An embassy in Mexico City (the first in North America) was followed
by one in Argentina (late 2010, the first in South America) and
now in Brazil. To which should be added the trips officials and
parliamentarians of Azerbaijan have made to Colombia and Argentina,
as well as Mexico, where they have achieved as a result that
parliamentary foreign affairs committees in Mexico and Colombia
have made declarations in favour of the "territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan."
Although the Azeri Foreign Ministry assures that the Nagorno-Karabakh
issue will be "discussed separately" in the meeting with Fabius in
Paris, don't rule out its being raised in Buenos Aires, as it already
has been in Mexico City and Bogota.