Azerbaijan casts doubts over ‘neighbour’ policy

Date: 27/05/04

THE president of Azerbaijan has ruled out fully participating in the EU's "New Neighbourhood" policy if it means cooperating with his country's foe Armenia under current circumstances.

Although the European Commission announced that it wishes to promote regional cooperation among the countries on the Union's borders with the strategy launched earlier this month, Ilham Aliyev said he could not contemplate such a step while the dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh region stays unresolved.

"The world's biggest energy project is being implemented in Azerbaijan at the moment," the president told European Voice, referring to the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil and gas pipeline.

"That means, we are very open to regional cooperation - but not with Armenia. After Armenia liberates our land, then we can have regional cooperation."

Armenian troops have occupied Nagorno-Karabakh since 1992. After a two-year war with Azerbaijan, which caused 30,000 deaths and saw more than a million people flee their homes, the occupation was allowed to continue under the terms of an accord brokered by Russia.

At present, France is the EU state most involved in efforts to secure a political settlement in the region. Together with Russia and the US, it co-chairs the so-called Minsk Group which is trying to promote a resolution of the conflict.

Aliyev indicated he would be in favour of giving the entire EU a role in the group's work.

http://eeas.europa.eu/topics/european-neighbourhood-policy-enp_en http://eeas.europa.eu/topics/european-neighbourhood-policy-enp_en

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