A number of Azeri media have staged a protest against the planned participation of military officers from Armenia in the NATO-sponsored exercises due in Baku on September 12. The front pages of several leading private and independent daily newspapers came out
blank on Saturday contained nothing but the “Azerbaijani media protests the arrival of Armenian officers to Baku” message. Moreover, Internet publications and independent ANS channel suspended their broadcasts for three hours for the same reason. Official and pro-government media outlets have not joined the protest. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said it had expressed its concern to NATO over the Armenians’ presence, but refused to file an official complaint.
A statement released jointly by local media says that the visit to Baku by military men from Armenia, which occupies Upper Garabagh and 7 adjacent regions of Azerbaijan, will deal a blow on the country’s independence. Permitting soldiers and officers of an arch-foe country to the sessions in Azerbaijan would mean ignoring the country’s military interests and diminishing the dignity of Azerbaijani citizens, the document says. “Allowing Armenian military men to Azerbaijan, which has given thousands of victims, is an insult to the Azerbaijani people and is exacerbating the socio-political tensions in the country.” The exercises, organized under NATO’s Partnership for Peace program, are scheduled for September 12-26.
Protest actions
The Whole Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan plans to hold a rally in front of the Narimanov cinema on September 12 in protest against the Armenian officers’ arrival, the party chairman, MP Gudrat Hasanguliyev said on Monday.
Nation indignant
He said the party also intends to conduct a march starting outside school No.20 to proceed to the President’s Office. Hasanguliyev added that until the occupied Azerbaijani territories are liberated Baku should not cooperate with Armenia in any way and must prevent the Armenian officers’ arrival. The Foreign Ministry is negotiating with NATO representatives in Brussels over the issue. “We are currently in talks with Brussels and expressing our position to NATO”, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov told journalists. He noted that Azerbaijan has assumed a number of commitments to NATO and a refusal to admit Armenian military men to the country may “deal a blow” on the Azerbaijan-NATO individual cooperation plan.
Appeal to NATO Secretary General
The Garabagh Liberation Organization appealed to NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer on Monday urging the organization’s leadership to reject the Armenian officers’ participation in its military exercises in Baku. The document demands that the training be held in any other country in order not to cause undesirable incidents and confrontation between the public and the authorities.
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