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Azerbaijan postpones high-level visit to US

23 April 2007 09:45 (UTC +04:00)

â€œTaking into consideration changes to the provisions on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno Karabakh conflict in the initial 2006 State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, Azerbaijani Government postponed the visit of the Azerbaijani delegation to Washington for the bilateral security talks, scheduled for April 23-24,â€ the ministryâ€™s statement said.
The Azerbaijani delegation was to include high level officials from Foreign Ministry, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Emergencies, Ministry of National Security, Interior Ministry, Border Service, Customs Committee, and Special Protection Service.
The Foreign Ministry warned that the issue â€œmay become a serious impediment to further security-related cooperation between our countriesâ€.
The changes "distort the essence of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict" and their introduction "puts in doubt the U.S. position of the honest broker in the resolution of the conflict," the statement said.
The country report on Azerbaijan, posted on the State Department Web site, states that in 2006 â€œArmenia continued to occupy the Azerbaijani territory of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding Azerbaijani territoriesâ€.
The report on neighboring Armenia, however, says: "Armenian forces occupy large portions of Azerbaijani territory adjacent to Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenian officials maintain that they do not â€˜occupyâ€™ Nagorno-Karabakh itself.â€
The Azerbaijani statement said resolution of the conflict â€œbased on the territorial integrity of ... Azerbaijan, with Nagorno-Karabakh as its inalienable part, is a primary and foremost elementâ€ in its security cooperation with the United States.
The US made these changes after the interference of American Armenian National Committee.
The United States said its policy had not changed.
"Any interpretation that our policy regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has changed is not correct," State Department spokeswoman Nancy Beck said Sunday. She said the U.S. was aware of Azerbaijanâ€™s statement announcing the postponement and was in contact with its government.
â€œThese talks are important and we look forward to them taking place at the earliest date,â€ Beck said.
On Friday, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack also said there had been no change, adding: â€œThe United States reaffirms its support for the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, and holds that the future status of Nagorno-Karabakh is a matter of negotiations between the parties.â€/APA/