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Will NATO pass the Black Sea? â€“ ANALYSIS

Will NATO pass the Black Sea? <font color=red>â€“ ANALYSIS </font>

01 April 2008 11:17 (UTC +04:00)

Bucharest. Dr. Fakhri Karimli â€“APA. It is clear that the North Atlantic alliance will solve the Balkansâ€™ fate in the Bucharest summit, but this summit is more important for the former soviet countries in the lead of South Caucasus. Bucharest summit will focus on the prospects of post-soviet countries claimed to the NATO membership, which is the most important issue for Azerbaijan.

Only Ukraine and Georgia are claiming so far, but their issue is kept in secrecy. Traditionally US supports Kiev and Tbilisiâ€™s NATO hopes. In his interview with German Press, US President George Bush emphasized the â€œclear prospectâ€ offered to the Ukraine and Georgia, but he also said the decision to be passed in the Romanian capital would not be provide them with membership, only giving them a chance to demand it.
Kiev is looking forward that the Bucharest Summit will open the way to NATO membership, but Georgia is not happy only with NATO and going to knock the EU doors as well. Both countries hope for the positive decision in the summit joining them to the Membership Action Plan (MAP), which is the last phase on the way to NATO membership.
Undoubtedly Russia, former USSRâ€™s main heir, is a resolute opponent to such developments. Russian President-Elect Dmitriy Medvedev stated that the Ukrainian NATO membership would threaten his country, but the US President has originally responded to this statement. â€These thoughts mirror Vladimir Putinâ€™s opinion. Putin told me these arguments at our recent meeting. My opinion on this is clear: democracy in the borders of the country is not bad, but good job. The democracy is peaceful and expressing the peopleâ€™s will, which is not trying to wage the warsâ€.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also said that the US wishes to bring Georgia and Ukraine to NATO could seriously damage on Moscowâ€™s relationship with Washington and the North Atlantic block. â€œI am sure that US will make all efforts at the NATO Bucharest summit to realize the Georgian and Ukrainian membership to alliance. If Ukraine and Georgia enter NATO, this issue will cause serious results for our relationship not only with the US, but also with NATO.
Unusually Germany is allying with Russia against the post-soviet duo. Berlin closely cooperating with the Russian â€œGaspromâ€ stands against the NATO enlargement to the East. Germany arguing that both countries cannot solve their internal problems yet. Thomas Steg, Spokesman for German Government said NATO accepted only the countries not involved in the political and regional conflicts and separatist movement. â€œNATO membership divided the Ukrainian community. Georgia faced with the separatist movements and regional conflicts. Therefore it needs the EU observers againâ€. He said Germany was â€œcarefully approachingâ€ the Ukrainian and Georgian NATO membership, but it relates only to the situations inside these countries and region as well. â€œWe are expecting for the stability and peace before the positive respond to the candidacy of both countriesâ€.
Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel refused the chances of the two countriesâ€™ integration into the alliance grounding that Georgians and Ukrainians did not support the initiative.
Actually, Germanyâ€™s arguments have base: on March 29 thousands of people gathered in the center of Simferopol, the capital of Crimea Autonomous Republic and protested to the prospects of integration into NATO. MP from Ukraineâ€™s Party of Regions Nestor Shufrych stated that Ukraineâ€™s admission to MAP would be against the peopleâ€™s will and the countryâ€™s national interests.
â€œWe would let our sons be killed in Iraq, Afghanistan or Kosovo. We are against the war initiated by NATOâ€, he said.
Ukrainian Presidentâ€™s Press Service reports that President Victor Yushchenko decreed on signing the agreement with North Atlantic Alliance on Ukraineâ€™s participation in the composition of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. Under the decree, Ukrainian President gives power to the head of Ukraineâ€™s mission to NATO to sign the related document. But polls show that half of the Ukrainians are against NATO. According to the other MP from Ukraineâ€™s Party of Regions Vasili Kiselev, parliamentary crisis is inevitable if Ukraine enters MAP.
â€œI hope leaders of the Western Europe, who have decided on Ukraineâ€™s admission to MAP, have received a serious message,â€ he said.
Bucharest summit will be an important test not only for Albania, Croatia and Macedonia but also for Georgia and Ukraine. This is one of the slogans chanted during anti-NATO demonstrations in Ukraine: â€œUkraine, future member of NATO, is the knife plunged in the back of Russiaâ€. Unfortunately, the slogan does not elucidate what Russia means for these countries. /APA-Analysis/