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American experts urge the government to lift Section 907 imposed against Azerbaijan

15 May 2009 08:59 (UTC +04:00)

Professor of the University of Haifa Brenda Shaffer, Vice President of the Cohen Group Daniel Fata and senior expert of the Jamestown Foundation Vladimir Socor addressed the conference and spoke about the regional and global role of Azerbaijan.

Vladimir Socor said the United States should be involved in more directions of activity in Azerbaijan, from the treatment of soldiers wounded in Afghanistan to deeper military cooperation. In his opinion, US military and other forces in the territory will restrict the opportunities of third forces to interfere in the policy of Azerbaijan. Socor urged the US government to lift Section 907 to Freedom Support Act and said the opening of Turkey-Armenia borders would not contribute to the interests of both Baku and Washington. The expert said Armenia occupied the territories of Azerbaijan and executed large-scale ethnic cleansing operations there, but the Congress took injustice position against Azerbaijan. The expert said US high-ranking officials didnâ€™t visit Azerbaijan and US Secretary of State visited Baku last time in 1992. At the end of his speech Socor called on the leading countries to support the Southern Energy Corridor.

Professor of the University of Haifa, Ms. Brenda Shaffer drew attention to the occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijanâ€™s territories, displacement of one million people and added that despite this, terror was not spread in Azerbaijan.
â€œBut we witness such a reality in Iraq and Afghanistan,â€ she said.
Ms. Shaffer said official Baku might give valuable recommendations to the White House in a number of issues, including cooperation with Iran. Professor of the University of Haifa said Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act should be cancelled, improvement of Turkey-Armenia relations should not damage the interests of Azerbaijan. According to her, the region will be much closer to war, in case the borders are opened.

Daniel Fata, vice-president of the Cohen Group, who had been responsible for the relations with Azerbaijan in Pentagon for a long time, said Azerbaijan was an important energy provider, contributed much to the struggle against terror. Daniel Fata said Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act was injustice in exchange for official Bakuâ€™s support for coalition forces. Mr. Fata underlined that the Strategic Alliance agreement signed between the US and Georgia should also be signed with Azerbaijan. He wanted NATO-Azerbaijan Council to be established.

President of Jamestown Foundation Glen Howard chaired the conference. Rector of Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy Hafiz Pashayev, Azerbaijani ambassador to the US Yashar Aliyev and officers of the embassy attended the conference.