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Bryza: Inviting Azerbaijan to Warsaw summit indicates country’s good relations with NATO

Politics Materials 8 July 2016 18:56 (UTC +04:00)
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s participation in NATO’s Warsaw summit reflects that Azerbaijan is considered as a NATO partner, says Matthew Bryza, former US Assistant Secretary of State for South Caucasus and former US ambassador to Azerbaijan.
Bryza: Inviting Azerbaijan to Warsaw summit indicates country’s good relations with NATO

Baku, Azerbaijan, July 8
By Anakhanum Idayatova – Trend:

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s participation in NATO’s Warsaw summit reflects that Azerbaijan is considered as a NATO partner, says Matthew Bryza, former US Assistant Secretary of State for South Caucasus and former US ambassador to Azerbaijan.

Warsaw is hosting the NATO Summit 2016, which is to last until July 9.

“For a long time NATO has been working to have good relations with its neighboring countries, including Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan and others,” Bryza told Trend by phone July 8.

“It is natural that Azerbaijan should attend the NATO Summit 2016,” he said. “Inviting Azerbaijan for the summit generally reflects the country’s good relations with NATO.”
He added that Azerbaijan is playing a very important role in fighting terrorism.

Bryza also said he does not think that NATO, as an institution, will discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in details.

“That is the job of the OSCE Minsk Group, probably [the Minsk Group] co-chairs will discuss it as part of NATO,” he added.

The OSCE Minsk Group’s co-chairs – James Warlick, Igor Popov and Pierre Andrieu are attending the Warsaw summit.

Bryza said it is important to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within NATO’s big summits and other international events.

“After April escalation, if top leaders of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries do not discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, it can drift in the very dangerous direction,” he added.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

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