Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 11 /Trend, E. Mehdiyev/
The Oklahoma National Guard has been maintaining partnership with the Republic of Azerbaijan since 2003 under the US State Partnership Program (SPP), and released a statement with the signatures of the Governor of the U.S. state Oklahoma Mary Fallin, President pro tempore of the Oklahoma Senate Brian Bingman and Senate member Tom Ivester.
The statement gives information about the important geographic location of Azerbaijan, and says that Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was the first modern parliamentary republic in the Muslim world, which extended suffrage to women in 1918, the U.S. embassy in Azerbaijan told Trend.
The statement also said that modern Azerbaijan and the U.S. have been maintaining diplomatic relations for over 20 years, and touched upon the historic visit of the national leader of Azerbaijani people Heydar Aliyev to the United States in 1997.
Over the past 20 years, the Republic of Azerbaijan strengthened its sovereignty and political independence and become an important partner of the U.S. in regional and global issues, the statement read.
The statement appraised the productive and multilateral cooperation between Oklahoma National Guard and Azerbaijani Armed Forces, and reminded that over 190 exchange projects have been realized in 10 years.
The statement's authors once again underscored that Azerbaijan is a reliable partner of the U.S. and that the country has supported international military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Balkans.
The authors also appraised the contribution of Azerbaijan to the energy security of the world and Europe and emphasized the support of the U.S. to Azerbaijan in this sphere.
In addition, the Oklahoma officials who appraised the prevailing religious and ethnic tolerance in Azerbaijan expressed the support of the state of Oklahoma to the development of strategic partnership between Azerbaijan and the U.S., as well as call the U.S. administration to strengthen the bilateral relations with Azerbaijan in various spheres.
It should be mentioned that, during the visit of Oklahoma National Guard Commander Major General Myles Deering in Azerbaijan on August 10-16 the cooperation possibilities between Azerbaijan and the U.S. state of Oklahoma were also discussed.
The full text of the statement can be found in the attachment.