Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Washington could disperse concerns about crashes in its relationship with Baku as the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs sounded a statement on her country's willingness to deepen cooperation with Azerbaijan.

Victoria Nuland’s main message was that the United States appreciates the cooperation with Azerbaijan over the last 20 years and is willing to deepen cooperation in security, economy and energy fields.

She expressed her satisfaction with her meetings in Azerbaijan saying: “We had very good, meaningful and sincere conversations with President Ilham Aliyev and Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov.”

The U.S. high-level official’s visit came as a while ago the cold winds were blowing in Washington-Baku ties. Some in U.S. society and media had forwarded some biased accusations against Azerbaijan, blaming it for violation of human rights and democracy and etc.

Nuland’s visit proved Washington’s commitment to develop relations with Azerbaijan and signaled once more the importance of Baku in the current tense international chessboard.

Besides, the fact that she started her South Caucasus visit from Azerbaijan justified country’s political and economic importance in the region for the U.S.

Nuland announced that the U.S. and Azerbaijan have reached an agreement on the new talks’ format, according to local media.

"Today, we need an effective structured dialogue. I am very pleased that the President has agreed to the establishment of such a dialogue format. We will continue conversation and strengthen it by creating a U.S.-Azerbaijan dialogue on civil society and democracy,” she said, noting that this is the U.S.-Azerbaijan bilateral structure, which will be working in parallel with the works that Azerbaijan has done with the Council of Europe.

Commenting on reports on preparation of "color revolutions" in Azerbaijan, Nuland dismissed them as baseless.

She stressed the importance of continuous vibrant dialogue between the authorities and civil society, saying: "Color revolution is not necessary, when government and civil society are talking with each other."

The U.S. official hailed the dialogue between the Azerbaijani government and the opposition, emphasizing that such a conversation is very important for the future of country.

Energy cooperation was also main issues of discussion during Nuland’s Baku visit.

Recalling the Baku-Ceyhan project as the first joint project in the energy sector , the U.S. official, expressed support for the Southern Corridor project for the delivery of Azerbaijani gas to Europe.

She noted that the Southern Gas Corridor is important not just for Azerbaijan, but also for all the countries in Europe, which are too dependent on a single source of energy. “This project is important not only for Azerbaijan, but also for other countries.”

Southern Gas Corridor and other energy and transport projects with participation of Azerbaijan have urged the world powers to pay more attention the energy-rich country.

Nuland said the Southern Gas Corridor is a joint project of the U.S., Azerbaijan and Europe.

The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority energy projects for the EU. The project is aimed at diversification of routes and sources of energy supply and thereby increases EU’s energy security by delivery of gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz gas and condensate field to Europe.

Azerbaijan, in the Western gate of Europe with rich natural recourses has a favorable geostrategic position that puts it in the center of geopolitical interests of the big powers. Today, Azerbaijan, located between the eternal rivals of the U.S. - Russia and Iran, is a key to Europe’s energy security and a “door” through which Central Asian gas can get to the European markets.

Azerbaijan’s huge potential for realization of various projects, as well as the balanced foreign policy makes Baku a reliable partner for the world powers.

The Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which keeps creating tensions between the two South Caucasus countries since the conflict started in 1992, was also main issues of discussion during Nuland’s Baku visit.

She called on Yerevan for the release of the Azerbaijani hostages in the Armenian captivity.

“Azerbaijani prisoners, held by Armenia, should be returned,” said Nuland, noting that she will raise this issue in Yerevan.

She also voiced the U.S. concern over the escalation of violence on the line of contact between the Armenian and Azerbaijani troops recently.

The situation aggravated on the contact line of Armenia-Azerbaijani troops as a result of the constant ceasefire breaches by the Armenian armed forces that left losses on both sides.

“We want to see the violence end. We want the parties to come back to the table of negotiations. We want to support that process,” she added.

As one of the co-chairs of OSCE Minsk Group, the United States is currently engaged in the peaceful settlement of the long-lasting Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that resulted in the occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally-recognized territories by Armenia and expelling of over one million people from their native lands.

Despite the peace talks that lasted over two decades, the negotiations have yielded no results so far.

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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova

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