Top State Dept. official due in Baku Friday
US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Bill Burns is due
to arrive in Azerbaijan on Friday for an official visit, US State
Department Spokesman Philip Crowley has said.
The goal of the visit is to further strengthen relations between the United States and Azerbaijan, Crowley told a news briefing last week.
On Friday, the State Department official is expected to meet with President Ilham Aliyev and Azerbaijani civil society representatives. Details of Burns’ visit are not elaborated.
Prior to arriving in Baku, Burns will pay visits to Lebanon, Syria and Turkey February 16-19.
Unofficial sources in Washington are confident that relations between Turkey and Armenia, which have been strained for decades, will be in spotlight during the talks to be held in Ankara and Baku during the last two days of Burns’ visit. The U.S. is concerned that the protocols on establishing diplomatic relations and reopening the two countries’ borders signed by Ankara and Yerevan in Zurich in October 2009 may not be ratified, which could have an adverse impact on both the Turkish-Armenian reconciliation process and settlement to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh.
The protocols require parliamentary approval, and Ankara has ruled out normalization with Yerevan until the conflict between Armenia, which occupies part of Azerbaijani territory, and Azerbaijan, Turkey’s ally, has been fairly resolved. *
The goal of the visit is to further strengthen relations between the United States and Azerbaijan, Crowley told a news briefing last week.
On Friday, the State Department official is expected to meet with President Ilham Aliyev and Azerbaijani civil society representatives. Details of Burns’ visit are not elaborated.
Prior to arriving in Baku, Burns will pay visits to Lebanon, Syria and Turkey February 16-19.
Unofficial sources in Washington are confident that relations between Turkey and Armenia, which have been strained for decades, will be in spotlight during the talks to be held in Ankara and Baku during the last two days of Burns’ visit. The U.S. is concerned that the protocols on establishing diplomatic relations and reopening the two countries’ borders signed by Ankara and Yerevan in Zurich in October 2009 may not be ratified, which could have an adverse impact on both the Turkish-Armenian reconciliation process and settlement to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh.
The protocols require parliamentary approval, and Ankara has ruled out normalization with Yerevan until the conflict between Armenia, which occupies part of Azerbaijani territory, and Azerbaijan, Turkey’s ally, has been fairly resolved. *
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