DATE=2/15/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CLINTON-AZERBAIJAN (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-259182
BYLINE=DAVID GOLLUST
DATELINE=WHITE HOUSE
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Azerbaijan's President Geidar Aliyev has met
President Clinton at the White House to discuss
Caspian-basin energy development. White House
Correspondent David Gollust reports they also
discussed efforts to resolve the conflict between
Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh.
TEXT: Though fighting in the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict ended with a cease-fire five-years ago, the
two governments have failed to make much headway in
efforts to resolve their dispute over the Armenian
enclave located inside Azerbaijan.
And in his round of meetings with administration
officials capped by the session with President Clinton
- Mr. Aliyev has been seeking more active help from
the United States, which along with France and Russia,
has been trying to mediate.
In a talk with reporters outside the White House, Mr.
Aliyev said he had a detailed discussion with the
President about Nagorno-Karabakh. While he did not
elaborate, he said the meeting was fruitful and will
give "additional impetus" to settlement efforts.
The United States and Azerbaijan have growing trade
relations. But U-S aid to that country has been
barred by a provision of a 1992 U-S law penalizing
Azerbaijan for efforts to impose an economic blockade
against Armenia.
Mr. Aliyev said he raised the issue with President
Clinton, calling the law unjust and the work of the
"Armenian lobby" in the United States. Heard through
an interpreter, he said that with Armenian forces
controlling a large section of Azerbaijan's territory,
the notion of a blockade of Armenia is "baseless:"
/// ALIYEV-TRANSLATOR ACT ///
Armenia's armed formations have occupied 20-
percent of Azerbaijan's lands, and they continue
to keep those lands under their occupation.
Over one-million citizens of Azerbaijan have
been ousted forcefully from the occupied lands
and have been living under very hard
circumstances in tents. In this given
situation, the idea of Azerbaijan blockading
Armenia has no grounds at all.
/// END ACT ///
Despite the criticism, Mr. Aliyev has promised to
continue a dialogue on Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenian
President Robert Kocharian, whom he last met in
January in Switzerland. In a Washington address
Monday, he said both leaders have indicated a
willingness to compromise, but have been unable to
reach a comprehensive settlement.
Mr. Aliyev said he and President Clinton discussed
efforts to implement plans - strongly backed by the
United States -- for construction of a pipeline to
carry Caspian sea oil from Azerbaijan's capital, Baku,
westward to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan.
He said they also covered a proposed trans-Caspian
natural gas pipeline that would carry gas from
Turkmenistan across Azerbaijan to Western markets via
Turkey. (SIGNED)
NEB/DAG/ENE/RAE
15-Feb-2000 13:54 PM EDT (15-Feb-2000 1854 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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