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Obama, Aliyev Meet In New York As Washington Seeks To Improve Ties
Last updated (GMT/UTC): 24.09.2010 17:02
By Heather Maher
WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Barack Obama held a rare face-to-face meeting with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, in the latest attempt by the White House to mend relations with Baku.
No details of the meeting have yet been released.
Azerbaijan is a critical link in the Northern Distribution Network, the supply line that delivers materials to U.S. and NATO military forces in Afghanistan.
Roughly one-quarter of the coalition's nonlethal supplies for Afghanistan, including food and fuel, go through Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan also plays a key role in Europe’s energy security politics. With abundant oil and natural gas resources, and a location on the Caspian Sea, it’s a key hub for delivering its own and Central Asia’s energy supplies to Europe, bypassing Russia to the north and Iran to the south.
For those reasons, Washington appears keen to repair frayed ties with Baku.
But Obama faces a difficult balancing act. The bilateral meeting on September 24 came just a day after the U.S. president's speech at the UN General Assembly, in which he said Washington would take a strong role in promoting human rights and helping civil society groups that work to advance democracy around the world.
'Predator' Of Press Freedom
Under Aliyev, democratic freedoms have been under assault in Azerbaijan. Journalists, democracy activists, and opponents of the government have been targeted for harassment and arrest. Reporters Without Borders counts Aliyev among its Top 40 "Predators of Press Freedom."
Last year, Adnan Hajizada and Emin Milli, two bloggers who posted a video satirizing the government, were each sentenced to more than two years in prison.
The families of the two men this week publicly appealed to Obama to ask for their release during his meeting with Aliyev. In an open letter, the families told Obama he represents “the principled position of the world’s most powerful democracy” and would “be a strong voice in the defense of free speech and fairness.”
They added, “Please do not forsake youth activists punished solely for their aspirations to see our country modern, free from oppression, and part of the world's democratic community.”
But Aliyev may not be in much of a mood to listen to a human rights lecture from Obama. In addition, Aliyev has made no secret of his unhappiness with U.S. foreign policy in the region.
Azeris 'Quite Unhappy'
A major cause of tension between the two governments is the U.S.-led effort to restore relations between Baku's close ally Turkey and Armenia, Azerbaijan’s foe in the ongoing dispute over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The mountainous region inside Azerbaijan, which was the site of a bitter six-year war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, has enjoyed de facto independence since a cease-fire was declared in 1994. But with an Armenian-majority population on the one hand, and legal ties to Azerbaijan on the other, Nagorno-Karabakh's long-term fate is far from settled.
Andrew Kuchins, who directs the Russia and Eurasia Program at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International studies, says Baku feels the White House is ignoring its interests.
“The Azeris have been quite unhappy with the Obama administration and relations with the U.S. for the past year or so," Kuchins says. "The principal irritation has been the emphasis that the Obama administration took right from the [start] in pushing for Armenian-Turkish normalization without taking into consideration Baku’s concerns that there must be some kind of progress toward resolution in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan before that normalization can take place.”
'Deepen Our Relationship'
The Obama administration has declared that the restoration of relations between Yerevan and Ankara is separate from efforts to find a resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, but Baku sees the two as linked.
It considers the status quo -- a closed border between Turkey and Armenia -- as working to its advantage in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Baku also fears that an open border will strengthen Russia’s hand in the region because its ally, Armenia, will become economically stronger.
Washington holds the opposite view -- that an Armenia that can trade freely with Turkey will become less dependent on Russia, more open to the West, and Moscow’s influence will wane.
Despite all these difficulties, Washington sees its relationship with Baku as strategically important and worth the effort to upgrade.
Two of Obama’s top cabinet members have been to Baku in recent months to try and smooth things over. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited in July and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates went in June, carrying a personal letter from Obama to Aliyev.
In that letter, Obama thanked Aliyev for Azerbaijan’s contribution of military personnel in Afghanistan and for granting land and air rights to U.S. military aircraft and supply trucks. He told Aliyev that the “peaceful resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict” would remain a top U.S. foreign policy priority and said, “It is my hope that we will be able to broaden and deepen our relationship in the months and years ahead.”
'Quieter Approach'
Obama was likely to reinforce that message in his talks with Aliyev, but that’s about all he can do, says Kuchins.
"He can’t undo what took place [on Turkey and Armenia], and just having the meeting is important in and of itself," Kuchins says. "I was in Baku in November of last year and they were really, really unhappy with the United States. And the message that we must have is that, ‘Look, we are not taking you for granted. We are not overlooking your interests.’
"But, of course, the proof is in the pudding, and I don’t think that Obama is going to be able to tell Aliyev that we can promise resolution on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, but I think he could say we want to put more diplomatic support behind moving this forward.”
On human rights, the State Department has said that Clinton raised the case of the jailed bloggers during her visit to Baku both in private meetings with Azeri officials and publicly in meetings with civil society groups. But she was criticized by human rights groups for not speaking out forcefully enough against Aliyev’s repressive policies.
The same critique has been leveled at the White House in its efforts to reset relations with Russia. But Kuchins says he disagrees with those who say the Obama administration is compromising its principles to shore up its strategic partnerships.
“The Obama administration has taken a quieter approach on human rights issues in the region and issues of civil society and democratic development, which has drawn some criticism," Kuchins says. "But to say that that we’ve turned a blind eye to it would be going way too far.”
Copyright (c) 2010. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
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