Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

Iran, Azerbaijan: Khatami in Azerbaijan for official visit

The battle in the holy city of Najaf, sacred to the Shiites, will only serve to strengthen the budding alliance between the two Shiite countries of Iran and Azerbaijan in my opinion.

Washington says its military presence is designed to help protect Azerbaijan’s oil infrastructure.

Again we have Washington admitting their presence is due to the protection of oil infrastructure.

-Am

Aug 16, 2004


Iran’s President Khatami: Serious talks with an important neighbor



Iran’s President Mohammad Khatami recently visited Azerbaijan for talks which focused on Teheran’s unease with the growing American military presence in the oil-rich Caspian Sea state.

Khatami had talks with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, at the start of the first visit of an Iranian leader to the pro-Western neighboring republic in over a decade.
The official portion of the visit saw the two sides sign 10 documents, according to officials. They included a joint declaration on the Caspian as well as initiatives to boost trade and economic cooperation.
“During the visit the presidents will sign a declaration on friendship and cooperation, and also agreements on tax, civil aviation [and] health care”, Novruz Mamedov, chief foreign policy advisor to Aliyev, said on the eve of the visit.
But analysts say talks would also focus on a growing military stand-off around the Caspian Sea which has left Azerbaijan in the middle as Washington and Teheran compete for influence in the strategic region.
Washington says its military presence is designed to help protect Azerbaijan’s oil infrastructure.
The United States is backing a major project to export Azeri oil from the Caspian Sea -- home to some of the world’s biggest untapped oil and gas reserves -- to international markets.
But Iran is suspicious of Washington’s motives, particularly after being branded as part of an “axis of evil” by President George W. Bush.
For its part, Azerbaijan is pressing Iran for a solution to a long-running dispute over maritime borders in the Caspian Sea.
Iran and Azerbaijan, along with the other states with Caspian shorelines -- Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan -- have been unable to agree on how to divide up the sea -- and the oil reserves beneath its seabed.
The dispute nearly spilled over into armed conflict in 2001 when an Iranian warship fired warning shots at an Azeri research vessel that was prospecting for oil in disputed waters.
In a mark of the frosty relations between the two countries, the last time an Iranian leader came to Azerbaijan was in 1993, when Khatami’s predecessor Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani paid a visit.
President Khatami gave an address to the Azeri Parliament and met with Iranian businessmen working in Azerbaijan.
Though on political issues they often do not see eye-to-eye, Azerbaijan and Iran have much in common.
In both countries the Shia branch of Islam is the majority religion, while some 15 million Iranians, or 20 percent of the population, are ethnic Azeris. Baku and Teheran are also major trading partners.


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