FOREIGN
RELATIONS
Azerbaijan is a member of the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), NATO's Partnership for Peace, the Euro-Atlantic Partnership, the World Health Organization, GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Council of Europe, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank. Azerbaijan is an observer at the Community of Democracies.
Nagorno-Karabakh
The major domestic and international issue affecting Azerbaijan is the dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, a predominantly ethnic Armenian region within Azerbaijan. The current conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh began in 1988 when ethnic Armenian demonstrations against Azerbaijani rule broke out in both Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, and the Nagorno-Karabakh Supreme Soviet voted to secede from Azerbaijan. In 1990, after violent episodes in Nagorno-Karabakh, Baku, and Sumgait, the Soviet Union's Government in Moscow declared a state of emergency in Nagorno-Karabakh, sent troops to the region, and forcibly occupied Baku. In April 1991, Azerbaijani militia and Soviet forces targeted Armenian paramilitaries operating in Nagorno-Karabakh; Moscow also deployed troops to Yerevan. Azerbaijan declared its independence from the U.S.S.R. on August 30, 1991. In September 1991, Moscow declared it would no longer support Azerbaijani military action in Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenian militants then stepped up the violence. In October 1991, a referendum in Nagorno-Karabakh approved independence.
More than 30,000 people were killed
in the fighting from 1992 to 1994. In May 1992, Armenian and Karabakhi
forces seized Susha (the historical, Azerbaijani-populated capital
of NK) and Lachin (thereby linking NK to Armenia). By October
1993, Armenian and Karabakhi forces had succeeded in occupying
almost all of NK, Lachin and large areas in southwestern Azerbaijan.
As Armenian and Karabakhi forces advanced, hundreds of thousands
of Azerbaijani refugees fled to other parts of Azerbaijan. In
1993, the UN Security Council adopted resolutions calling for
the cessation of hostilities, unimpeded access for international
humanitarian relief efforts, and the eventual deployment of a
peacekeeping force in the region. The UN also called for immediate
withdrawal of all ethnic Armenian forces from the occupied territories
of Azerbaijan. Fighting continued, however, until May 1994 when
Russia brokered a cease-fire.
Negotiations to resolve the conflict peacefully have been ongoing since 1992 under the aegis of the Minsk Group of the OSCE. The Minsk Group is currently co-chaired by Russia, France, and the U.S. and has representation from Turkey, several European nations, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. Despite the 1994 cease-fire, sporadic violations, sniper fire, and landmine incidents continue to claim many lives each year.
Since 1997, the Minsk Group Co-Chairs have presented a number of proposals to serve as a framework for resolving the conflict. One side or the other rejected each of those proposals, but negotiations have continued at an intensified pace since 2004. In November 2007, on the margins of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Madrid, the ministerial-level representatives of the three Co-Chair countries presented the sides with a proposal on the “Basic Principles for the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.” In 2008, Azerbaijani President Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsian met twice, in June in St. Petersburg and in November in Moscow. After the Moscow talks, the two presidents signed a declaration expressing their intent to seek a political settlement to the conflict, to resume confidence-building measures, and to intensify negotiations within the Minsk Group framework on the basis of the Madrid proposal. In 2009, the two presidents had met again four times as of September.
DEFENSE AND MILITARY ISSUES
In July 1992, Azerbaijan ratified the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in
Europe (CFE), which establishes comprehensive limits on key categories of
conventional military equipment and provides for the destruction of weaponry in
excess of those limits. Although Azerbaijan did not provide all data required by
the treaty on its conventional forces at that time, it has accepted on-site
inspections of forces on its territory. Azerbaijan approved the CFE flank
agreement in May 1997. It also has acceded to the nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty as a non-nuclear weapons state. Azerbaijan participates in the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) Partnership for Peace. Azerbaijan
currently maintains 45 troops in Afghanistan and has committed to doubling that
contingent, and in November 2008 concluded its peacekeeping deployment in Iraq.
U.S.-AZERBAIJAN
RELATIONS
The dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991 brought an
end to the Cold War and created the opportunity to build relations
with its successor states as they began a political and economic
transformation. The United States opened an Embassy in Azerbaijan's
capital, Baku, in March 1992.
The United States has been actively engaged in international efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The U.S. has played a leading role in the Minsk Group, which was created in 1992 by the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe--now the OSCE--to encourage a peaceful, negotiated resolution to the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia. In early 1997, the U.S. heightened its role by becoming a Co-Chair of the Minsk Group, along with Russia and France.
The U.S. supports American investment in Azerbaijan. U.S. companies are involved in three offshore oil development projects with Azerbaijan and have been exploring the emerging investment opportunities in Azerbaijan in other fields, such as telecommunication.
The United States is committed to aiding a transition to democracy in Azerbaijan and its formation of an open market economy. The Freedom Support Act, enacted in October 1992, has been the cornerstone of U.S. efforts to help Azerbaijan during this transition. Under the Freedom Support Act, the U.S. provided approximately $27 million in humanitarian, democracy, and reform assistance to Azerbaijan in FY 2008.
The U.S. and Azerbaijan have signed a bilateral trade agreement, which entered into force in April 1995 and confers to Azerbaijan the status of most favored nation. The United States also has a bilateral investment treaty with Azerbaijan and in 2008 named Azerbaijan a beneficiary country under the Generalized System of Preferences program.
U.S.
Humanitarian Assistance
U.S. humanitarian programs in Azerbaijan focus on community development, health and economic opportunities, and support services, including training and business management consultations for vulnerable populations. Under a new humanitarian initiative, the Department of State EUR/ACE Humanitarian Program plans to complete several Small Reconstruction Projects (SRP) in Azerbaijan. These projects raise the standard of beneficiaries by improving conditions in beneficiary institutions such as schools, clinics, orphanages, and homes for the elderly. This program will also continue to provide non-medical donated assistance to vulnerable groups, especially internally displaced persons (IDPs), throughout Azerbaijan. A new focus on quality health services and practices focuses on better use of health resources and health care practices through health care reform, healthy lifestyles, and the rights and responsibilities of the patient. Technical assistance is being provided to the Ministry of Health to develop policy, legal and regulatory, and finance reforms The U.S. continues its humanitarian demining efforts in Azerbaijan. The Peace Corps, which began working in Azerbaijan in 2003, has 55 volunteers. Some teach English at the secondary level and others work with non-governmental organizations engaged in small and micro enterprise development.
Principal U.S. Embassy Officials
Ambassador--Vacant
Deputy Chief of Mission--Donald Lu
Political/Economic Chief--Joan Polaschik
Consular Officer--Vlad Lipschutz
Management Officer--Clifford Sorenson
Public Affairs Officer--Jonathan Henick
AID Country Coordinator--Scott Taylor
Defense Attaché--LTC Bruce Stephen
The U.S. Embassy in Baku, Azerbaijan is at 83 Azadliq Prospect; tel. 994-12-98-03-35; fax 994-12-65-66-71.
