Great and mighty Washington paved the way with red carpets for Aliyev


Sad news for the Armenian lobby in America: the former government members of the U.S. as well as advisers, lobbyists and investors, have already discovered that the Azerbaijan oil tastes much better and more delicious than the Armenian.

When he declared the eternal independence of Azerbaijan and that the friendship between the U.S. and Azerbaijan was his gift to the future generation, he was so moved that his voice humbled, and everybody present was surprised. Because it did by no means suit the image of the cold-hearted general of the State Security Committee (KGB) who weighed everything. Very often he was proud that, though he represented a country ignored by many people, the capital of this huge country paved the way with red carpets for him to walk. He told everybody about it openly.

Answering the question on human rights, Aliyev said: "It is not a thing to be bought in the market".

On Wednesday evening at a luxurious evening party with 425 men of high rank in the National Construction Museum, President Aliyev sat between Federico Pena, Security Advisor of the former U.S. President Carter, who found time to be there.

The main considerations of Aliyev: Human rights. It is a new notion for Azerbaijan. You are facing this problem in the U.S. for 218 years, but in Azerbaijan only for five years. Human rights are not commodities to be bought in the market.

Oil contracts: We are ready to sign oil contracts in Washington with Chevron, Mobil, Amoco and Exxon.

Democracy: We have secular democracy in the country. Democracy has a beginning, but not an end. It is endless for the American people, too. It is an endless process.

Corruption in Azerbaijan: It exists in all the corners of the world, as well as in America.

His past in the State Security Committee: I changed my mind in 1987. I left the Political Bureau and became an anti-communist. I said in Moscow that communism will not live in Azerbaijan will be independent.

Ugur Ekinchi
Daily News, Turkey
August 1, 1997