17:57, 9 January 2004

Azerbaijan Foreign Minister hopes public will be tolerant towards Armenian servicemen's visit to Baku

Azerbaijan Foreign Minister Vilayat Guliyev hopes that the republican public will be tolerant towards the Armenian servicemen who are to arrive in Baku to a NATO conference.

"Azerbaijan is a member of many international organizations, and it have to be a receiving county for various actions, in which representatives of the Armenian side take part even if we do not want it," he told journalists on January 8.

"However I think that the public should take such cases with understanding since this participation is not a result of our invitation," said Mr. Guliyev.

Such facts should not be rated as a sign of the establishment of bilateral relations between Baku and Yerevan, according to the diplomat.

The NATO conference which the Armenian servicemen are to take part in is scheduled for January 2004. Its participants will discuss issues of making arrangements for the NATO's military exercises planed for the summer of 2004.

The Azerbaijan non-government Organization for Liberation of Karabakh threatened to take "radical measures in respect of the representatives of Armenia."

Editors note: See also the article "OLK leader: unpleasant surprises expect Armenian servicemen who intend to come to Baku".

Source: Interfax News Agency