U.S. State Department comments on Azerbaijan's move to postpone joint military exercises

US Assistant Secretary of State Philip Crowley answered the question about cancellation or postponement of Azerbaijan-US joint military exercises at a daily press briefing on Wednesday, according to the State Department’s official website.

“The United States considers Azerbaijan a valuable partner on a broad range of security issues. As to Azerbaijan’s intentions, we refer those questions to the Azeri Government. On the subject of military exercise, that’s more of a DOD matter. But we will continue to work in the Minsk process along with Russia, France, as the three OSCE co-chairs work with the parties – Armenia and Azerbaijan – to seek a long-term resolution to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict”.

Answering the question “Are you concerned about the possibility that Iranian influence in Azerbaijan might have played a role in their decision to postpone this exercise?” Crowley said: “I’ll take the broader question of any concerns that we have about Iranian influence in Azerbaijan. I have no indication that that was anything but a decision by Azerbaijan”.


/APA/