Azerbaijan postpones high-level U.S. visit over wording on Nagorno Karabakh conflict

The Caspian Sea coast nation's Foreign Ministry warned that the issue "may become a serious impediment to further security-related cooperation between our countries" — a possible reference to Azerbaijan's contribution to the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq.

The government postponed the two-day visit for security talks, which was to have started Monday and to have included high-level officials from several ministries, because of "changes to the provisions" on Nagorno-Karabakh in the State Department's 2006 report on human rights abroad, a ministry statement said.

The changes "distort the essence of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno Karabakh conflict" and their introduction "puts in doubt the U.S. position of the 'honest broker' in the resolution of the conflict," the statement said.

It did not offer details, and officials were not available for comment after the statement's release.

Nagorno Karabakh is a territory inside Azerbaijan that has been controlled by Armenian and local ethnic Armenian forces since a six-year war that ended in 1994. Tension remains high between Armenia and Azerbaijan, ex-Soviet republics in the Caucasus.

There was speculation in Azerbaijan that the government was angry at the absence, in the State Department's country report on human rights practices in Armenia, of a statement saying that Nagorno Karabakh is Azerbaijani territory occupied by Armenia.

The country report on Azerbaijan, posted on the State Department Web site, states that in 2006 "Armenia continued to occupy the Azerbaijani territory of Nagorno Karabakh and seven surrounding Azerbaijani territories" — wording that is apparently acceptable to Azerbaijan.

The report on neighboring Armenia, however, says: "Armenian forces occupy large portions of Azerbaijani territory adjacent to Nagorno Karabakh. Armenian officials maintain that they do not 'occupy' Nagorno-Karabakh itself."

The Azerbaijani statement said resolution of the conflict "based on the territorial integrity of ... Azerbaijan, with Nagorno Karabakh as its inalienable part, is a primary and foremost element" in its security cooperation with the United States.

The United States said its policy had not changed.

"Any interpretation that our policy regarding the Nagorno Karabakh conflict has changed is not correct," State Department spokeswoman Nancy Beck said Sunday. She said the U.S. was aware of Azerbaijan's statement announcing the postponement and was in contact with its government.

"These talks are important and we look forward to them taking place at the earliest date," Beck said.

On Friday, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack also said there had been no change, adding: "The United States reaffirms its support for the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, and holds that the future status of Nagorno Karabakh is a matter of negotiations between the parties." The Associated Press

/The International Herald Tribune/