 | President interrupts meeting with Iranian energy delegation |
Opening of the Imishli-Parsabad electricity transmission line on March 27 and Azeri-Iranian energy cooperation were discussed Tuesday by President Aliyev with an Iranian delegation led by energy minister Habibullah Biteref. The statement by the Iranian minister concerning the Khudafarin project caused a categorical protest on part of President Aliyev, who immediately interrupted the meeting.
At the beginning of the meeting, such a sudden turn could not have been predicted, as the Iranian minister voiced his satisfaction with the fact that opening of the line finalized the agreement on selling Iranian electrical energy to Nakhchivan and opened a new agreement on the transit of electrical energy from Azerbaijan via Iran to Nakhchivan.
“Talks have started on joining the electricity lines of the two countries in Astara and it is very important to join the high-voltage lines. In other words, there are tremendous opportunities for cooperation”, Mr. Biteraf said.
Congratulating the delegation on the opening of the Imishli-Parsabad line, H. Aliyev suggested that cooperation be continued, in particular through construction of the Ordubad power station, the agreement on which was signed in Tehran in 1994.
“The matter delays probably because my visit to Iran is being postponed, but this has certain objective reasons that have nothing to do with Azeri-Iranian relations”, H. Aliyev said.
He explained that he is extremely busy attending to the Garabagh settlement and liberation of the occupied territories. “While you are friends and partners with them, we want to get rid of this occupation”, the President said.
Mr. Biteref then touched upon the Khudafarin project (a joint Azeri-Iranian project on construction of a power station on the borderline Araz river that was launched back in the Soviet times but was suspended due to the Armenian occupation of a large portion of Azerbaijan border with Iran). He said Iranian leaders had held talks with Armenia and the Armenian party had agreed to provide security guarantees for the work. Mr. Biteref said the Iranian party could wait for the commencement of the work for another year, but if the liberation of Azeri lands takes longer than that, then “we are wasting time”.
This statement drew fire from H. Aliyev. “If the lands are not liberated, who are you going to build the dam with? With Armenia? Is this land Armenia’s? This is out of the question, therefore, I warn you: until a peace treaty with Armenia is signed and lands freed, construction of Khudafarin is ruled out”, he stated and called the meeting to an end.*
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Issue: March, 29, 2001
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