President of New American Security Center: “I have no answer to the question about the U.S. and Europe prohibiting arms sale to Azerbaijan”

“The U.S. President Barack Obama has made a decision on conducting military operations against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Iraq and Syria. Saudi Arabia will also provide support to the operations. There must be a broad coalition against ISIL. The coalition will consist of 40 countries”, President of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) Richard Fontaine said during the conference entitled “Methods of modern warfare and security challenges” held as part of the First Azerbaijan International Defense Industry Exhibition (ADEX-2014).

Richard Fontaine noted that this terrorist organization’s growing influence in the Middle East and Asia must be prevented.

He said the annexation of Crimea by Russia in the name of ensuring national security and creating the crisis in the East Ukraine are inadmissible: “In 2008, Russia entered Georgia, occupying South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The situation in Ukraine, however, is far more complicated; special purpose forces are being used. An information war is going on. NATO has recently announced it will expand eastwards to stand against provocations therein”.

Richard Fontaine also said the U.S. is seeking to reduce European countries’ dependence on Russian energy, adding energy security is a priority issue in Azerbaijan’s cooperation with the West.

“Our cooperation on security is developing. We are trying to resolve the issues which we’re concerned about, including the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Some say Russia can indeed play a key part in the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. That is indeed so”.

Fontaine said that he didn’t have concrete answer to the question on the U.S. and Europe’s not lifting the ban on arms sale to Azerbaijan: “My role is to provide overall look of security dynamics. Export of defense products is very important for the United States. I can not answer that”.

Deputy Minister of Defense Industry of Azerbaijan Yahya Musayev said that arms embargo was imposed on Azerbaijan on the grounds of the conflict: “Therefore, we are developing our defense industry and have established military cooperation with a number of states. We have established cooperation with more than 30 countries and obtained modern technologies to create our defense industry as soon as possible. It was not achieved overnight. We are establishing long-term relations. The negative side is that a technology is not delivered completely, the sellers keep the main parts of them. It is not a secret to anyone that it causes dependency. Thus, we are conducting scientific researches, training professionals to create technology of our own national industry.”

Musayev noted that commissions were established in the field of military-technical cooperation with a number of states: “We have established such commissions with Turkey and other countries. We are seeking to expand military-technical cooperation and holding exhibitions. Exhibitions such as ADEX-2014 can be held only by developed countries.

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