AZERBAIJAN IN THE WORLD ADA Biweekly Newsletter Vol. 6, No. 1-2 January 15, 2013
[email protected] In this issue: -- Azerbaijanis Look Back at 2012 and Forward to 2013 -- Paul Goble, “2012 ‘Very Successful’ for Azerbaijan and 2013 Will Be More So, President Aliyev Says” -- A Chronology of Azerbaijan’s Foreign Policy -- Note to Readers ***** AZERBAIJANIS LOOK BACK AT 2012 AND FORWARD TO 2013 As in in the past, Azerbaijan in the World once again has surveyed officials and experts on the most important foreign policy developments of the past year. What follows are the reactions of Azerbaijanis. In the next issue, AIW will feature an article on the reactions of American, Georgian and Russian observers of the Azerbaijani scene. Azerbaijan in the World: What do you see as Azerbaijan’s chief foreign policy achievements during 2012? Asim Mollazade [MP, Chairman of the Democratic Reforms Party]: Over the last twelve months, Azerbaijan had significant successes in the development of its relations with the United States and the European Union. With regard to the US, Baku developed relations not only with the central government, but also with states and cities. With regard to the EU, Azerbaijan hosted the second session of the 1 Euronest Parliamentary Assembly and made progress toward the signing of an association agreement. Baku was also successful in gaining international recognition of the Khojaly genocide. On January 31, Mexico’s senate passed a resolution recognizing the Khojaly events in February 1992 as a genocide. The following day, Pakistan’s Senate took a similar step, but went even further and condemned Armenia as an occupying power and called for the implementation of the resolutions the UNSC passed with regards to the ocupation of Azerbaijani lands.