Historical background to document "From the talk of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev while receiving the executive secretary of CIS Yuri Yarov" (Presidential palace, May 18, 2000)

President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev met Yuri Yarov, the executive secretary of CIS not once in 1999-2003, within the framework of cooperation with this organization.

They first met in Baku in August 1999. Yuri Yarov informed about the structural reforms in the Secretariat of CIS which was approved by the Azerbaijani head of state.

Heydar Aliyev said to Yuri Yarov that he was against the military alliances within CIS. He stated that he was discontent with Russia`s military partnership with Armenia which has committed an aggression against Azerbaijan, and he said that it was not understandable because Russia was a mediator-co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group. (Azerbaijan in the Community of Independent States, Baku-2001, p. 188)

During Yuri Yarov`s visit to Azerbaijan on December 22, 1999, for the arrangement of the summit of CIS, Heydar Aliyev, the Azerbaijani President did not accept his proposal on appointing CIS observers in the OSCE Minsk Group. Heydar Aliyev substantiated it with such a fact that he has repeatedly condemned the aggression of Armenia at the CIS Summits before, but the CIS had remained indifferent to it. (ibid., 190)

During his meting with Yuri Yarov on May 18, 2000, Heydar Aliyev appreciated Vladimir Putin`s election as a new stage in the life of Russia. He expressed his intention to cooperate with CIS despite the unsatisfactory position of the organization towards Azerbaijan: "Azerbaijanis for development of cooperation either bilaterally or in the framework of CIS".

In the following meetings between Heydar Aliyev and Yuri Yarov (November, April 2000) the issues of cooperation within CIS were broadly discussed. Heydar Aliyev said that he was personally satisfied with his activity as an executive secretary of CIS.

Yuri Yarov visited Azerbaijan to observe the presidential elections in October 2003. Vladimir Rushaylo, who replaced Yarov, carried out the same mission during the parliamentary elections in November 2005. (http://www.bizimasr.media-az.com/)

Historical background was compiled on November 15, 2006.