Oil transfer through Iran can benefit Azerbaijan and the region
  by: Caspian News Agency
  Monday, November 11, 2002

One of the leaders of the Republic of Azerbaijan Social Democrat Party, Zartosht Alizadeh deemed the transfer of oil through Iran as profitable to Baku and the region, IRNA reported on Thursday. In an analysis issued on Thursday in Russian language paper The Modern Times, Alizadeh wrote, "By accepting the West's dominance, the government in Baku avoided the transfer of oil from the economically-profitable Iran route and under the U.S. pressures reconsidered its other energy plans." "The government in Baku is not enjoying real independence, because the imposed politicians accepted the White House and West's orders as they did the Communists' and the Kremlin's and deprived the country of a huge profit", the paper added. "At the beginning, even the Western companies also studied the Iranian route carefully, because as against to the Baku-Ceyhan route, it's construction was possible with the least costs", wrote the Azeri Social Democrat Party official. "By keeping Iran away from the regional energy plans, Republic of Azerbaijan was deprived of its resources that could be used for its national interests," the same paper wrote.

Courtesy of Caspian News Agency