By Armen Gevorgyan

“The GUAM and Baltic states have common goals and interests, and we do not rule out closer cooperation with this organization,” President of the Baltic Assembly (BA) Mantas Adomenas stated in Tbilisi, Georgia, yesterday.

We would remind you that the GUAM Parliamentary Assembly finished its 4^th session in Tbilisi yesterday. Baltic Assembly representatives took part in the forum for the first time. GUAM and BA adopted a communiqué on political, economic, energy and security cooperation. Mr. Adomenas believes bilateral cooperation is important for cooperation in Europe.

Referring to Azeri mass media, NEWS.am reported that a document on the Nagorno-Karabakh problem was adopted at the session. The essence of the document remains unclear. It is also unclear what such a country as Estonia has to do with the Nagorno-Karabakh problem. The weight of the document on Nagorno-Karabakh is tantamount to the political weight of GUAM and its member-states.

Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova, which are going through a severe domestic political crisis (in the last case the Parliament has not been able to elect the President for several months), as well as Azerbaijan, which joined the organization with its domestic political problems, are an instance of complete lack of coordination, like the heroes of a fable by Russian fabulist Ivan Krylov: “Upward strains the swan, the crab keeps stepping back, the pike is for the pond”. The Baltic Assembly members, especially Poland, are apparently supposed to “set the tone” for GUAM’s further actions.

What “common goals and interests” can Azerbaijan and Poland have? After various energy projects aimed to “leave Russia holding a bag” failed, only the political agenda has remained. The aims of the Baltic States and Poland have well been studied and described by experts.

Will Ilham Aliyev, as GUM member, succeed in telling the Kremlin the same old story about Russian Azerbaijani strategic partnership? Obviously not! Rather Azerbaijan might as well become Moscow’s partner as the other GUAM members – Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova (the last with its new pro-Romanian Government), as well as the Washington-appointed partners, Poland and the Baltic states. Of course, it is all the same for Azerbaijan where to raise the Nagorno-Karabakh problem — even UNICEF is a “suitable arena.”

Azerbaijani politicians should realize, however, that by signing documents on GUAM’s integration with the Baltic Assembly they actually put their signatures to their new partners’ priorities – ousting Russia from certain regions, projecting bypass transport corridors, revising history in favor of nationalist fascism, etc..

As a member of the GUAM-BA alliance, Azerbaijan cannot rely on Russia’s confidence.