From: "mart" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: Rick Rozoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2001 3:56 AM Subject: Iran Concerned Over Turkish Warplanes In Azerbaijan THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 2001 THE TIMES OF INDIA Iran concerned over Turkish warplanes in Baku TEHRAN (AFP): Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi has expressed concern over the scheduled arrival of Turkish warplanes in Azerbaijan this week following a tense border dispute over the resource-rich Caspian Sea. He said in Wednesday's Iran News that Tehran had conveyed its "concern" to Azeri officials over Thursday's arrival of 10 Turkish F-16 fighter jets. "Baku officials have assured Tehran that the presence of Turkish fighter planes is not meant as a move against Iran," he said. An Azeri defence official said Friday the warplanes will arrive in Baku to coincide with a visit by Hussein Kivrikoglu, chief of staff of the Turkish army. A senior Azeri government source told AFP on condition of anonymity that the visit was designed to send a "message" to Iran. Tensions between Iran and Azerbaijan have been running high since an Iranian warship last month threatened to fire on an Azeri oil research ship in a sector of the Caspian Sea both countries claim as their own. Azerbaijan's security forces last week arrested six Muslim clerics suspected of spying for Iran, according to press reports. Since then, officials in the Azeri capital have accused Iranian air force jets of making repeated incursions into Azeri airspace, which has been denied by Tehran. Azerbaijan and Iran are at loggerheads over dividing the Caspian, which holds an estimated 200 billion barrels of oil and 600 billion cubic metres of gas. Turkey also has interests in the sea, advocating a multi-billion-dollar pipeline project to carry Azeri crude oil to western markets via Georgia. ( AFP ) _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
