Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

There is a saying that rules are made to be broken. Banal as it might sound rules are really broken and in most cases by those who are supposed to preserve them.

Nagorno-Karabakh is a small territory located in the South Caucasus, and is home to a long and bloody conflict that has lasted over two decades as result of Armenia's territorial claim against its neighbor Azerbaijan. Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory and still controls it despite UN Security Council resolutions on unconditional withdrawal of belligerent troops from the territory it occupied in an unneighbourly way.

Did the international community deal adequately towards this illegal occupation? No.

The occupation continues and is largely ignored by most countries. Meanwhile, a somewhat similar scenario unfolding in Ukraine was harshly criticized by the entire West, ending in unified sanctions against one of the world’s largest countries.

American Jewish Committee representative and Washington, DC-based consultant David Bernstein wrote in his recent article published in the Daily Caller news website that although Washington, along with the rest of the international community, has repeatedly stated its support for territorial integrity of America’s key Eurasian ally, Azerbaijan, the U.S. is also the only country providing direct aid to separatists in the Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh occupied by Armenia.

This is somewhat ironic seeing the U.S. considers itself a defender of democracy and a supporter of justice.

The United States would do better to identify the guilty party and differentiate between the occupied and the occupier.

It is also necessary to maintain a balance in the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which is one of the sources of danger, instability in the South Caucasus region.

“While sending aid to some 50,000 Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh under pressure from the Armenian-American lobby, the United States has been much less enthusiastic about aiding nearly a million Azerbaijani civilians displaced as a result of ethnic cleansing from Armenian-occupied areas,” Bernstein said.

He noted that aid to Azerbaijan is politicized referring to Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act that bans any kind of direct U.S. aid to the Azerbaijani government.

“So politicized is the aid to Azerbaijan that Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act was only waived (not repealed!) in 2001, when the United States needed Azerbaijan in order to conduct its operation in Afghanistan,” Bernstein said.

Since 2001, the section gets waived every year by the U.S. president, but again it is not repealed.

However, when it comes to the events in Ukraine, the U.S. has demonstrated a clear position, Bernstein underlines.

Washington strongly condemns the occupation of part of Ukraine by the separatists and slammed Moscow for unauthorized humanitarian aid to separatist territories that fight against Kiev.

“So how is it that the White House calls Russia’s aid to separatists in Ukraine a dangerous provocation and demands that all humanitarian efforts be coordinated with Ukrainian authorities, yet blithely ignores the need to coordinate with Azerbaijanis when sending aid to ethnic separatists operating in its occupied territories?” he said.

Bernstein stressed that American assistance is not only misplaced, but it encourages Armenia’s sense of impunity.

Recalling the California’s legislature resolution on recognition of the separatist regime in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, he said the resolution is wrong from a legal point of view as none of the countries in the world, even Armenia itself has recognized the separatist regime in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The California Senate passed a resolution, which is of anti-Azerbaijani nature, on August 27. The racist anti-Azerbaijani resolution AJR 32 on Nagorno-Karabakh has been on the agenda of the California State Senate for some time. The resolution, calling to recognize a separatist regime in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan was introduced by Assemblyman Mike Gatto at the behest of the Armenian lobby.

The resolution actually called for supporting the occupation of Azerbaijani lands, which contradicts international norms and principles.

“The legally irrelevant resolution ironically ignores the fact that no country, including Armenia itself, has recognized the separatist entity. The California legislature demonstrates the depth of confusion among politicians in Sacramento more interested in kowtowing to campaign contributors than addressing their own challenges,” Bernstein said.

Azerbaijan always proved itself as a real partner of the United States, and definitely expects the necessary attention of the superpower on the very important issues for the country.

Such acts by the U.S. states under the influence of the Armenian lobby groups and less enthusiastic attitude of government itself towards Azerbaijan reduce confident to mediation activity of Washington as a honest broker within the OSCE Minsk Group to settle the prolonged conflict and harms the relations between the two countries.

“It’s time for the United States to live up to its values and interests in relations with friends and foes by upholding its status as an honest broker in the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process,” Bernstein added.