U.S. supports Baku's position on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
By Rashid Shirinov
The U.S. position on the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is clear – the country supports the position of Baku on the issue of territorial integrity, said U.S. expert Paul Davis.
“Azerbaijan pursues a consistent policy, is committed to international legal norms and joins NATO initiatives. The U.S. positively assesses all these initiatives and especially the active role of Azerbaijan in the fight against international terrorism,” the expert said in his recent interview with Day.az.
Davis mentioned that Azerbaijan earned all these bonuses thanks to its balanced foreign policy.
As part of the anti-terrorism fight, the peacekeeping contingent of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces has been serving in Afghanistan since November 20, 2002. Today, the Azerbaijani peacekeepers, along with those from other countries, provide security in Afghanistan.
Azerbaijan has several times made substantial donations to the Afghan National Army (ANA) Trust Fund. Moreover, Azerbaijan allowed the NATO planes carrying non-combat loads for a mission in Afghanistan to fly through Azerbaijan’s airspace and to use the country’s airports. About 40 percent of all cargo destined for the NATO mission in Afghanistan pass through Baku.
During his interview, Davis also touched upon the recent appeal of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) to the U.S. Senate Committee on preparing the draft law on foreign aid for the 2019 fiscal year. In an open letter, ANCA requests to allocate aid of about $70 million for Armenia and the so-called “Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.”
Davis said that such attempts are in the traditional style of Armenian lobbyists. He noted that the U.S. decision to reduce aid to Armenia to $6.2 million in 2018 seriously affected the interests of Armenians.
“Obviously, today’s Armenian lobby is much weaker compared to the 1980-1990s, although their goals and tasks remain the same. The Azerbaijani side should take advantage of this and more actively lobby the national interests abroad, especially considering that there are no problems in relations between the U.S. and Azerbaijan,” the expert said.
The Nagorno-Karabakh region is an integral part of Azerbaijan, and therefore ANCA’s appeal to the U.S. Senate Committee is completely illegal since it is contrary to the norms and principles of international law.
Armenia captured Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions from Azerbaijan in a war that followed the Soviet breakup in 1991. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and nearly 1 million were displaced as a result of the war. Large-scale hostilities ended with a Russia-brokered ceasefire in 1994 but Armenia continued the occupation in defiance of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal.
Unfortunately, peace talks mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. within the OSCE Minsk Group have produced no tangible results so far due to Armenia's unconstructive position on the issue.
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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
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