Azernews.Az

The US State Department’s reaction to the recent protests at Washington’s policy expressed in Azerbaijan is "accepted normally", Ali Hasanov, the head of the Presidential Administration socio-political department, has said.
Mark Toner, a State Department spokesman, on Tuesday responded to the strongly-worded statements blaming the U.S. for failing to take a fair stance on the Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict and supporting arch-foe Armenia. Toner said Washington does not take sides on the Garabagh problem and backs efforts of the mediating OSCE Minsk Group at the highest level. According to him, there is no cool-down in Baku-Washington relations and the U.S., as a Minsk Group co-chair, is working with both Azerbaijan and Armenia to foster an agreement on Garabagh. He also emphasized that the U.S. does not recognize the "independence" of Upper Garabagh, an Azerbaijani region under Armenian occupation where ethnic Armenians are running a self-proclaimed republic.
Hasanov told reporters that the public discontent in Azerbaijan has, to some extent, affected US policy think-tanks. He added: "We hope that Washington will be objective in its attitude toward the Garabagh issue to the greatest extent."
The department head noted that Azerbaijan does not favor tarnishing of its relations with the U.S. "In fact, we do not want to spoil our relations, to harm our partnership. But, unfortunately, at times emerging conditions prompt us to do so. We do hope, however, that the U.S., as before, will maintain its wholesome and partnership stance toward Azerbaijan, and we, on our end, will fulfill all of our obligations with regard to this country’s interests."*