Azernews.Az

Azerbaijan’s consul general in Los Angeles Elin Suleymanov has blamed US President Barack Obama for failing to act upon his eloquent statements.
"President Obama makes pompous statements. But these statements are not backed up by any actions. Russian leaders, on the contrary, do not talk, they work hard," Suleymanov said while addressing the Montana State University last Friday, Radio Liberty reported.
According to the Azerbaijani diplomat, the policy pursued by the United States in past years has caused a faltering of its position in Central Asia.
Suleymanov said that, whereas the Clinton administration exercised a multi-faceted approach to the region, under Presidents Bush and Obama, the White House has focused its regional policy on "symbolism". For instance, the Bush administration placed an emphasis on democratic revolutions like the "Rose Revolution" in Georgia, while Obama’s government is focusing on efforts to defuse tension between Turkey and Armenia at any cost.
Elkhan Polukhov, the spokesman for the Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry, said the consul’s statement reflected Baku’s stance.
"Elin Suleymanov’s remarks about the current US policy do not differ much from Azerbaijan’s official position," Polukhov said. "The country’s formal stance had been stated by the Presidential Administration’s socio-political department head Ali Hasanov and, afterward, this stance was reflected in the articles by the Presidential Administration’s foreign relations department director Novruz Mammadov."
Senior Azerbaijani officials have lately issued strongly-worded statements criticizing the US stance on the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh. They blamed Washington for failing to maintain impartiality as a co-chair of the mediating OSCE Minsk Group, and supporting Armenia, which occupies part of Azerbaijani territory.*