Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

An international conference on the role of U.S.-Azerbaijan cooperation in ensuring peace and security in the region was held in Baku last Friday, with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict high on the agenda of discussions.

Azerbaijani and US officials shared their views on ways of settling Azerbaijan's long-standing conflict with Armenia and obstacles that stand in the way of its resolution.

The Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia leveled territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since a brutal war in the early 1990s that left around 30,000 people dead and ousted up to one million Azerbaijanis from their homes, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of the neighboring country's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions.

A fragile cease-fire was signed in 1994. Russia, France and the U.S., which co-chair the OSCE Minsk Group, are brokering peace talks. The negotiations have been largely fruitless so far.

Azerbaijani Presidential Administration department head Elnur Aslanov told journalists that Azerbaijan expects the United States to be more active in the peace process.

"Lately inactivity has been observed in the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," Aslanov said. "The U.S. is a co-chair of the Minsk Group and it should play a more active role in the conflict resolution along with other leading states."

Aslanov told the conference that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her recent visit to Baku said that the bonds between the United States and Azerbaijan are deep, important and durable.

"The U.S. officials, who visited our country in past years, often say that the United States has three main interests in Azerbaijan: cooperation on energy projects, security issues and political and economic reforms," Aslanov said. "Indeed, these are important issues and our countries have achieved a lot in these areas. Without firm support from our American friends, regional energy projects would not have been possible. Without Azerbaijan's support, the U.S.-led fight against global terrorism and radicalism would not be the same. However, we need to see a more active role of the United States in the resolution of the long-standing conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan."

Aslanov said Azerbaijan wants to see the U.S. pursue its interests in the region without "being hostage to ethnic politics".

"We insist that the United States call things by its own name, when it comes to aggression and occupation. Only commitment to its true values and principles, based on which the United States was founded, will bring the U.S. a durable, firm and successful foothold in the Caucasus," he added.

According to Aslanov, the U.S. has strong economic and strategic interests in Azerbaijan because of its energy resources and geographic location. A potential American partnership with Azerbaijan meets Washington's strategic needs to consolidate its presence in the Caucasus and Caspian Sea region, he said.

"While unique location makes Azerbaijan a center of geopolitical, geo-strategic and geo-economic importance, one of the largest embassies U.S. has today, after its embassy in Baghdad, is located in Yerevan. While U.S. Azeris Network (USAN) is the first and only grassroots advocacy and political education project uniting all Azerbaijani-American voters, Section 907 to the Freedom Support Act does not reflect the current stage of the relationship and causes obstacles to a broader strategic relationship," Aslanov said.

Section 907 bans any kind of direct US aid to the Azerbaijani government.

Aslanov said unresolved conflicts represent a long-term challenge to the efforts to promote security and stability in the whole Euro-Atlantic area.

"Despite ongoing political efforts towards the earliest resolution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, activities in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan are in gross violation of international law and serve to further strengthen the status-quo of occupation, secure the results of ethnic cleansing and artificially change demographics in the invaded territories, as well as to seriously obstruct a peaceful resolution of the conflict," Aslanov said.

US deputy ambassador Adam Sterling said that the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict remains the biggest obstacle to the development and long-term stability of the region.

"There are no easy answers to the issue, it is a complicated problem," Sterling told the Baku conference.

Sterling said that as a Minsk Group co-chair, the U.S. continues working to establish the conditions and confidence necessary for Azerbaijan and Armenia to make tangible progress in achieving a just and peaceful solution of the conflict.

"The US position on the conflict remains unchanged," Sterling added. "The U.S. is committed to a negotiated settlement of the conflict as the only viable solution for the region's well-being."

Sterling also spoke about security dialogue between Azerbaijan and the U.S.

"We have regular engagements of the militaries, we are strengthening the ability of our armed forces to train and work together in multilateral settings, most notably in NATO's ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] in Afghanistan," Sterling said.

He said these activities have strengthened the U.S.-Azerbaijan partnership.

"As I said, one of the main challenges that we have worked on together over the past decade is Afghanistan. Of course, our forces serve together in Afghanistan. But beyond the service of our troops together, Azerbaijan is also providing a key transit corridor for NATO for [cargo] transit to Afghanistan," Sterling said.

Azerbaijan has sent peacekeepers for ISAF in Afghanistan. In the past, the country also strongly supported the operations in Kosovo.

Farhad Mammadov, Director of the Center for Strategic Studies under the Azerbaijani President, believes the U.S. cannot be closely involved in a fair resolution of the long-running Nagorno-Karabakh conflict due to the influence of the Armenian lobby.

"Over 20 years, the US policy in the region has been instrumental in strengthening the independence of Azerbaijan and Georgia and in the regional security process. However, due to the influence of the Armenian lobby, the U.S. cannot take an active part in an objective settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict -- the biggest threat to security in the South Caucasus," Mammadov noted.

Addressing the conference, Mammadov said the situation in the region is volatile and it is impossible to create favorable conditions for a secure future without influence and even pressure from the outside.

"In our view, the U.S. is not active in this area. Statements that the resolution of the conflict depends on the free will of the parties are irresponsible to say the least. What will can we talk about when the aggressor state, Armenia, is putting forward unreasonable demands and trying to maintain the status quo by all means?" Mammadov queried.

The U.S., as the most powerful country in the world, can and should play a responsible role in the Karabakh settlement process, he says.

Mammadov said "the beginning of a peace process advocated by Azerbaijan" will draw a new picture in the region.

"After the liberation of the occupied territories, the Armenian-Azerbaijani and Armenian-Turkish borders will be opened, and Armenia will be able to enjoy open borders, which promises a short-term 20% economic growth spurt," he said.

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Eric Rubin said during his visit to Armenia last week that the U.S. supports all the efforts of the Minsk Group co-chairs and wants the negotiation process on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to resume its natural course.

"Today, for both sides it is important more than ever to continue diplomatic talks, to be ready to proceed with the negotiation process on the conflict settlement," Rubin said.