Washington is making loyalty-proving gestures to “allies” in the South Caucasus
The California State Assembly Rules Committee, by a vote of 9 to 1 and 1 abstained passed the resolution calling on the U.S. President and Congress to recognize the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic as an independent state. The The aforesaid decision of the Committee provides the opportunity for the resolution to be introduced, debated and voted by the full Assembly scheduled on May 8. AJR 32 resolution was introduced at the California State Assembly earlier this year by a Democratic member of the California State Assembly, Chair of California State Assembly Appropriations Committee Mike Gatto. Los Angeles City Council, earlier this year, passed the resolution on recognizing Nagorno-Karabakh Republic as an independent and sovereign state, and last year in the fall, the cities of Fresno and Highland, California, also recognized the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Recently, a special attitude is observed by the United States to settlement of Karabakh conflict. This is probably due to policy conducted by Russia in the events taking place in Ukraine. The official Washington is making loyalty-proving gestures to “allies” in the South Caucasus, and is undertaking additional steps towards reinforcement of the cooperation. In the process of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement, Washington, seems, tends to “play” separately and be separated from Russia.
American Foreign Affairs magazine, recently, published the article by a Georgetown University professor, expert on Caspian regional affairs Brenda Schaeffer entitled “Nagorno-Karabakh after the Crimea”, in which she writes that in early May, the Obama administration will announce a new effort to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Pursuant to 168.am website, the author has mentioned that this will happen in the wake of Russia’s annexation of the Crimea, after which, the United States seems more intent than ever on resolving the long-standing dispute, which Moscow has fanned to maintain its influence in the region. Schaeffer believes that after Russia proved that it is ready to use military force, the West must counter. She had stated that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has provided Russia with considerable influence in the region, and the major role of the U.S. in the South Caucasus must be correction of the the created situation.
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It is noteworthy, however, that the official Baku has passed to a defense policy with a new impetus, and presents itself in the image of a “victim”. The discontent against the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair James Warlick in Azerbaijan has not yet stopped. It reached the point that the Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov presented the discontent by the official Azerbaijan, calling attention to Warlick’s comments posted on his Twitter page, according to which, “the conflict is between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan,” and the negotiation process must be held under “direct involvement of Nagorno-Karabakh.” Azimov has said that it is unacceptable that James Warlick is in close relations with the U.S. Armenian community, the representatives of which have “uncompromising position” to the Karabakh conflict. As per Azerbaijani officials, all of this suggests that the American Co-chair “is making deliberate actions aimed at meeting the interests of the Armenian side,” and the mentioned provides grounds for the lack of confidence by the official Baku to Warlick, to refuse working with him and turned to the OSCE Chairman-in-office to recall James Warlick.
In response to the inquiry of “Radio Liberty”, the U.S. Embassy in Armenia has countered the Azerbaijani deputy foreign minister’s aforesaid statements stating that the U.S. Government does not share Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister’s assessment and remains fully adhere to its commitments assumed for NK conflict settlement, and the U.S. “is calling on both sides to take serious steps to peacefully resolve this conflict.”
Two days ago, the Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan, the Chair of the State Committee for Deals of Refugees and IDPs Ali Hasanov has also complained about the U.S., EU’s, Russia’s and Iran’s position on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. “The U.S. and Europe benefit from our energy resources. Then why don’t they uphold justice in the Nagorno-Karabakh problem? We have normal relations both with Russia and Iran. Why don’t they give real support to us in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict? It shows that they want it to be so. These countries are reluctant to reveal the true reason of their position. Therefore, we trust only in our state, nation, and President.”
Official Baku has launched a consistent campaign in the direction of intermediary counties, and with such wave of discontent, more precisely, obvious blackmail, the Azerbaijani authorities, perhaps, preparing grounds for displaying a new “posture” in the negotiation process. Next week, as you know, the French President, Francois Hollande’s visit to South Caucasus countries is scheduled. One can assume that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement will become one of the core topics during Hollande’s upcoming visit. Fabien Penone, Deputy Diplomatic Advisor to the President of French Republic, according to “Hetq” has stated that the aim of Hollande’s trip to the region is to discuss the issue of frozen conflicts with the presidents of the three Caucasus nations.Regarding South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Fabian reiterated his country’s official position of supporting Georgian territorial integrity. And when asked by a French reporter if Hollande would make a similar statement in Baku regarding the Karabakh conflict, Penone noted that the settlement negotiations are ongoing under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group, on the basis of the Madrid Principles which take into account both territorial integrity and self-determination. “France will continue to work to seek confidence mechanisms between Armenia and Azerbaijan and calls for the negotiations to go on,” said Fabien Penone.
However, France, it its turn, perhaps, will try to undertake steps in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement process. As to how Moscow will respond the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair, U.S. and French efforts, we’ll see in the near future.
EMMA GABRIELYAN
