On August 2, during the peace festival held in participation of Armenian and Azeri youth in Tekali village, Georgia, we had an interview with political scientist Zardusht Alizadeh. We told him that recently many civil society representatives have been detained in Azerbaijan, which caused a strong criticism to the Azerbaijani authorities by the United States. Is this criticism formal, or the US actually does not have opportunities to influence on Azerbaijan? Alizadeh said, “The United States is truly criticizing. But let’s be realistic, what opportunities does the United States have to influence on Azerbaijan? It did not bring in troops, I hope no one believes it, as for the financial leverage, Azerbaijan is financially a self-sufficient country, even it has more than 50 billion dollars surplus and it has no need for finances and loans. As to the moral aspects, they are of less importance to the Azerbaijani leadership.
Therefore, America is actually powerless to Azerbaijan’s actions, and has no leverage except for moral calls. The Azerbaijani authorities, yes, exert pressure, and make the civil society representatives be silent. For what purpose? Their main objective is to hold the European games, so that no one would interfere with them in conducting these costly measures, which will enable them to be reach and then, possibly, God grant, will conduct the Olympic Games and will put 50 billion into their pockets.”
Voskan SARGSYAN
