Washington, it turns out, is “deeply concerned by the continued closure of the Lachin corridor”, and urges “to restore free transit <… > both in and out of the Lachin corridor expeditiously” for the sake of Armenia’s friendship with the United States rather than with Russia, is ready to increase defense cooperation with Armenia as much as possible, and even (as expounded by Yerevan Telegram channels) “we will not countenance any military actions, we will not countenance any attacks against the people of ‘Nagorno-Karabakh'”…
We would remind Ms. Kim that there is no “people of Nagorno-Karabakh”. There is no such administrative-territorial unit as “Nagorno-Karabakh” in Azerbaijan but there is the Karabakh economic region, the population of which includes both Armenians and Azerbaijanis. And words like “must”, “expeditiously”, “we will not countenance”, etc. should be removed from one’s vocabulary when talking to official Baku.
Understandably, however, this hearing took place shortly after the “presidential elections” charade. The US has quite firmly and explicitly declared these “elections” illegitimate. And now they have to make complicated moves in the “diplomatic dance” with Armenia, which the US is still hoping to pull away from Russia. Apparently, the officials on the banks of the Potomac River would rather do it at the expense of Azerbaijan. But they do not want to lose Azerbaijan completely. As a result, Ms. Kim is busy “pouring Armenian brandy from the podium” at the Senate hearings in order to calm down the Chairman of the Commission and Armenian lobbyist Menendez, to show moral support to Pashinyan, and to give the Armenian side a “candy” to sweeten the aftertaste of her statement on non-recognition of the electoral farce in Khankendi, but at the same time to promise nothing concrete. Consequently, while some promising statements are being made, it is very difficult to pick out anything specific. If it is there at all. There are no clear threats and promises, for example, to impose sanctions, hints that in order to open roads the separatists should do their part as well…
Still, that does not change the main point. At this hearing, Ms. Kim represented the State Department. And whatever motivated her chosen tactics, all these statements cause understandable and legitimate outrage in Azerbaijan. Whether the United States intends to support Pashinyan’s “kebab democracy” or to push Russia out of its last outpost in the South Caucasus, while that outpost is doing nothing to reduce its reliance on Moscow, we must caution them: if US diplomats continue to act so rudely and with such mind-blowing “knowledge” of regional realities, the United States may well lose Azerbaijan, but it is unlikely to gain Armenia. Moreover, such statements will help neither to take the issue of transit through Aghdam off the agenda nor to turn the Lachin road back into a public thoroughfare.
In the meantime, we have a few questions for US diplomacy.
Why did we never hear any of this “we will not countenance” business when the Armenian authorities organized ethnic cleansing of Azerbaijanis first in Armenia and then in the occupied Azerbaijani lands?
Why did we never hear such harsh statements while Armenian invaders were shelling Azerbaijani cities and villages?
Will it still be “not acceptable” for the US if it is Armenia again who resorts to “the use of force” in the region?
Why are we not hearing equally strong demands to immediately open the Zangezur corridor?
Does Washington believe that only ethnic Armenians have the right to security? Why does Washington make no mention whatsoever of the security of refugees returning to the liberated territories?
And most importantly, whose interests is the American diplomacy protecting in the region, the United States’ or Armenia’s?
