BUT WHO ARE THE JUDGES?

The whole of last week was marked by a sequence of events linked with US' policy in the South Caucasus and a Karabakh settlement in particular. These were events which, if they do not cast a cloud on Azerbaijani-American relations, at least do nothing to help them or improve Washington's reputation as an impartial mediator in resolving the conflict.

On 13 March, at the instigation of the US Congress Armenia Assistance group, along with the Armenian Embassy in the USA and the office of the unrecognized "Nagornyy Karabakh Republic" ("NKR") and Armenian-American organizations in the US Congress, an event was held to mark the 25th anniversary of the beginning of the separatist movement in support of the breakaway of Nagornyy Karabakh from Azerbaijan. According to Armenian media reports, dozens of congressmen, diplomats, leaders of Armenian-American organizations, heads of dioceses, numerous members of the Armenian diaspora and journalists attended the event.

Narine Agabalyan, "minister of culture and youth" of the separatist regime, and Tatul Markaryan, Armenian ambassador to the USA, spoke at the event and presented Armenia's occupation of Azerbaijani territory as a struggle of the Karabakh Armenians for their rights, as usual shifting the blame from one side to the other. In their opinion, Azerbaijan is "simply gaining time to prepare for a new war, which will make the recognition of the NKR by the international community even more vital".

These statements would have been nothing new as far as Baku was concerned but for the fact they were supported by high-ranking members of the US' legislative body. In his introductory speech, Ed Royce, chairman of the US Committee on Foreign Affairs, "highly praised the 25-year struggle of the people of Nagornyy Karabakh for their independence". In their messages and good wishes, congressmen Royce, Adam Schiff, Michael Grimm, Jackie Speier, Anna Eshoo, David Cicilline and others, after congratulating the people of Nagornyy Karabakh on the 25th anniversary of their liberation movement, expressed their readiness to continue to provide assistance to the efforts of the leadership and "people of Karabakh", which were aimed at creating an "independent and democratic statehood". In their speeches the representatives of the US' legislative authority expressed their concern over the actions of Azerbaijan aimed at creating tension in the region. Congressmen Judy Chu, Devin Nunes, Michael Grimm, David Valadao, Jim Costa and others sent their congratulations and best wishes.

The event was also attended by that old and true friend of the Armenians, Congressman Frank Pallone who noted that "the opposing side (Azerbaijan - author's note) continues to claim that the right to self-determination cannot be a primacy of the law, although Karabakh has long been an independent state and it only remains for this to be recognized".

It goes without saying that this gathering of the separatists and their supporters caused indignation on the Azerbaijani side. Even before the event, Azerbaijan's ambassador to the US, Elin Suleymanov, urged the members of Congress not to take part in this forum. The same day Azerbaijanis resident in Washington staged a protest demonstration in front of the Congress building where the event was being held. Bearing the state flags of Azerbaijan, Turkey and the USA, they shouted slogans "Armenia bears responsibility for the Xocali genocide", "Karabakh is an integral part of Azerbaijan", "Armenia, stop your territorial claims against Azerbaijan", and so on. Members of the Turkish and Uzbek diasporas also played an active part in the protest outside the Congress building.

The reaction of official Washington to the Azerbaijani side's protest was predictable. "Representatives of the most diverse groups are taking part in the events on Capitol Hill but this does not mean official approval of their actions by the American government. The USA, like other countries, does not recognize the separatist regime of the 'NKR'. US policy in this regard has not changed.  The US, as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, remains firmly committed to working with the parties in the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict to achieve a lasting and peaceful settlement in accordance with the Helsinki principles: the non-use of force or threat of force, the territorial integrity of the states, and also the self-determination of peoples", a comment by the US embassy in Baku states.

The US resolutely supports Azerbaijan's independence, security and sovereignty, Eric Rubin, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, said, speaking at a conference of America's Turkic peoples in Washington. At the same time, the high-ranking member of the State Department spoke of the impermissibility of maintaining the status-quo in the Karabakh conflict and conveyed the US' intention to very soon appoint a new co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group with the aim of assisting a peaceful solution to the problem.

But this reaction cannot satisfy Azerbaijan. "Not one of the members of Congress knows and understands the essence of the question and the facts, but for the sake of dollars from the Armenians they are prepared to do and say whatever they like, even the most utter nonsense, to the detriment of America and the politics of the American government," laments Adil Bagirov, an activist of the Azerbaijani diaspora in the US and co-founder of the US Azerbaijanis Network (USAN).

Of course, this is not a time to blame the Azerbaijani diaspora for what happened. It was due to the active work by the diaspora recently that the genocide in Xocali was recognized by the legislative bodies of seven US states. And work towards recognizing the genocide by other states is still going on.

There are reasons for claiming that in this case it is all a question of the position of the American leadership. How otherwise, for example, can one explain the fact that the official response to the petition in support of the recognition of the Xocali tragedy, which collected many more than the required 100,000 signatures and was published on the Obama administration's website, came not even from a high-ranking member of the US federal government, as one would have expected, but from some nameless representative of the White House's press service? What is the reason for the United States' regular financial support for the Nagornyy Karabakh separatist regime? Why is the US administration still only freezing from year to year and not fully withdrawing the notorious Amendment 907 to the Freedom Support Act banning aid to Azerbaijan by the American government?

It is unfortunate that an event in support of the Karabakh separatist regime is taking place at virtually the same time as the successful visit to the US by an Azerbaijani parliamentary delegation. And this visit was not to just anywhere but to the lair of the Armenian diaspora in America - California. During the course of meetings in the senate and other official structures of that state very important agreements were reached on increasing cooperation in the trade-and-economic, investment and legislative spheres. Even acts of protest and other manoeuvres by the Armenian diaspora failed to mar the success of this visit. We should also point out that Californian senator Leland Yee even walked out of the senate during a ceremony in honour of the Azerbaijani parliamentarians.

In analyzing the actions of the countries directly involved in a Karabakh settlement, one may come to depressing conclusions. There has been a disappointing trend of late where not an ordinary venue is provided for a debate on the subject of the encouragement of Armenian separatism by foreign states (which in itself is strange for countries who see themselves as a model of legality and law and order), but a room in the building of a legislative body. Here, one may recall the recent example of France where, in the building of the National Assembly (the lower house of the local parliament), the Armenian diaspora held a conference to mark the 25th anniversary of the events in Sumgayit, which was attended by French MPs.  Two young activists of the Azerbaijani diaspora tried to disrupt this biased interpretation of the events of that time. We all know to what sorry events all this led to - the young Azerbaijanis were brutally beaten up. Furthermore, some reports say, a deputy of the National Assembly played an active part in the beating up of the Azerbaijanis. According to reports from the French side, the investigation into this case has still not brought any specific results.

The fact that such events are taking place in two of the three countries that have voluntarily assumed the function of impartial mediators in a Karabakh settlement cannot fail to cause bewilderment. Is such behaviour of the countries that are co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group not strange? Probably, after what has happened, the Armenians will find they have to stage a similar event inside the Russian Duma so that Baku can finally lose faith in the objectivity of any of the mediators.

Nevertheless, Azerbaijan has not yet raised at official level the question of its intention to make changes to the composition of the mediators. At least, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, at a briefing on 15 March, expressed his disagreement with the need to review the composition of the countries co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group which is represented by Russia, the USA and France. "First of all, I would not describe the co-chairs as pro-Armenian because each of these countries is pursuing a policy in accordance with its own interests. Apart from that, all three countries are permanent members of the UN Security Council, they play an important role in the world arena and can make a positive contribution to resolving the Karabakh conflict," the minister stressed. However, as they say, if you're drowning you're on your own. Recent events once again prove what representatives of the Azerbaijani leadership have been saying more often recently - when it comes to solving the problem of restoring its territorial integrity the republic should bank only on its own resources, whatever the path towards resolving the problem.