Month: September 2023

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi receives flowers from Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan during a meeting in Yerevan, Armenia, in September. REUTERS

The U.S. is stepping up its diplomacy in Eurasia’s South Caucasus region following the recent clashes that killed at least 280 soldiers along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, including National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s Sept. 27 meeting with Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign policy officials as well as Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s prior call with Azerbaijan’s president.

Yet while Washington’s attempt to foster peace in the region is encouraging, it is undermined by members of Congress, particularly in California, who are taking a one-sided approach that flies in the face of effective diplomacy both in values and practice.

After House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi led a Democratic congressional delegation to Armenia that also included California Reps. Jackie Speier and Anna Eshoo, in addition to Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, the visiting lawmakers (in addition to California’s Rep. Adam Schiff) introduced a House resolution that exclusively blamed Azerbaijan for the recent hostilities as well as the 2020 war between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

It is hardly surprising for longtime congressional advocates of Armenia to visit Yerevan in the aftermath of September’s violence. But given that soldiers died on both sides, it is a diplomatic conundrum for a high-ranking official such as Pelosi, who stands second in the line of succession should the president leave office, to only visit Armenia and to refuse to hear from Azerbaijani leaders.

A more balanced diplomatic approach to the region is long overdue. If she visited Azerbaijan and particularly Karabakh, the territory that Azerbaijan liberated in the 2020 war following three decades of Armenian occupation, Pelosi would witness the comprehensive Azerbaijani efforts to redevelop the area amid the lingering devastation of the occupation.

This desecration, which I saw with my own eyes during a recent visit to Karabakh, is typified by miles of looted homes, mosques, and cemeteries whose roofs were burnt off and whose stones were resold by Armenians in the construction business, according to the Azerbaijani officials whom I spoke with on the ground. Vandals also sold marble from gravestones and golden teeth from corpses, while the mosques were frequented by livestock rather than worshippers.

Across Karabakh, it is difficult to take a step in any direction without considering landmines — as U.N. experts estimate that there are more than 1 million explosive devices in the area, which will take 25 years and $50 billion to fully clean. Araz N. Imanov, senior advisor to Azerbaijan’s president in the Karabakh Economic Region, explained that in November 2020, when Armenians had several weeks to withdraw from Karabakh in accordance with a Russian-brokered ceasefire following their surrender in the war, they used the time to plant difficult-to-detect explosives that have complicated Azerbaijan’s redevelopment of the liberated territories and have left the Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action with a seemingly endless task.

What had been a lush green area with vineyards as well as thriving wheat and cotton production prior to the occupation was decimated by “ecocide,” as springs were blocked to divert water for military purposes, said Imanov, whose emotion is palpable as he discusses how he is “still trying to come to terms with what happened in Karabakh.”

Despite the obstacles, Azerbaijan continues to forge ahead with the journey of restoring the territory. A smart village (in which electronic methods and sensors collect data that is used to efficiently manage assets, resources, and services) has been constructed in Zangilan, where Karabakh’s first school in 30 years opened this past month. In Fuzuli, a new international airport is poised to serve as a gateway to the region.

In Shusha — a city known before the occupation as the “Conservatory of the Caucasus” due to its status as a significant political, economic, and cultural center in the region — Apple Pay came to the area just one week after the 2020 war, signifying the renewed openness to modern technology that promises to revitalize the region. Officials in Shusha said that the city, which Azerbaijan redeclared as its cultural capital following the victory over Armenia, has hosted 40 international conferences this year.

While the United Kingdom in August committed $1.2 million to Azerbaijan’s demining efforts in Karabakh, increased investment in the rebuilding initiative serves America’s strategic and moral interests.

From a geostrategic perspective, Azerbaijan is a crucial U.S. ally in the realm of energy security and diversification as the leader of the Southern Gas Corridor — which spans 2,200 miles across seven countries and three pipelines, representing a linchpin of aspirations to decrease Europe’s dependence on Russian natural gas. In July, the European Union signed a memorandum of understanding to more than double the supply of gas from Azerbaijan to EU countries.

Further, from a moral perspective, four U.N. resolutions affirm that Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan. Although Armenia’s supporters in Congress continue to accuse Azerbaijan of “war crimes,” international law is on Baku’s side when it comes to the rebuilding of Karabakh. U.S. policy towards Karabakh should follow accordingly.

Armenia’s sizable American diaspora population, as well as its congressional advocates in California and nationwide, will undoubtedly continue to be vocal and active. It is now incumbent upon those who understand the strategic importance of the U.S.-Azerbaijan relationship to also make their voices heard.

Simultaneously, in the foreign policy arena, the bare minimum that we should expect from high-ranking American and Californian leaders such as Nancy Pelosi is an attempt to conduct balanced diplomacy. Any one-sided efforts will do nothing but undermine peace.

Jacob Kamaras is the editor and publisher of the San Diego Jewish World, the former editor in chief of the Jewish News Syndicate, and the founder of Stellar Jay Communications, a PR firm representing Azerbaijan.

Earlier this week, the FBI raided the Laredo, Texas, home of Rep. Henry Cuellar. According to ABC News, the raid was made in connection with an ongoing investigation linked to Azerbaijan. While little is known about this specific FBI probe, which CNN reported involves the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section, Cuellar’s relationship to Azerbaijan is well documented.

In fact, an Azerbaijani organization Cuellar has had close ties with over the years was previously the subject of an FBI investigation, with its president pleading guilty to charges of wooing members of Congress by serving as a front for the nation’s wholly owned oil company.

In January 2013, Cuellar and his spouse flew to Turkey and Azerbaijan on a trip sponsored by an entity calling itself the Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians, according to congressional disclosure reports. The trip for the Cuellars cost just south of $20,000 and was approved by the House Ethics Committee.

Kemal Oksuz, listed as Turquoise Council president, told the Ethics Committee that no foreign money paid for the trip, according to disclosures, but that claim is questionable given events that unfolded not long after.

In 2018, Oksuz pleaded guilty to concealing the fact that a separate congressional trip in May 2013 to Azerbaijan had been funded by a foreign government; he was sentenced in 2019. Oksuz had claimed that the trip in question was paid for by the Turquoise Council and the Assembly of the Friends of Azerbaijan, both of which purport to promote regional and transnational cooperation. In truth, the trip was paid for by SOCAR, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic, a wholly owned national oil and gas company.

Court documents show that Oksuz wired $750,000 from SOCAR in order to organize travel for 10 House members and their staff to Azerbaijan. (Cuellar did not go on this second trip.) Prior to this deposit, the Assembly of the Friends of Azerbaijan, one of the nonprofits involved in the travel scheme, had only $283.15 in its checking account.

The Assembly of the Friends of Azerbaijan was founded shortly after Cuellar’s January trip, but Oksuz served as head of both, and as the Office of Congressional Ethics later reported, “Records suggest that this individual used the entities interchangeably.” And Cuellar’s itinerary for the January 2013 trip, on file with the Ethics Committee, shows a “briefing” at SOCAR and, later that evening, “dinner with SOCAR Executive Team.”

The relationship bore fruit. In July 2013, Cuellar spoke at a Washington, D.C., reception in honor of SOCAR, along with its president, Rovnag Abdullayev, to highlight the importance of a pipeline to deliver natural gas to Europe.

That pipeline and related projects are pivotal to the national interests of Azerbaijan. SOCAR is the largest company and source of tax revenue in Azerbaijan. The company has embarked on ambitious plans to expand its international footprint, including a network of pipelines that stretch through multiple countries to deliver gas into Europe. The so-called Southern Gas Corridor, built by SOCAR in partnership with BP and other Western energy giants, required an investment of over $45 billion.

Later that year, in September 2013, Cuellar and other lawmakers sponsored a resolution in Congress expressing support for Azerbaijan’s Southern Gas Corridor project, stating that it was in the “U.S. national interest” to support construction and work closely with the governments of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and others in the region to have the pipeline completed. The resolution was adopted by the House Foreign Affairs Committee by unanimous consent. In 2020, a portion of the pipeline across the Adriatic Sea began commercial operations to deliver gas from Azerbaijan to Italy.

“My thanks to Congressman Cuellar for his playing a very instrumental role for this affiliation.”

In April 2015, Cuellar announced an affiliation agreement between Texas A&M International University and the Assembly of the Friends of Azerbaijan, described in a Cuellar press release as an “educational and cultural organization” — but which we now know, by Oksuz’s admittance, was a front for the Azerbaijan oil company.

“My thanks to Congressman Cuellar for his playing a very instrumental role for this affiliation,” Oksuz is quoted saying in Cuellar’s press release. “He is the cause of this TAMIU-AFAZ Affiliation Agreement. This agreement will give a very ample opportunity to TAMIU faculty and students not only they will study international energy law, politics of energy, environmental impacts and strategy management, but also they will meet and network with people from public and private sectors.”

In May 2015, the Office of Congressional Ethics published a report detailing the funding violation orchestrated by Oksuz. The FBI began probing too. In announcing his eventual guilty plea, the Department of Justice said that Oksuz had laid bare the scheme:

According to admissions made in connection with his guilty plea, Oksuz lied on disclosure forms filed with the Ethics Committee prior to, and following, a privately sponsored Congressional trip to Azerbaijan.  Oksuz falsely represented and certified on required disclosure forms that the Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasions (TCAE), the Houston non-profit for which Oksuz was president, had not accepted funding for the Congressional trip from any outside sources.  Oksuz admitted to, in truth, orchestrating a scheme to funnel money to fund the trip from the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), the wholly state-owned national oil and gas company of Azerbaijan, and then concealed the true source of funding, which violated House travel regulations.

Oksuz was also a campaign donor to Cuellar, records show. The Cuellar campaign received $1,000 from Oksuz in June 2012 and another $2,500 in February 2015.

Cuellar, a co-chair of the Congressional Azerbaijan Caucus, continued to promote Azerbaijan’s interests. Following the devastating Armenia-Azerbaijan War in 2020, fought over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, Cuellar petitioned his congressional colleagues to ensure that any humanitarian aid for the conflict would be “provided through the Government of Azerbaijan or U.N. organizations” and not given directly to Armenia.

A letter making the funding request, signed by Cuellar, was circulated by the BGR Group, a lobbying firm that represents the Azerbaijani Embassy, according to records on file with the Department of Justice.

Azerbaijan has been caught up in repeated scandals around the world in which it has been probed for attempting to bribe legislators. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe released a report in 2018 saying that its former members had engaged in “corruptive activities” with the Azerbaijan government. The German Bundestag last year also backed a corruption probe, according to Transparency International, after “the Azerbaijani Laundromat investigation showed how a network of slush funds financed such ‘caviar diplomacy’ through opaque payments to politicians across Europe.”

The gifts and payments to European policymakers were made in part to shape support for the same Azerbaijani oil and gas interests that had financed the 2013 congressional junket. “Azerbaijan is particularly keen to present a positive image in Europe because it needs significant European support for its flagship project — the Southern Gas Corridor — despite the regime’s serial human rights abuses, systemic corruption and election rigging,” noted a group of human rights watchdogs, including Platform and Bank Watch, commenting on the scandal.

Cuellar faces a serious challenge from human rights lawyer Jessica Cisneros in a March 1 Democratic primary. Cuellar did not respond to a request for comment.

The Wall Street Journal journalists Corinne Ramey and James Fanelli write that the wife of US Senator Bob Menendez, Nadine Arslanian, is drawing scrutiny in a federal probe, Report informs.

Investigators are examining whether Nadine Arslanian received gifts or services from individuals who sought favors from New Jersey’s senior senator.

Armenianophile and Turkophob Bob Menendez has been a US senator since 2006 and serves as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The US attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York has subpoenaed associates of Menendez’s wife, Nadine Arslanian, whom he married in 2020, the WSJ writes. Subpoenas issued in recent months have asked for information about both Arslanian and Menendez, according to the sources.

The probe is separate from a 2015 public-corruption case prosecutors brought against Menendez, which led to a mistrial.

The probe dates back to at least 2019. Late that year, court records show, federal investigators executed search warrants at the home and office of Wael Hana, the founder of IS EG Halal, an Edgewater, N.J., company that was designated the only business allowed to certify halal meat being exported to Egypt. Hana is an associate of Arslanian, according to the people familiar with the matter.

Prosecutors were investigating possible undisclosed foreign lobbying in the US and other potential violations of federal law, according to court documents filed in 2020 by Lawrence Lustberg, a lawyer for Hana, who was seeking the return of property seized by the government.

Prosecutors in recent months also subpoenaed New Jersey lawyer Antranig Aslanian, a longtime friend of Nadine Arslanian who has represented Wael Hana. Antranig Aslanian said that when prosecutors questioned him about Arslanian, he told them that he had known her for 25 years and that they were both Armenian.

Aslanian said he had no idea what prosecutors were looking for.

Menendez and Arslanian live in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. Media reports about the couple’s engagement and wedding identify Arslanian as an international businesswoman.

She attended New York University and studied international politics, she said in a 2020 interview posted on YouTube.

State business records show Arslanian is the president of Strategic International Business Consultants LLC, a holding company that was incorporated in New Jersey in 2019. The senator’s financial disclosure forms showed she worked for Fusion Diagnostics Laboratories, a New Jersey medical testing company. She worked for a short time in sales and marketing, Fusion’s chief executive, Moataz Abdalla, said.

In the 2015 public-corruption case against Menendez, federal prosecutors alleged he accepted about $1 million in gifts—including flights on a private jet and vacations—from a Florida ophthalmologist.

Senator Menendez has been considered one of the prominent lobbyists of the Armenian diaspora in the US for many years. As we can see in the case of Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen, he did not do it for free. Since 1995, Menendez has been one of the most active functionaries of the so-called Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues.

Menendez blocked a resolution allowing the US to sell helicopters to Azerbaijan, as well as the appointment of Matthew Bryza as US ambassador to Azerbaijan.

Besides, he blocked US military assistance to Azerbaijan and the sale of F-16 fighter jets and components to Turkiye.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez (D-NJ)

WASHINGTON, D.C. –Under intense grilling today by the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a mid-level Biden-Harris administration aide repeatedly dodged direct questions about the State Department’s failure to break Azerbaijan’s genocidal blockade of Artsakh – even refusing, on national security grounds, to answer Chairman Robert Menendez’s (D-NJ) straightforward query about Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s motives for starving 120,000 indigenous Christian Armenians, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

Thursday’s hearing, titled “Assessing the Crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh,” was chaired by Sen. Menendez (D-NJ) and featured testimony by Acting Assistant Secretary for Europe and Eurasia Yuri Kim. The chair led members of the committee in direct, often confrontational questioning of the State Department refusal to hold Azerbaijan accountable or to provide urgently needed humanitarian aid to Artsakh.

Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia Yuri Kim

“The signature moment – the defining exchange – of today’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee Artsakh hearing was Acting Assistant Secretary Yuri Kim hiding behind a transparently slippery appeal to state secrets to avoid answering a straightforward question about Aliyev’s obvious motives for blockading Artsakh,” stated ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “The Armenian American community joins Chairman Menendez in demanding answers about the State Department’s refusal to forcefully confront Azerbaijan’s genocidal ethnic cleansing of Artsakh.”

Chairman Menendez was emphatic about the urgency of the situation in Artsakh, stating, “As we sit here today with the lives of so many people hanging in the balance, time is of the essence. The former prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo, recently wrote, ‘Starvation is the invisible genocide weapon. Without immediate dramatic change, this group of Armenians will be destroyed in a few weeks.’ That is how long we have. I would ask our witness to speak to what the [State] Department is doing, what the Biden administration is doing, and what the international community must do to avert this atrocity from being carried out before our own eyes.”

Acting Assistant Secretary Kim held to standard State Department refrains regarding the deteriorating situation in Artsakh.  “I want to be clear that we view the status quo as completely unacceptable,” stated Acting Assistant Secretary Kim, who went on to urge the immediate opening of the Berdzor (Lachin) Corridor while also supporting Azerbaijan’s calls for the opening of additional routes that could undermine Artsakh’s security.

She praised Secretary Blinken’s Azerbaijan-Armenia mediation efforts, held under duress during Azerbaijan’s genocidal blockade. “Secretary Blinken has hosted three rounds of peace negotiations with the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan since last November, and his leadership has yielded results. The sides have made progress on a peace agreement that could stabilize the region.”

She concluded her prepared remarks, noting: “The United States will not countenance any effort or action, short-term or long-term, to ethnically cleanse or commit other atrocities against the Armenian people of Nagorno-Karabakh.”

However, when asked by Senator Menendez “why the United States is not or cannot do more to get humanitarian assistance [to Artsakh],” the Acting Assistant Secretary of State pointed to the passage of a single Russian Red Cross truck through the secondary Aghdam road to Artsakh, noting “that traffic is now flowing,” though she agreed with Senate leaders, “it is not enough.”

When asked by Senator Menendez, “Why do you think, despite its signed commitments and a ruling by the International Court of Justice to open the Lachin Corridor, that Aliyev is not opening the corridor?”, Acting Assistant Secretary Kim refused to answer publicly, inferring the matter is classified.

An “amazed” and clearly disappointed Senator Menendez offered his own answer. “He [President Aliyev] doesn’t want to open the corridor because he is in the process of trying to subjugate these people by starvation, or by the threat of starvation, and at the end of the day subject them to his will. That doesn’t have to be classified.”

Senators reissue calls for enforcing Section 907 restrictions on U.S. assistance to Azerbaijan; express concerns about U.S.-Azerbaijan relationship

Chairman Menendez was joined by Senator Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) in pressing the State Department to enforce Section 907 restrictions on U.S. military assistance to Azerbaijan.

Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD)

“I have repeatedly expressed my deep opposition to waiving Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act, allowing the United States to send assistance to his regime. This clearly alters the balance of military power between Azerbaijan and Armenia in Aliyev’s favor. I think Azerbaijan’s actions over the past three years have vindicated my skepticism,” stated Chairman Menendez.

“When you routinely give the waiver under Section 907, saying that Azerbaijan has demonstrated steps to cease all blockades and other offensive uses of force against Armenia when that’s just not the case,” stated Sen. Cardin, “we lose credibility when that happens, when we aren’t prepared to take decisive steps based upon our values.”

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)

Senator Van Hollen stressed that the waiver of Section 907 should not only be based on national security considerations, but as the law states, the impact of the waiver on the Azerbaijan-Armenia peace process.  “Based on your statements from April, the State Department’s statements from April, it’s pretty clear that at least as of then, in your own words, in the State Department’s own words, it was undermining confidence in the peace process. And I don’t see anything that’s changed from that day to this.”

Acting Assistant Secretary Kim defended previous waivers of Section 907, noting that assistance has been used for counter-terrorism and other purposes.  She confirmed that President Biden’s 2022 waiver had expired in June. “We have not submitted a new waiver request yet because we are reviewing the situation very carefully,” stated Acting Assistant Secretary Kim.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT)

Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) was skeptical of the State Department’s effectiveness in addressing the Artsakh crisis. “This is obviously a crisis, an active difficult, question regarding the pressure points on Azerbaijan, but at this point I think you have to put all possible tools on the table because gentle diplomacy does not seem to be working,” stated Senator Murphy.  He also commented on Azerbaijan’s growing ties with Russia in the energy sector and asked, “So what are the implications for the U.S. and for Europe as Azerbaijan and Russia draw closer; what is the nature of that relationship, and did we make the wrong bet?”

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)

Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) noted that she shares “the concerns that have been expressed about Azerbaijan’s continued obstruction of the Lachin Corridor. In New Hampshire, we have a large Armenian diaspora, and we hear consistently from them about their concerns that Azerbaijan’s blockade has resulted in severe humanitarian suffering, that it should be lifted immediately.”

Other Senators participating in the hearing included Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member James Risch (R-ID) and Senators Pete Ricketts (R-NE) and Tim Kaine (D-VA).

In order to get updated of the latest situation in Armenia and
Garabagh, where the separatist forces are still located, it is no
longer necessary to search for the Armenian press. The Senate of
the United States of America has almost become the daily newspaper
of Armenia – giving fresh tiding; whatever the situation is inside,
the same atmosphere exists in the Senate. There is only one issue
that the voices from the Senate are more excited and more
aggressive than those from Yerevan. For example, Senator Robert or
simply Bob Menendez, a 69-year-old American politician, is so
excited every time he stands in front of the tribune talking about
Armenia that he almost drowns in his own sweat. Bob is so
pro-Armenian that he would almost give the whole world a gift for
Armenia. But Menendez has one thing missing; it’s that he himself
can’t understand anything from what he’s talking about. Indeed, the
old senate has become so emotional that sometimes he believes the
lies he tells himself.

Menendez’s commitment to Armenians is as strong as Caroline
Cox’s in the British Parliament. In other words, Armenian blood was
injected into the blood of both old armenophiles. The only
difference between the two characters is that Menendez is a bit
greedy, that is, avid for money. Bob Menendez also had an
interesting story in 2015 about his corruption issue in the court
just because of being apt to receive bribe. The senator, who is
easily lured by money or some gifts, repeatedly poked his nose into
an issue he did not know deeply due to the money invested in his
account from the Armenian lobbies. The fact that the senator, who
has never put a step in Garabagh and has a simple understanding of
the Caucasus region, presented false images to the Foreign
Relations Committee just for the sake of his pre-paid work, is a
clear proof of all that has been said. Although Menendez is a
lawyer, he does not know the secrets of his position. Of course,
without knowing the region, how can making claims from thousands of
kilometers away help lobbyists pouring millions into the pockets of
the corruptionists like Menendez? He just wins, because his mission
is just to care about his account but not Armenians even if he
vehemently shouts out words of sanctions. Who cares though? Because
even though he doesn’t know anything about Garabagh, he still knows
this business very well.

Thus, the situation in the United States does not directly
express Washington’s position towards Azerbaijan. On the contrary,
the United States tries to find a way out of such a situation at
many points. First of all, the United States will never want to
lose Azerbaijan, which is one of the most reliable allies of the
West, and cannot directly pressure Azerbaijan even on the most
critical issues related to Armenia. The final situation was
actually a momentary sabotage plan from the armenianized US Senate
aimed at the South Caucasus. Currently, the situation in the US
Senate is complicated. Because Yerevan and the forces working to
feed the separatists have put such a leash on the neck of people
like Menendez that neither the US State Department nor the White
House can speak out.

However, unlike them, Azerbaijan can always say its word.
Because the international laws written by the West are supreme for
Azerbaijan, even if they are worth the bribes they receive. No
matter how hard people like Robert Menendez try to impose tough
sanctions against Azerbaijan and its leadership, in the end,
Azerbaijan gets what it wants. And as it happened… Although the
Aghdam-Khankendi road was blocked by the separatists for a long
time, in the end it was not what they wanted, but what Azerbaijan
wanted.

First, they wanted to create an illusion, ostensibly there was a
starvation and humanitarian crisis in Khankendi. All Armenian and
pro-Armenian media outlets circulated the fabricated pictures and a
term of “genocide”, the one which Menendez tried to fake at the
tribune. Besides, the local residents said on social networks that
the leaders of the separatist gang took away products brought by
the ICRC or the Russian Peacekeepers to aggravate the situation
further. However, it did not work and first, the separatists were
obliged to step back and release extra meat products in Khankendi
on August 20. According to the so-called statement, on September 17
they were obliged to step back a second time against internal
pressure. The regime accepts that it is not always possible to
provide the daily 200 grams of bread available to a citizen under
the coupon system.

In general, there is only one option for separatist and
lobbyists in Garabagh, Yerevan, or the Senate: to take action
according to the demands and conditions of Azerbaijan. In fact, all
these processes could have been resolved a long time ago. It is a
fact that earlier, an agreement on the simultaneous opening of
these was reached on September 1. The separatists expediently
delayed this process.

Despite all their fruitless efforts, Azerbaijan’s principled
position once again prevailed.

Now there is a priority for them – to end the resistance, not to
rely on empty words from the US Senate and, finally, to take steps
for reintegration. Because this is the only way out for the
Armenian minority in Garabagh.

—

Elnur Enveroglu is AzerNews’ deputy editor-in-chief, follow him
on @ElnurMammadli1

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

In order to know the current situation in Armenia and Garabagh,
where the separatist forces are still located, it is no longer
necessary to search for the Armenian press. The Senate of the
United States of America has almost become the daily newspaper of
Armenia – giving fresh tiding; whatever the situation is inside,
the same atmosphere exists in the Senate. There is only one issue
that the voices from the Senate are more excited and more
aggressive than those from Yerevan. For example, Senator Robert or
Bob Menendez, a 69-year-old American politician, is so excited
every time he stands in front of the tribune talking about Armenia
that he almost drowns in his own sweat. Bob is so pro-Armenian that
he would almost give the whole world a gift for Armenia. But
Menendez has one thing missing; it’s that he himself can’t
understand anything from what he’s talking about. Indeed, the old
senate has become so emotional that sometimes he either believes
the lies he tells himself, or because he is not aware of it, he
goes out of his conscious for a moment.

Menendez’s commitment to Armenians is as strong as Caroline
Cox’s in the British Parliament. In other words, Armenian blood was
injected into the blood of both fake armenophiles. The only
difference between the two characters is that Menendez is a bit
greedy, that is, avid for money. Bob Menendez also had an
interesting story in 2015 about his corruption issue in the court
just because of his greed. The senator, who is easily lured by
money and bribes, repeatedly poked his nose into an issue he did
not know deeply due to the money invested in his account from the
Armenian diaspora and lobbies. The fact that the senator, who has
never touched a step in Garabagh and has a simple understanding of
the Caucasus, presented false images to the Foreign Relations
Committee just for the sake of his work, is a clear proof of all
that has been said. Although Menendez is a lawyer, he does not know
the secrets of his position. Of course, without knowing the region,
how can making claims from thousands of kilometers away help
lobbyists pouring millions into the pockets of the corruptionists
likes of Menendez? Menendez just wins, because his mission is just
to care about his account but not Armenians even if he vehemently
shouts out of some sanctions. Who cares though? Because even though
he doesn’t know anything about Garabagh, he still knows this
business very well.

Thus, the situation in the United States does not directly
express Washington’s position towards Azerbaijan. On the contrary,
the United States tries to find a way out of such a situation at
many points. First of all, the United States will never want to
lose Azerbaijan, which is one of the most reliable allies of the
West, and cannot directly pressure Azerbaijan even on the most
critical issues related to Armenia. The final situation was
actually a momentary sabotage plan from the armenianized US Senate
aimed at the South Caucasus. Currently, the situation in the US
Senate is complicated. Because Yerevan and the forces working to
feed the separatists have put such a leash on the neck of people
like Menendez that neither the US State Department nor the White
House can speak out.

However, unlike them, Azerbaijan can always say its word.
Because the international laws written by the West are supreme for
Azerbaijan, even if they are worth the bribes they receive. No
matter how hard people like Robert Menendez try to impose tough
sanctions against Azerbaijan and its leadership, in the end,
Azerbaijan gets what it wants. And as it happened… Although the
Aghdam-Khankendi road was blocked by the separatists for a long
time, in the end it was not what they wanted, but what Azerbaijan
wanted.

First, they wanted to create an illusion, ostensibly there was a
starvation and humanitarian crisis in Khankendi. All Armenian and
pro-Armenian media outlets circulated the fabricated pictures and a
term of “genocide”, the one which Menendez tried to fake at the
tribune. Besides, the local residents said on social networks that
the leaders of the separatist gang took away products brought by
the ICRC or the Russian Peacekeepers to aggravate the situation
further. However, it did not work and first, the separatists were
obliged to step back and release extra meat products in Khankendi
on August 20. According to the so-called statement, on September 17
they were obliged to step back a second time against internal
pressure. The regime accepts that it is not always possible to
provide the daily 200 grams of bread available to a citizen under
the coupon system.

In general, there is only one option for separatist and
lobbyists in Garabagh, Yerevan, or the Senate: to take action
according to the demands and conditions of Azerbaijan. In fact, all
these processes could have been resolved a long time ago. It is a
fact that earlier, an agreement on the simultaneous opening of
these was reached on September 1. The separatists expediently
delayed this process.

Despite all their fruitless efforts, Azerbaijan’s principled
position once again prevailed.

Now there is a priority for them – to end the resistance, not to
rely on empty words from the US Senate and, finally, to take steps
for reintegration. Because this is the only way out for the
Armenian minority in Garabagh.

11:10, 17 September 2023