Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 23
Trend:
Azerbaijan, recently celebrated 25 years of independence from Soviet rule, has long fought another battle, one that the election of Donald Trump may shift: the occupation of its Nagorno-Karabakh region by Armenia, Jason Katz, founder of Tool Shed Group LLC, a strategic communications, political and policy consultancy, wrote in his article published by The American Thinker.
During the election, Armenian-American organizations, playing identity politics, waged a spiteful campaign against Trump, with continuous online attacks and the copious spread of misinformation, said Katz, who also served as the director of governmental relations and public affairs for the American Jewish Committee, based in Los Angeles.
”Parenthetically, Armenian-American organizations endorsed Bernie Sanders against Hillary Clinton. If anything, this shows ethnic lobbyists to be out of touch and perhaps even irrelevant,” says the article. “Note the defeat of ardently pro-Armenian and anti-Trump Republican Senator Mark Kirk, a co-chair of the Armenian Caucus, Congressman Bob Dold of Illinois, or of the Nevada Senate hopeful Joe Heck in Nevada.”
The author believes that president-elect Trump, owing nothing to the Armenian-American lobby, yet on record as having positive views vis a vis Azerbaijan, may take his characteristically pragmatic, national interest-based approach to Nagorno-Karabakh and move the conflict to finality.
Azerbaijan, located in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia, has been a steadfast strategic partner of the US since its independence and represents exactly the kind of a secular, pragmatic, and modern partner America needs, according to the article.
Katz noted that Azerbaijan has continued building oil and gas pipelines that flow to Europe and Western markets.
Azerbaijan continues to support the US in international fora and has become a close and, some may say, indispensable ally of Israel, added the author.
As Azerbaijan declared its independence, Armenia occupied Azerbaijan’s Nagorno–Karabakh and adjacent districts, he said adding that wholesale murder, torture, rape and ethnic cleansing was the order of the day and nearly one million citizens of Azerbaijan became internally displaced persons as a result.
Katz believes that peaceful resolution is needed soon to address the needs and aspirations of both the Armenian and Azerbaijani communities of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Self-determination was originally determined as a “human right” by the UN in order to protect citizens from colonial rule and has been perverted by Armenia, said the author.
“The UN resolves that all states respect a peoples’ “sovereign rights and their territorial integrity.” Both of these rights have been violated by Armenia in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan,” according to the article.
Similarly, the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan is violated by occupation, said Katz, it is appalling that Armenia continues to use the argument of self-determination to occupy this region.
In order to comply with the decrees and resolutions of the UN, and to cease human rights violations, Armenia must immediately stop its occupation of Azerbaijan and allow Nagorno-Karabakh’s hundreds of thousands displaced people to finally return to their homes in peace with their neighbors, noted the author.
“Although much will be on the new president’s plate, President Trump should strongly consider putting his weight behind solving this longstanding conflict that promises to cause his administration significant issues if not addressed – lest we forget the violent flare-up of hostilities last April,” says the article. “Another such conflagration promises to escalate into a region war with the involvement of Russia, Iran, Turkey and others.”
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.