Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 12
By Elmira Tariverdiyeva - Trend:
Armenia is the aggressor, having illegally occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts, and having ethnically cleansed one million innocent Azerbaijanis, according to U.S. Azeris Network (USAN) military analyst Denis Jaffe's article published on The Hill portal.
However, Armenia has ignored UNSC four resolutions, encouraged by intense Armenian lobbying efforts in the U.S. and other key nations as well as by ongoing strong Russian military and political aid, according to the article.
Those who thought such disregard for international law by Armenia would not have repercussions throughout the former Soviet Union were obviously mistaken. Case in point: Transnistria, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. And now there is Ukraine, which recently lost Crimea - separatism scenarios similar with Nagorno-Karabakh, the author wrote.
In reality, the Armenian leadership, especially the military brass, has been making grave threats against Azerbaijan for many years. When the Armenian side accuses Azerbaijan of CFE Treaty violations, they cite a State Department report that clearly points the blame at Armenia. Aside from Armenia violating the CFE Treaty on its own territory, it continues to violate it on Azerbaijani occupied territory. But Armenian lobby is historically able to divert attention in the Congress. In fact, Armenia barely escaped new sanctions for its export of arms to Iran. The UN Security Council has also reviewed evidence of Armenia's arms supplies to Muammar Qaddafi of Libya. The list of arms violations and scandals involving the Armenian government, and president, is extensive, according to the article.
No amount of Armenian lobbying in the U.S. Congress, or its double-dealings with Russia and Iran, can ignore the simple fact that Armenia is an aggressor nation that continues to occupy Azerbaijan, and constitutes a belligerent threat to peace and security in the entire former USSR. Allowing Armenia to get away with aggression and the occupation of Azerbaijan has facilitated destabilizing events to unfold in Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, and could carry similar repercussions for Kazakhstan and the Baltic states, according to the article.