Baku, Azerbaijan, March 19
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
The US visit of Bako Sahakyan, who claims to be the “president” of the illegal regime created in the occupied Azerbaijani territories, can negatively impact US-Azerbaijan relations because it demonstrates a level of intellectual insensitivity towards Azerbaijan by Washington, Rob Sobhani, director general of the Caspian Group Holdings, told Trend March 19.
He noted that Sahakyan’s US visit reflects two concurrent trends. “The first is the current chaos we are witnessing within America's foreign policy establishment. President Trump has not yet solidified his foreign policy views and vision. As a result we have a serious vacuum in Washington. The Armenian lobby in the US have taken advantage of this disarray to advance their agenda.”
It reflects a second reality which is that the Armenian lobby thinks strategically and have a long-term game plan, said Sobhani, adding that in other words, the Armenian lobby does not react to events but tries very hard to create events that keep the narrative of Nagorno-Karabakh in its own favor.
Despite the above mentioned realities, it is interesting to note that the American media did not cover the visit of Bako Sahakyan, he said. “His visit was only covered by the Armenian media.”
Sobhani went on to add that foreign policy leaders of the US are not aware of the how a visit by Bako Sahakyan can harm US-Azerbaijan relations.
“It also shows a high level of ignorance on the part of some American congressmen who do not understand the important role Azerbaijan plays as a reliable exporter of energy resources to consumers around the world. Unfortunately a sad reality of American political life is that some lawmakers can be influenced by donating to their re-election campaigns,” he said.
Sobhani believes that what Azerbaijan can do moving forward is to focus on its positive accomplishments and highlight these accomplishments through a consistent, robust and clear media campaign.
For example, Azerbaijan is the only Muslim country that truly has religious tolerance as its foundation, he said, adding that this fact needs to be highlighted not just in the US but around the world.
Another fact is that under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev, poverty rates have dropped to 5.4 in Azerbaijan, added Sobhani.
Another positive narrative about Azerbaijan, he said, is that it is now a tourist destination.
In 2017, around 2.7 million people visited Azerbaijan and this can be easily doubled by launching a global campaign promoting tourism to travelers around the world under a title: "Baku: Paris by the Caspian", he added.
At the same time, Azerbaijan's diplomatic efforts should focus on showing the world how a peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict can positively impact the economic growth of the region, Sobhani believes.
“Specifically, Azerbaijan needs to show the world how an impoverished Armenia that is today totally dependent on Russia and money from the Armenian diaspora can experience true economic growth if it agrees to a peace process with Azerbaijan. The message is clear: give up the occupation of Azerbaijan and enjoy economic freedom!" he concluded.
Earlier, over Bako Sahakyan’s visit, the US Ambassador to Azerbaijan Robert Cekuta was summoned to the Foreign Ministry and received a note of protest, sent by the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan to the US State Department.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan’s ambassador to the US, Elin Suleymanov, after a meeting in the State Department, presented the protest of Azerbaijan to the American side.
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.