Azeri TV accuses US Congress of Armenian bias

Lider TV, Baku
24 Jul 05

You are probably aware of how it has been found out that the man who
threw a grenade at [US President George] Bush [in Tbilisi] is an
Armenian, Vladimir Arutyunyan. This was done with the help of pictures
taken by a US satellite.

Having heard this, every single Azerbaijani may wonder – how come that
US satellites can identify someone with a grenade in his hand among
hundreds of thousands of people, but cannot take pictures of Armenian
occupation of our lands? Is it that difficult for those satellites to
see and take pictures of thousands of Armenians resettled on the
occupied lands? Why does this country not describe Armenia as an
aggressor and tell it to withdraw from the lands that do not belong to
it?

This week, the US Congress adopted a resolution on democratic and fair
elections in Azerbaijan with 416 votes for and one vote against. Good.
This is how the election should be held. We will probably benefit from
this more than anybody else will. But why do those congressmen,
including those who propose to bomb Mecca, not adopt a similar
resolution on the withdrawal of the Armenian aggressors from our
lands? This is happening despite the fact that according to the
results of a survey conducted last month among 1,200 people by the
USA’s International Republican Institute, precisely 93 per cent of the
Azerbaijanis believe that the country’s major problem is the Nagornyy
Karabakh conflict.

After Nagornyy Karabakh, they are mostly concerned about unemployment
and inflation. Other very topical issues that worry the population are
also connected exclusively with their economic situation. Democratic
elections and freedom of speech are, from this point of view, on the
last, i.e. the 10th position. If so, why should a resolution be
adopted on the issue that is on the 10th position and not on the issue
that is on the first position?

Certainly, Azerbaijanis are not illiterate. Thank God, at least in
terms of education we are not lagging behind the Americans
yet. Precisely these double standards eventually lead to the fact that
while the majority of the forces in the country, including the
government, see Azerbaijan’s future in integration into the West, the
results of the opinion poll conducted by the International Republican
Institute show that the Azerbaijani population gives more preference
to relations with Russia in the country’s foreign policy. These
constitute 39 per cent of the respondents. The total number of the
respondents who give preference to the USA and the EU is three per
cent lower, i.e. 36 per cent.

Should it be like this? Certainly, not. This reality, frankly
speaking, meets neither our national nor US state interests.

Christian fundamentalists like Congressman [Tom] Tancredo and other
congressmen who make their decisions under pressure from the Armenian
lobby are to blame. As a result of their activities, this week the USA
made a decision to allocate twice as much assistance to Armenia than
to Azerbaijan next year. However, both the incident that involved
Arutyunyan and dozens of other facts demonstrate that it is precisely
the Armenians who hamper the USA’s efforts to strengthen its positions
in the South Caucasus. [Passage omitted: Yerevan denied Arutyunyan’s
grenade produced in Armenia; on activity of Armenian lobby in Georgia]