ANCA: U.S. OFFICIALS ACTING LIKE SURROGATES FOR THE AZERBAIJANI EMBASSY

PanARMENIAN.Net
18.10.2008 14:40 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Bush Administration officials continued to press
forward their new, more aggressive position against freedom for Nagorno
Karabakh, citing, as recently as today in Yerevan, that a resolution
of this longstanding conflict must proceed from the principle of
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, while remaining conspicuously
silent on the core American value of self-determination, reported
the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) said in a statement
received by PanARMENIAN.Net.

"Over the past several weeks, since the time of Vice President Dick
Cheney’s early September visit to Azerbaijan, the Administration
has rolled back any mention of self-determination, eliminating any
reference to this core international legal and democratic principle
from its diplomatic vocabulary. Speaking in Baku, the Vice President –
echoing Azerbaijan’s negotiating stand – said that a Nagorno Karabakh
settlement "must proceed" from the principle of territorial integrity
and only "take into account other principles."

As recently as earlier today, in Armenia, Assistant Secretary of State
Dan Fried repeated the newly formulated U.S. stand that a Nagorno
Karabakh settlement must start from the principle of "territorial
integrity," although he did concede that there were "other established
norms," an apparent reference to democracy and self-determination,
which he carefully avoided naming.

In a January 19, 2008 statement, Presidential candidate Barack Obama
pleged that, if elected, he would work for "a lasting and durable
settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict that is agreeable to
all parties, and based upon America’s founding commitment to the
principles of democracy and self determination."

In recent weeks we’ve seen Bush Administration officials, from Dick
Cheney down to Matt Bryza, abandon even the pretense of a balanced,
honest-broker role for the United States in the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict.

In public statements, here in Washington and in Baku, they’ve gone
over the top – even by their standards – in siding with Azerbaijan’s
efforts to retake Nagorno Karabakh.

Dick Cheney said in Baku that his Administration prioritizes the
principle of territorial integrity, which he’s conveniently and
consistently misapplied to the Nagorno Karabakh issue, over the basic
American ideal of self-determination.

Matt Bryza has said that, as a precondition for peace, Armenia must
accept that Nagorno Karabakh remains legally part of Azerbaijan.

These comments would have put the Administration on the side of the
British during the American Revolution.

— Pressuring our Founding Fathers not to challenge the British
Empire’s territorial integrity.

— Urging them to hold off on signing the Declaration of Independence
because the colonies rightfully remained legally part of a foreign
power.

In their last months in office, these officials are acting a lot less
like responsible stewards of U.S. policy and more like surrogates
for the Azerbaijani Embassy, it’s K Street lobbyists, and energy
industry allies.

It’s no coincidence that Azerbaijan’s President, hearing this outright
cheerleading from Washington, has pledged an all out political,
economic, and military offensive against Armenia.

America stands for something better than defending Stalin’s borders or
Azerbaijan’s desire to re-subjugate a free people. Something better
than trading in our core values of self-determination, democracy,
and human right

We stand – as Americans – for the proposition that democracy can
serve as the only durable foundation for lasting peace; for the
fundamentally American ideal that all people deserve the right to
live free of foreign tyranny -to live under a government of their
own choosing," the statement says.