INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY CONCURS THAT ARMENIAN KARABAKH CAN NEVER AGAIN BE
GOVERNED BY AZERBAIJAN
Arminfo
YEREVAN, APRIL 8. ARMINFO. said Ross Vartian, Executive director
Armenian Assembly of America in a letter to the editorial office of
The Washington Times.
AAA informs ARMINFO that the letter was a response to the article of
the head of Caspian Energy Consulting company Rob Sobhani. Vartian
says in the letter that Karabakh Armenians have long made their
choice for freedom and democracy and have defended that choice
in a war forced on them more than a decade ago. Besides he writes
that in “A ‘warehouse of evil,’ ” Mr. Sobhani claims that Armenian
authorities are unable to manage their armed forces and armaments. The
FBI disagrees and just two weeks ago praised “the professionalism and
active cooperation of the Armenian authorities” in a sting operation
in which would-be smugglers were nabbed before they attempted to move
the weapons into the United States. In fact, Washington has praised
Armenia’s military cooperation, calling the country a “key partner”
in the war on terror. To claim that Azerbaijan, as compared to Armenia,
has been unfairly penalized in foreign aid misrepresents the situation
on the ground. Mr. Sobhani could have added that U.S. assistance to
Armenia would not be so critical if Turkish and Azeri blockades were
not strangling its eastern and western borders, he writes.
“While Mr. Sobhani correctly notes that Armenia’s president supports
a peaceful resolution to the Karabakh conflict, his Azeri counterpart
does not. President Ilham Aliyev has declared repeatedly that he is
“not in a hurry” to settle the conflict and would start a new war at
the time of his choosing.”