U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken had been scheduled to host the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers in Washington on November 20 for further negotiations on a peace treaty between the two South Caucasus nations. Baku cancelled the meeting in protest against statements made by James O’Brien, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia.
Speaking during a congressional hearing in Washington on November 15, O’Brien condemned Azerbaijan’s September 19-20 military offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh and warned Baku against attacking Armenia to open a land corridor to its Nakhichevan exclave.
“We’ve made clear that nothing will be normal with Azerbaijan after the events of September 19 until we see progress on the peace track,” he said, adding that Washington has cancelled “high-level visits” by Azerbaijani officials and suspended military and other aid to Azerbaijan.
O’Brien visited Baku earlier this month in a bid to convince the Azerbaijani leadership to reschedule the cancelled meeting. He announced no agreement to that effect after the trip.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s top foreign policy aide, Hikmet Hajiyev, complained about Washington’s “one-sided and lopsided approach” when he spoke to a small group of Western journalists in London on Tuesday.
“We do expect that there could be some different attitudes ... demonstrated by the United States executive branch of government,” Newsweek.com quoted him as saying. “Once it's done and we don't have any problems, [we can] continue our discussions on the Washington platform and with regard to peace discussions.”
Hajiyev hinted that Baku expects U.S. President Joe Biden to waive Section 907 of the 1992 Freedom Support Act passed in 1992 that bans U.S. assistance to Azerbaijan. Like his predecessors, Biden did so in 2021 and 2022.
“Azerbaijan doesn't need any foreign aid or support … But here the psychological aspect and political aspect is very important, because it was unfair treatment of Azerbaijan,” said Hajiyev.
Aliyev also withdrew from talks with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian which the European Union had planned to host in October. The EU too has been accused by Baku or pro-Armenian bias.
Armenian leaders have suggested that Aliyev is simply dragging his feet on the peace treaty in hopes of clinching more concessions from Yerevan
“Azerbaijan may state that it is interested in finalizing the peace treaty with Armenia, but unfortunately words are not enough: we need to concentrate on deeds,” Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanian told the BBC in an interview published on Tuesday.
“The fact is that Azerbaijan is reluctant to finalize the treaty based on principles endorsed by the international community,” he said.
