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The U.S. is stepping up its diplomacy in Eurasia’s South Caucasus area following the latest clashes that killed at the least 280 troopers alongside the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, together with Nationwide Safety Advisor Jake Sullivan’s Sept. 27 meeting with Armenian and Azerbaijani overseas coverage officers in addition to Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s prior call with Azerbaijan’s president.
But whereas Washington’s try and foster peace within the area is encouraging, it’s undermined by members of Congress, notably in California, who’re taking a one-sided method that flies within the face of efficient diplomacy each in values and observe.
After Home Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi led a Democratic congressional delegation to Armenia that additionally included California Reps. Jackie Speier and Anna Eshoo, along with Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, the visiting lawmakers (along with California’s Rep. Adam Schiff) launched a Home decision that completely blamed Azerbaijan for the latest hostilities in addition to the 2020 warfare between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
It’s hardly stunning for longtime congressional advocates of Armenia to go to Yerevan within the aftermath of September’s violence. However on condition that troopers died on each side, it’s a diplomatic conundrum for a high-ranking official similar to Pelosi, who stands second within the line of succession ought to the president depart workplace, to solely go to Armenia and to refuse to listen to from Azerbaijani leaders.
A extra balanced diplomatic method to the area is lengthy overdue. If she visited Azerbaijan and notably Karabakh, the territory that Azerbaijan liberated within the 2020 warfare following three a long time of Armenian occupation, Pelosi would witness the excellent Azerbaijani efforts to redevelop the realm amid the lingering devastation of the occupation.
This desecration, which I noticed with my very own eyes throughout a latest go to to Karabakh, is typified by miles of looted houses, mosques, and cemeteries whose roofs had been burnt off and whose stones had been resold by Armenians within the development enterprise, in accordance with the Azerbaijani officers whom I spoke with on the bottom. Vandals additionally bought marble from gravestones and golden tooth from corpses, whereas the mosques had been frequented by livestock fairly than worshippers.
Throughout Karabakh, it’s troublesome to take a step in any route with out contemplating landmines — as U.N. consultants estimate that there are greater than 1 million explosive units within the space, which can take 25 years and $50 billion to completely clear. Araz N. Imanov, senior advisor to Azerbaijan’s president within the Karabakh Financial Area, defined that in November 2020, when Armenians had a number of weeks to withdraw from Karabakh in accordance with a Russian-brokered ceasefire following their give up within the warfare, they used the time to plant difficult-to-detect explosives which have sophisticated Azerbaijan’s redevelopment of the liberated territories and have left the Azerbaijan Nationwide Company for Mine Motion with a seemingly limitless job.
What had been a lush inexperienced space with vineyards in addition to thriving wheat and cotton manufacturing previous to the occupation was decimated by “ecocide,” as springs had been blocked to divert water for army functions, mentioned Imanov, whose emotion is palpable as he discusses how he’s “nonetheless making an attempt to come back to phrases with what occurred in Karabakh.”
Regardless of the obstacles, Azerbaijan continues to forge forward with the journey of restoring the territory. A sensible village (through which digital strategies and sensors gather information that’s used to effectively handle property, sources, and providers) has been constructed in Zangilan, the place Karabakh’s first college in 30 years opened this previous month. In Fuzuli, a brand new worldwide airport is poised to function a gateway to the area.
In Shusha — a metropolis identified earlier than the occupation as the “Conservatory of the Caucasus” attributable to its standing as a big political, financial, and cultural middle within the area — Apple Pay got here to the realm only one week after the 2020 warfare, signifying the renewed openness to fashionable know-how that guarantees to revitalize the area. Officers in Shusha mentioned that town, which Azerbaijan redeclared as its cultural capital following the victory over Armenia, has hosted 40 worldwide conferences this 12 months.
Whereas the UK in August dedicated $1.2 million to Azerbaijan’s demining efforts in Karabakh, elevated funding within the rebuilding initiative serves America’s strategic and ethical pursuits.
From a geostrategic perspective, Azerbaijan is a vital U.S. ally within the realm of vitality safety and diversification because the chief of the Southern Fuel Hall — which spans 2,200 miles throughout seven international locations and three pipelines, representing a linchpin of aspirations to lower Europe’s dependence on Russian pure fuel. In July, the European Union signed a memorandum of understanding to greater than double the provision of fuel from Azerbaijan to EU international locations.
Additional, from an ethical perspective, 4 U.N. resolutions affirm that Karabakh is a part of Azerbaijan. Though Armenia’s supporters in Congress proceed to accuse Azerbaijan of “warfare crimes,” worldwide regulation is on Baku’s facet in terms of the rebuilding of Karabakh. U.S. coverage in direction of Karabakh ought to comply with accordingly.
Armenia’s sizable American diaspora inhabitants, in addition to its congressional advocates in California and nationwide, will undoubtedly proceed to be vocal and lively. It’s now incumbent upon those that perceive the strategic significance of the U.S.-Azerbaijan relationship to additionally make their voices heard.
Concurrently, within the overseas coverage enviornment, the naked minimal that we must always count on from high-ranking American and Californian leaders similar to Nancy Pelosi is an try and conduct balanced diplomacy. Anybody-sided efforts will do nothing however undermine peace.
Jacob Kamaras is the editor and writer of the San Diego Jewish World, the previous editor in chief of the Jewish Information Syndicate, and the founding father of Stellar Jay Communications, a PR agency representing Azerbaijan.
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