Senator Menendez's shameless lies Money does not stink?

Senator Robert Menendez, chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, presented draft legislative amendments that would hold Azerbaijan accountable "for aggression and alleged war crimes against the Armenians of Armenia and Artsakh," as well as stop the export of military equipment to Baku, the Armenian Council of America (ACA) says.

There is nothing surprising in the fact that the Armenian lobbyist Menendez is trying to launch a new campaign against Azerbaijan. For him, among other things, it is also, so to speak, "the honor of the family". Everything is very simple: the wife of the chairman of the Senate Committee is Nadine Arslanian, an Armenian by nationality. So, in many ways, it is connected with the fact that Menendez, with his last ounce of strength, is blocking the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey by the United States.

It would also be appropriate to note that at the end of 2022, the US Federal Prosecutor's Office conducted an investigation in order to find out whether Nadine Arslanian accepted gifts and other "good deeds" as bribes from certain individuals. This is to the fact that in 2015 Menendez himself was accused of corruption because of his relationship with ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen. The prosecutor's office then claimed that he received about $1 million and many valuable gifts for his election campaign under the guise of donations. The investigation considered that due to fraud with Melgen and Menendez's state health insurance, taxpayers were deceived by at least $9 million.

The senator was accused of criminally promoting the interests of the doctor Melgen in the supply of port equipment for the Dominican Republic. American media sources claimed that Menendez was trying to obtain a free inspection of equipment at the American border. Yes, he pleaded not guilty, and in 2018 the charges against him were dropped. But here, as in the famous joke about spoons and sediment. In any case, an American senator accused of corruption in the role of an accuser of Azerbaijan is, to say the least, absurd.

The senator's accusations are also absurd. He talks about some “alleged war crimes” against Armenia and the unrecognised “Artsakh”. There is no such concept in jurisprudence. Either there was a crime or it wasn't. The "alleged crimes" are something like "fragmentary virginity" or "partial pregnancy". In general, something from the realm of personal fantasies masquerading as facts. I, too, can fantasize that Senator Menendez is a baobab tree. But will he turn into a baobab just because I thought so? Obviously not.

Further, Menendez, indisputably confirming his involvement with the Armenian diaspora of the United States by endless attacks on Azerbaijan, uses the name "Artsakh", which has not been there, is not and will not be in reality. Not a single state in the world, including the United States, has recognized any "Artsakh". On the contrary, the United States has always emphasized its respect and recognition of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan.

After Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced the recognition of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, including the Karabakh economic region, Menendez's speeches look more than absurd and meaningless. It turns out that the American senator considers himself more of an Armenian than the Prime Minister of Armenia?! Definitely, yes, no matter how absurd all this may seem from the outside.

Absurd are Menendez's statements about "blocking the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh." Again, everything is fictitious and deceitful. Where, for example, did the name “Nagorno-Karabakh” come from today? Someone once came up with this name to please the Armenians, but, thank God, everything has returned to normal, and now the world knows about Karabakh and the Karabakh economic region of Azerbaijan. And ethnic Armenians with passports of Armenia live illegally in this area live. But there are no Azerbaijanis in globally-recognized territories of Azerbaijan! But Senator Menendez doesn't want to see the forest for the trees point-blank and once again proves that such bias is generously paid.

Meanwhile, I want to recall the conclusion of European Council President Charles Michel following the results of the latest meeting of the Azerbaijan and Armenia in Brussels: "I also noted Azerbaijan's readiness to equally carry out humanitarian supplies through Aghdam." So, it was the Karabakh Armenians who opposed the implementation of this idea - they are blocking the Aghdam-Askaran road! And this fact was pointed out by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, speaking at the Shusha global media forum "New media in the era of the 4th industrial revolution".

The president also stressed that before the establishment of the border check-point there, the Khankandi-Lachin road was a passage through which Armenia transported mines produced in 2021.

“We found these mines and invited representatives of the Russian peacekeeping contingent, as well as representatives of the Russian-Turkish monitoring center, showed them these mines.” We asked: “How did these mines get into Karabakh? Who brought them, who looked through them? It is impossible for us to die after winning the war, on our territory, just because Armenia continues terror!” the president of Azerbaijan rightly noted.

Senator Menendez simply has no answer to that. However, not only for this. The fact is that the decision of the International Court clearly states that Armenia could not even prove that Azerbaijan cuts off the gas supply to ethnic Armenians living in the Karabakh economic region of our country! In addition, the decision of the International Court of Justice did not use the word "blockade".

Nor is it in the decision of the European Court of Human Rights. None of these documents say anything about freedom of movement in the sense that some in Armenia and the Karabakh separatists are trying to give it. Indulging in primitive manipulations, they clearly have in mind freedom of movement from one state to another. That is, from Armenia to Azerbaijan. But this is impossible. This is international legal nonsense.

It is unlikely that Menendez does not know this and is not aware that after Azerbaijan established the Lachin border checkpoint, Armenia again appealed to international courts, demanding that our side's actions be recognized as illegal. But the International Court of Justice again rejected this demand. Which is absolutely fair, because the installation of the border checkpoint on its border is the sovereign right of each state.

Not to mention the fact that legally justified for any state is the freedom of movement of persons who are legally in the territory of Azerbaijan. And this is not at all what can be attributed to Armenians illegally residing in the Karabakh economic region of Azerbaijan. Their current temporary stay in Karabakh is only an act of goodwill of our state.

However, I note that they were made a specific proposal - either to accept the citizenship of Azerbaijan and live according to the laws of our country, or to leave for Armenia, whose passport they carry in their pocket. The third is not given and cannot be. No matter how many lies and nonsense voiced against our country by Senator Robert Menendez and other politicians biased by Armenia.