US Congress statement on Karabakh A farcical gesture backed by Armenian lobby

"Never before, and here it is again." This famous phrase by Russian politician Viktor Chernomyrdin came to mind after learning that 87 members of the U.S. House of Representatives from 24 states issued a statement calling on the U.S. administration to pressure Azerbaijan “to ensure the collective, protected, and dignified return of forcibly displaced Armenians to their indigenous homeland of Nagorno Karabakh."

The very phrase "to pressure Azerbaijan" demonstrates the extreme detachment of the statement's authors from reality. After all, pressure was exerted on official Baku throughout all those years when 20% of the country's territory was under Armenian occupation. The notorious anti-Azerbaijani Section 907, adopted in the year when Armenian armed forces committed the Khojaly genocide and occupied the cities of Shusha and Lachin, is a vivid example of this.

Overall, for almost three decades, all three countries—the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group—have tried to force Azerbaijan to accept the occupation of its ancestral lands. All of this was presented as a necessity for official Baku to recognise the "established reality."

During a meeting with participants of the 3rd Shusha Global Media Forum, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, responding to a question from Ukrainian journalist Dmytro Gordon, elaborated on the issue in detail:

“The OSCE Minsk Group represented by its co-chairs was on the side of Armenia - each for their own reason, and each tried to make this situation last forever. And this status quo did not change. And even when we managed to push through some statement on behalf of the co-chair countries at the cost of incredible diplomatic effort, it was all disavowed again after some time [...] And a year before the process of negotiations, in which I participated from the end of 2003, for 17 years, there were a lot of proposals, a lot of meetings, maybe not entirely useful, and a lot of messages suggesting that we had to come to terms with this reality. So this was the reality. You have to come to terms with it. And when I said no, it was perceived as a challenge to the powers that be, it was perceived as some kind of inappropriate reaction. And the main narrative was this – well, you see, they don't agree, they are being offered something in exchange for giving conditional independence to separatists, but they don't agree.

All our arguments about international law, about the fact that the UN Security Council adopted four resolutions demanding the withdrawal of Armenian forces, about the fact that the Minsk Group co-chairs themselves voted for this resolution – all this crashed against the wall of arrogant lecturing that we should come to terms with reality. Okay. Then we decided that we would create new realities, and then you would come to terms with them.”

Azerbaijan, having achieved a historic victory in the 44-day Patriotic War and successfully conducting a one-day anti-terrorist operation in Karabakh, has indeed shaped a new geopolitical landscape in the South Caucasus region. And all must now reckon with this new reality.

Against this backdrop, the statement by 87 members of the U.S. House of Representatives from 24 states is nothing more than a political gesture, devoid of both legal and common sense.

It is yet another attempt to interfere in Azerbaijan’s sovereign affairs, based on blatant misinformation and outdated narratives, since the United States, like all other countries in the world, recognises the Karabakh region as part of Azerbaijan. Thus, the congressmen overlooked the fact that international law fully supports Baku, and no calls can change internationally recognised borders.

Moreover, in their deep concern for the fate of the Armenian population, they have forgotten that in September 2023, following the completion of the anti-terrorist operation, Armenians voluntarily left Karabakh despite Baku’s calls for them to stay and guarantees of all the rights enjoyed by Azerbaijani citizens. This was their collective decision, driven by fears instigated by Armenian propaganda.

To speak frankly, the “demand for justice” from the American congressmen looks very comical coming from those who, trampling international law under dirty boots, held the territories of a neighbouring country under occupation for nearly 30 years and ignored four UN Security Council resolutions, all while the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries silently acquiesced.

There is no doubt that this statement is the product of tireless efforts by the Armenian lobby in the United States, which has been funding certain congressmen for years. Moreover, the signatures on it mostly belong to politicians with a long history of loyalty to Armenian interests, while remaining completely unaware of the current realities of the South Caucasus. Accordingly, this statement automatically becomes a kind of report by the signatories to their Armenian sponsors and constituents.

However, these partisan American congressmen should understand that such initiatives are in blatant discord with the interests of the United States. Today, Azerbaijan is a reliable partner of the West in terms of energy security and transit corridors, and Washington actively supports efforts to establish peace in the South Caucasus. The attempt to urge the Trump administration to pressure the country is a strategic mistake and a Sisyphean labour for the aforementioned 87 gentlemen.