US fuels Armenian revanchism Baku remains vigilant

The United States Senate Committee on Appropriations has approved a number of measures, including the fiscal year (FY) 2025 State Foreign Operations Bill, which provides $65 million in aid to Armenia. The Armenian Assembly of America cheerfully reports this.

“We welcome the support for the Armenian people by the Senate Committee on Appropriations,” said the Assembly Congressional Relations Director Mariam Khaloyan.

She said the inclusion of at least $65 million in aid to Armenia is much needed as “Armenia continues to face major challenges following the 2020 war and the influx of more than 100,000 Armenians who were expelled from their homeland.”

Of course, we should not have expected any other speeches from the lady from the Armenian Assembly of America, except for the usual false narratives and misinformation. She continues to use in her speech the myth about “Artsakh”, which is called the “homeland of Armenians”. She does not mention that the US has never recognised any “Artsakh”. Nor does she mention that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and other representatives of official Yerevan have repeatedly recognised the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, including the Karabakh region and enclaves.

She is also silent about the fact that for many years Armenia ignored the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly demanding the immediate withdrawal of all Armenian illegal armed formations from the temporarily occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan has been offering Armenia a peaceful solution to the conflict for a very long time. There was also an offer of the highest status of autonomy. But official Yerevan refused all this. Armenia was sure that time was working for it.

All the rulers of Armenia, including the current Armenian authorities, had this confidence. It was because of this confidence that former Armenian Defence Minister David Tonoyan boasted that a new war with Azerbaijan would lead to the occupation of new lands of the country, and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan shouted that “Karabakh is Armenia, and period”.

All this led to a 44-day war in which the enemy was crushed, and the sacred Azerbaijani tricolor was raised in Shusha and other corners of the country liberated from Armenian occupation.

But even after this the Armenian authorities continued to finance and arm the Karabakh junta. This, in turn, made the anti-terrorist operation in Karabakh inevitable. Thus, Azerbaijan fully restored its sovereignty and territorial integrity. It restored it despite the stance of the world's leading powers and the OSCE Minsk Group.

We remember everything. Including the fact that the United States was the country that did not impose any sanctions against Armenia for the genocide in Khojaly, for turning Aghdam into a “Caucasian Hiroshima”, for the occupation of 20 per cent of Azerbaijan's territory, for the illegal settlement of Azerbaijani lands by Armenians from Syria and other countries.

On the contrary, in the year of the occupation of Shusha and the genocide in Khojaly, the US introduced the shameful amendment to Article 907. In addition, the United States provided annual financial assistance to the Karabakh junta. This was done quite openly. And this step has been, continues to be, and will remain proof of the hypocrisy of the White House.

Another example of which we see today. During his visit to Yerevan on July 25, Louis Bono, the US State Department's Senior Advisor for Caucasus Negotiations, accompanied by the United States Ambassador to Armenia Kristina Kvien, met with high-ranking Armenian officials.

“Now is the time for a peace agreement that will unlock the social and economic potential of the South Caucasus,” the US Embassy in Armenia said in a statement following these meetings.

And here we see an example of how the US is “preparing the ground” for a peace agreement between Baku and Yerevan. It is financing a country that has committed a huge number of crimes, which has ignored UN resolutions without being punished for it.

US Under Secretary of State Uzra Zeya, who recently paid a working visit to Armenia, said that a representative of the US Army will work in the Armenian Defence Ministry. He has already been selected and will start working this year.

These are the steps we see on the part of the United States. These are steps towards a new war, not towards peace. And the Ministry of Defence of Azerbaijan has clearly and unambiguously warned about this.

“The military exercises conducted by the United States in Armenia, the provision of lethal weapons to Armenia by France, and the initial phase of military aid in amount of ten million euros provided to Armenia by the European Union under the guise of the European Peace Facility encourage the occupying state - Armenia to carry out such provocations and indicate its preparation for another war against Azerbaijan,” said a statement by the ministry.

And here we see yet another proof that official Baku's claims are correct. The United States is taking steps to fuel Armenian revanchism. This, in the words of a classic, is more than a crime. It is a mistake. It may cost the US the loss of the remnants of trust in the South Caucasus region. And for Armenia, all of this could turn into a new military fiasco that would cast doubt on the existence of this country.