Vain attempt of pro-Armenian lobbyists in US Congress to raise a ghost of OSCE MG All the old faces

Taking advantage of the events of recent days caused by the environmental terror of the top of the separatist regime in Karabakh and the illegal actions of the Russian peacekeepers temporarily stationed there, the Armenian propaganda machine spreading the following fake news: "Baku has blocked the gas supply from Armenia to Khankendi through the territory of Azerbaijan"; "the Lachin corridor is closed, and more than 120 thousand people living in Karabakh Armenians found themselves in the blockade", etc.

This kind of Yerevan agitation campaign aims to expose Baku to the whole world not only as the military and political aggressor but also as the direct organizer of economic and humanitarian terror against the Karabakh Armenians. Yerevan's attempts to draw the attention of the international community to the Karabakh events have only one reason - the desire to keep a good face while playing foul. As always, the Armenian authorities also rely on the support of bought and paid American politicians and French MPs lobbying for Armenians' interests.

This time, too, according to Armenian media reports, Congressmen Adam Schiff, Frank Pallone, Gus Bilirakis, Jackie Speier, and David Valadao have already rallied to the defence of the "universal sufferers" and "condemned the blockage by brutal Azerbaijanis" of the only road connecting Karabakh to Armenia.

"We condemn Azerbaijan's aggressive actions in Karabakh. The blockade of the Lachin corridor appears to be coordinated and aimed at closing the only remaining route for most of the food, medicine, and transport, as well as other essential goods, not to mention further restricting the freedom of movement of Karabakh residents," the Armenian news agency writes.

Curiously, a defunct structure - the OSCE Minsk Group - suddenly pops up in the address of the US congressmen. "We call on the United States and our European partners to use all diplomatic tools at their disposal to stop this clearly fabricated crisis created by Azerbaijan, to bring Azerbaijan back to the negotiating table through the OSCE Minsk Group and other multilateral peace processes, and to ensure that the people of Karabakh are included in these discussions," the statement reads.

Is it possible that the Armenian lobbyists in the US are again gripped by the epidemic of absurdity, and they are calling on the MGs to help Armenians? Otherwise, the speeches of Schiff, Pallone, and others are totally devoid of logic and sense. Firstly, it is because the OSCE Minsk Group is a completely outdated negotiating format that neither Washington, Moscow nor Paris will be able to revive, no matter how much Armenians all over the world dream about it. Secondly, although each of the three member countries of the Minsk Group has considerably intensified its efforts in the negotiations between Baku and Yerevan. There is also Brussels, which, like all the other mediators, would like to play a key role in the Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations. At the same time, for example, the Russian approach to the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations in no way foresees the resumption of the negotiating format of the OSCE MG. Consequently, this hackneyed topic is nothing but the pushing the Armenian interests by the pro-Armenian lobbyists in the US Congress. Their appeals to "include the people of Karabakh in the discussions" in the current post-conflict period are also devoid of any logic.

Despite their obvious political lameness, the Armenian authorities are nevertheless trying in every way to push their interests from the rostrum of authoritative international organizations. Thus, the other day in Paris at the meeting of the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Azerbaijani parliamentarians prevented another provocation of Armenia. The head of the Armenian delegation Rubinyan tried to slander Azerbaijan from the rostrum of PACE, distorting the essence of the recent events on the road Shusha-Khankendi, and misleading the representatives of Europe. However, he failed.

It should be noted that this is not the only blunder of the Armenian side on the platform of this structure. In November 2016, the provocation of Armenian MP Armen Rustamyan, who began to convince the participants of the meeting that in the report of the committee chairman and rapporteur Stefan Schennak the expression "Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied territories" does not correspond to the internationally agreed definition, was prevented. But when the Chairman of the Monitoring Committee put the amendment proposed by the Armenian side for an open vote, it was rejected by the majority of PACE members. And it was Baku's diplomatic success on the European platform.

As for the well-known pro-Armenian congressmen, they have been quite successful in lobbying for the interests of Armenia. Especially revealing in this respect is the provocative activity of Congresswoman Jackie Speier (Kanchelyan), the only woman with Armenian roots in the US Parliament, who, a week after the visit of a Congressional delegation headed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Armenia in September of this year, introduced a legislative initiative "condemning the war crimes" of Azerbaijan in Armenia and "Artsakh". She is also the initiator of a resolution to hold Baku accountable and advocate for sanctions against it. Speier's pro-Armenian initiatives were supported by Congressmen Frank Pallone, Adam Schiff, and Anna Eshoo, who are now very active in representing Armenian interests in the US Congress.

It is not surprising that these same congressmen are making provocative decisions against Türkiye as well, such as Frank Pallone, the author of the bill on the resolution recognizing the "Armenian genocide". It was he who at one time zealously campaigned for "genocide" recognition, and in 2019, the US House of Representatives approved such a resolution by a majority vote.

However, the reality is that the presence of an anti-Azerbaijani and anti-Turkish factor in the US Congress has almost no effect on official Washington's policy towards Baku and Ankara, which serves as a strong argument for the development of US-Turkish and US-Azerbaijani relations.