ANCA: U.S. officials acting like surrogates for the Azerbaijani Embassy

PanARMENIAN.Net - Bush Administration officials continued to press forward their new, more aggressive position against freedom for Nagorno Karabakh, citing, as recently as today in Yerevan, that a resolution of this longstanding conflict must proceed from the principle of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity, while remaining conspicuously silent on the core American value of self-determination, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) said in a statement received by PanARMENIAN.Net



"Over the past several weeks, since the time of Vice President Dick Cheney's early September visit to Azerbaijan, the Administration has rolled back any mention of self-determination, eliminating any reference to this core international legal and democratic principle from its diplomatic vocabulary. Speaking in Baku, the Vice President - echoing Azerbaijan's negotiating stand - said that a Nagorno Karabakh settlement "must proceed" from the principle of territorial integrity and only "take into account other principles."



As recently as earlier today, in Armenia, Assistant Secretary of State Dan Fried repeated the newly formulated U.S. stand that a Nagorno Karabakh settlement must start from the principle of "territorial integrity," although he did concede that there were "other established norms," an apparent reference to democracy and self-determination, which he carefully avoided naming.



In a January 19, 2008 statement, Presidential candidate Barack Obama pleged that, if elected, he would work for "a lasting and durable settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict that is agreeable to all parties, and based upon America's founding commitment to the principles of democracy and self determination."



In recent weeks we've seen Bush Administration officials, from Dick Cheney down to Matt Bryza, abandon even the pretense of a balanced, honest-broker role for the United States in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.



In public statements, here in Washington and in Baku, they've gone over the top - even by their standards - in siding with Azerbaijan's efforts to retake Nagorno Karabakh.



Dick Cheney said in Baku that his Administration prioritizes the principle of territorial integrity, which he's conveniently and consistently misapplied to the Nagorno Karabakh issue, over the basic American ideal of self-determination.



Matt Bryza has said that, as a precondition for peace, Armenia must accept that Nagorno Karabakh remains legally part of Azerbaijan.



These comments would have put the Administration on the side of the British during the American Revolution.



-- Pressuring our Founding Fathers not to challenge the British Empire's territorial integrity.



-- Urging them to hold off on signing the Declaration of Independence because the colonies rightfully remained legally part of a foreign power.



In their last months in office, these officials are acting a lot less like responsible stewards of U.S. policy and more like surrogates for the Azerbaijani Embassy, it's K Street lobbyists, and energy industry allies.



It's no coincidence that Azerbaijan's President, hearing this outright cheerleading from Washington, has pledged an all out political, economic, and military offensive against Armenia.



America stands for something better than defending Stalin's borders or Azerbaijan's desire to re-subjugate a free people. Something better than trading in our core values of self-determination, democracy, and human right



We stand - as Americans - for the proposition that democracy can serve as the only durable foundation for lasting peace; for the fundamentally American ideal that all people deserve the right to live free of foreign tyranny -to live under a government of their own choosing," the statement says.