The American Conservative: How Baku is lobbying U.S. to sanitize its war

PanARMENIAN.Net - Azerbaijan is actively lobbying Washington to sanitize its war and convince beltway elites that Armenia is the aggressor, according to an article published on The American Conservative, amid hostilities unleashed by Azerbaijan against the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Well-armed and financed Azerbaijan is receiving assistance from Turkey, an American ally. Turkish drones and jets have been exacting civilian casualties on Armenians, and as TAC previously reported, Armenians are in danger of ethnic cleansing once again.

In recent years, the article says, Azerbaijan has ramped up its public relations campaign, employing not one but six of K Street’s heavy-hitting firms, including the Livingston Group, Stellar Jay Communications, BGR, the Podesta Group, and DLA Piper. Last year the country spent $1.3 million on lobbying.

For years, it turns out, lobbyists on the dime of Azerbaijan have met with universities, think tanks, and members of Congress. While oil-rich Azerbaijan’s lobbying slowed after 2016 due to the collapse of its currency, Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) documents reveal a flurry of recent activity aimed at convincing Washington elites that Armenia is the aggressor and that the U.S. should favor Azerbaijan in the conflict.

"Azerbaijan’s hired K Street guns are distributing what are euphemistically referred to in FARA documents as “informational materials.” These materials could be more accurately described as propaganda." the article says.

"These documents are sanitizing Azerbaijan’s role in the conflict and paint Armenia as the aggressor. Even as Azerbaijan carries out a campaign against the Armenian population that might presage another ethnic cleansing, the U.S. continues to supply Azerbaijan and Turkey with millions of dollars in weapons and security assistance."

The article also highlights Turkey's role in the recent flare-up, with Ankara even going so far as to send jihadist fighters from Syria to aid Azerbaijan. Armenia’s prime minister Nikol Pashinyan has charged that the U.S. is doing nothing to stop its ally Turkey from using American-made F-16 jets against ethnic Armenians in Karabakh.

Azerbaijan, with help from Turkey, launched a large-scale offensive against Karabakh (Artsakh) in the morning of September 27, shelling Armenian positions and civilian settlements with large caliber weapons and rocket systems. Armenia and Karabakh have introduced martial law and total mobilization. The Armenian side has reported deaths and injuries both among the civilian population and the military. International and local journalists too have been injured in Azeri shelling of towns and villages, as well as the iconic Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in Shushi. Before a humanitarian ceasefire could begin on October 10, Azerbaijan launched a new offensive and struck settlements both in Karabakh and Armenia.