U.S. says “has no business” convincing Baku about Armenia meeting

PanARMENIAN.Net - Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs James O’Brien believes it is not the United State’s business to convince Azerbaijan about a trilateral meeting between Armenia, the European Union and the U.S..

O’Brien made the remarks in a press conference on Friday, April 5 when a journalist from Azerbaijan remarked that the U.S. “spent the entire week to convince Azerbaijani side” that the meeting is not about them. In particular, Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev has said on numerous occasions that the trilateral meeting was aimed at isolating his country.

“We have been very clear about what we intended to do, we have done exactly as we said, and I think that doing what one promises is how trust gets built,” O’Brien said.

“So that is, I see, the way forward, not about a set of arguments or discussions. But we are very open in discussing our plans with the governments of the region so that there are no surprises, and we feel very good about that process in this case. We’ll always endeavor to do that better if we need to.

“But I think you’d have to ask people in Azerbaijan why they do what they do. Our position is simply that we’re supporting the choices that Armenia’s people have made, and we’ll continue to do that in a way that promotes the peace and security and prosperity of the region as a whole. So we’ve been very clear and we’ll stay with our own statements.”

O’Brien reiterated that the meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell was aimed at boosting Armenia’s resillience.

“The Secretary and President von der Leyen, High Representative Borrell, all began by emphasizing that we strongly support Armenia’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity,” he added.

“We also noted our admiration for the democratic transformation in Armenia since the 2018 Velvet Revolution. We’ve seen substantial reforms and efforts to build a global economy and a political system that will reflect the democratic aspirations of the people of Armenia. So our goal is to continue that.”