AEI: One of the world’s most authoritarian dictatorships tries to subjugate Nagorno-Karabakh to its rule
Senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute Michael
Rubin published an article on the blockade of the Lachin corridor and the
continuing famine caused by the illegal Azerbaijani blockade.
The author recalled U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken
quoting U.S. President Biden on famine. As Biden put it, if parents cannot feed
their children, nothing else matters. In this regard, Rubin said that it was
symptomatic of his cynicism that Blinken ignored the famine underway in
Artsakh.
However, Rubin also noted that not everyone ignores the
crisis. He referred to Former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal
Court (ICC) Luis Moreno Ocampo’s report where Azerbaijan’s actions are labelled
an act of Genocide.
“Aliyev argues Nagorno-Karabakh is Azerbaijani
territory, and that its residents must be subordinate to his rule, one of the
world’s most authoritarian dictatorships. For too long, the State Department
has deferred to Aliyev’s claim of sovereignty. U.S. recognition of Azerbaijani
sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh upon Azerbaijan’s renewed independence was
never cut-and-dry; rather, recognition of sovereignty over the region depended
upon Azerbaijan’s agreement to peaceful resolution of the dispute and balancing
principles of territorial integrity and self-determination. Even if Blinken
bullies Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan into renouncing Armenian claims
over the region, Pashinyan has neither the right nor the ability to forfeit
residents’ legal rights to self-determination,” the author noted.
Rubin demanded that the U.S. authorities not fund Azerbaijan
anymore as it perpetrates ethnic cleansing. Instead, he called on them to send
trucks flying the American flag to the Lachin corridor under the observation of
the U.S. diplomats. According to the author, if Azerbaijan refuses to allow the
flow of relief supplies to Nagorno-Karabakh, the U.S. must impose sanctions on
Azerbaijan and recall its ambassador.
