AZERBAIJANI POLITICAL EXPERT: JEWISH LOBBY WILL NOT BE INVOLVED IN CRAZY ARMENIAN ATTEMPTS IN U.S. CONGRESS

Today
66149.html
April 15 2010
Azerbaijan

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Armenia President
Serzh Sargsyan in Washington several days ago. How do you assess the
outcome of this?

Given that the parties hold different positions, an hour and a half
is not enough to ensure that countries share their views on certain
issues. But, taking into account the fact that the meeting took place
on the sidelines of an international conference, is a good sign.

As for the talks, I think they were limited to regular mutual claims
of the parties. But important is that U.S. President Barack Obama and
his emissaries were present in the talks. I think everything is clear.

Obama promised Ankara not to raise the issue of "Armenian genocide". I
think even Armenians have humbled to this. Instead, Washington wants
Ankara to make concessions in other important matters, particularly in
terms of Iran. In this case, to somehow satisfy Armenia’s demands,
the U.S. will try to achieve the Armenian-Turkish rapprochement
separately from the Karabakh issue.

It is obvious that efforts are made to coordinate positions in the
"road map" between Turkey and Armenia, which will influence the
Karabakh issue paving a way for progress in the Karabakh conflict
resolution which will now be carried out under direct patronage
of Washington.

After the meeting with Turkish PM, Armenian President met with
representatives of the Armenian Diaspora in the U.S. where he assured
them that Armenia will never make concessions in vital issues. What
is your assessment of this statement?

The Armenian Diaspora is one of the main tools to promote Armenia’s
interests in the world. Armenian president’s statements, though full
of standard Yerevan phrases, gives ground to say that Armenia has
been given a promise on principal matters.

Though Armenian lobby has strong influence in the U.S., it is not
enough to "push" bills through the House of Representatives. On what
forces do they count in this matter?

Lobbying is well known and debugged tool to protect one’s own interest
in the U.S. legislature. At different stages the Armenian lobby in
the United States has worked with both the Jewish and the Greek. Of
course, given the recent developments between Turkey and Israel,
relations between the two countries have been somewhat overshadowed.

But I think that despite this, the Jewish lobby in the U.S. will not
be involved in crazy Armenian attempts in the Congress. The same can
be said about the Greek lobby, which has always been distinguished
for its love for Armenians, who have problems with Turkey. I think
that Armenian lobby counts on their support.

Do you think the Armenian Diaspora is controlled by Yerevan or
vice versa?

It is difficult to give an unequivocal answer to this question. But
I still believe that these two should not be considered in isolation
from each other. There are two factors which should be noted.

First, Armenia is weak economically, and therefore largely depends
on its diaspora.

Secondly, ideology of Armenians has always been nurtured by their
diaspora since the Soviet period, when influence of the Armenian SSR
increased in Moscow thanks to the work of their diaspora. For example,
in 1948, Azerbaijanis were resettled from Armenia SSR under their
influence. In addition, many Soviet spies in the U.S. were Armenians.

In fact, the diaspora has always been the matrix of Armenians and
major idea-monger of paranoid dreams of creating a "Greater Armenia".