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Conference on geopolitics in Caspian Sea Azerbaijan-US ally held in Washington
“The Washington Times newspaper” has organized a conference on geopolitics in Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan-US ally.
The event saw speeches by Azerbaijan`s Ambassador to US Elin Suleymanov Chairman of the Milli Majlis Committee for International Relations and Interparliamentary Ties, head of the Azerbaijani delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Samad Seyidov and MP Asim Mollazade.
The former Soviet Union member country — bordered by Russia to the north, Iran to the south and the Caspian Sea to the east — holds the rights to significant oil and gas reserves, which it has opened to foreign investors from Europe and the United States via the Southern Gas Corridor.
“We are talking about the essence of the strategic vision of the United States of America, about this corridor. This is not a corridor of gas and oil; this is a corridor of freedom,” Samad Seyidov, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of Azerbaijan’s parliament, told the forum.
Elin Suleymanov, Azerbaijan’s ambassador to the United States, explained that without an overall strategy, the U.S. is wasting efforts to fix a crop of smaller problems in the region.
“Unfortunately in the western world, especially from Europe, we see existence of these double standards. I’m talking about different approaches to the same kind of conflicts,” Mr. Seyidov said. “Nobody even thinks about sanctions against Armenia that did the same crime against a neighboring country.”
Mr. Seyidov argued that if Western nations continued to pick and choose which countries were subject to international law, then aggressors would continue to violate those laws without fear of retaliation.
“If we are thinking about normalizing relationships in the world, we should restore international law.” Mr. Seyidov said. “We should implement the same requirements for those who violated international law.”
Mr. Suleymanov and Mr. Seyidov both stressed that U.S. allies in the region needed reassurance that the U.S. would continue to provide support against Armenia. The conflict has led to the deaths of tens of thousands of people since fighting began in the late 1980s, and displaced more than 1 million, many of whom have been living as refugees for more than 20 years.
“The bigger issue is if the United States is committed to its friends, if it works with them to reinforce the partnerships. Then they feel more secure and the discussions and conflicts are resolved in a much more peaceful manner,” Mr. Suleymanov said.