US House rep: Time to refocus on Artsakh

When the Soviet Union broke apart twenty years ago, simmering ethnic and regional conflicts that had been suppressed for decades reemerged with great suddenness. Concentrated in the Caucasus, the fighting has ebbed and flowed over the years, with several of the conflicts left unresolved, or “frozen,” as American and European policymakers have been preoccupied with crises in the Middle East and South Asia, and economic woes at home.

The most bitter of these clashes, and the one most likely to flare anew, is the standoff between Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh or “Artsakh,” an almost exclusively Armenian area that was placed under Azerbaijani administration in 1923 by the Soviet Government, despite centuries of cultural, linguistic and religious ties to Armenia.

Since 1992, the United States, France and Russia have spearheaded international efforts to mediate the impasse through the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s “Minsk Group.” Despite repeated efforts, including a renewed declaration of purpose by the three co-chairs in May 2012, the process has been stalled by repeated Azerbaijani demands for preconditions and added pressure on the Armenian side.

The Aliyev government, for its part, by so publicly embracing a confessed murderer, has deliberately provoked all Armenians and defied the rule of law – while at the same time foreclosing any progress towards a resolution of the status of Artsakh in the foreseeable future. Azerbaijan’s transgression must carry a price, but it should also serve to remind us of the pressing need to ensure the rights of the Artsakh people to determine their own destiny.

I have long supported self-determination for the people of Nagorno-Karabakh and I believe that unless the United States and its Minsk Group partners take concerted efforts to resolve the status of Nagorno-Karabakh in a way that reflects the will of the people of Artsakh, the prospect for renewed fighting and horrific casualties will grow. It is in everybody’s interest to see this matter settled and it should be a diplomatic priority for 2013.

Years of fighting and economic isolation have left Nagorno-Karabakh seriously underdeveloped. With the assistance of the Armenian-American community, I have been pressing for USAID to devote more assistance to Artsakh. While I have succeeded in getting the amount for next year more than doubled (to $5 million) in the State Department funding bill pending in the House of Representatives, the need is much greater and more aid will be necessary.

Building a strong, independent Artsakh is only half of the equation, however. Azerbaijan must also be reminded that the price for its actions is high. Azerbaijan treasures the security assistance that it receives from Washington, not because it needs the money (it does not), but because it signifies a certain closeness in the bilateral relationship. By cutting off military aid to Azerbaijan, the United States would signal its disgust with the Safarov affair, while also reminding Aliyev that the United States will not tolerate any acts of aggression against Armenia or Artsakh.

The people of Artsakh – overwhelmingly Armenian and overwhelmingly Christian – cannot be allowed to fall into the hands of Aliyev. By celebrating a murderer, he and his country have shown the world their true nature and made a compelling case for hastening full recognition of independent Artsakh.