Farid Shafiyev comments on resolution of House of Representatives of US Congress

"The resolution adopted by the US House of Representatives on October 29, 2019 regarding the events of 1915 in the Ottoman Empire is clearly politicized and therefore will not contribute to historical research, especially regarding the resettlement of Armenians during the First World War in modern Turkey, as well as any dialogue between Armenia and Turkey," Farid Shafiyev Chairman of the Board of Center for International Relations Analysis said commenting on the resolution adopted by the House of Representatives of the US Congress on the recognition of the so-called "Armenian genocide".

According to him, the decision adopted in a such moment- amid the US sanctions against Ankara, along with Turkey's military operations in Syria, further emphasizes the geopolitical nature of the resolution and distorts the historical context of the events:

"In general, it indicates that US foreign policy, is becoming increasingly dependent on the ethno-nationalist lobby in Washington, and on the other hand, it becomes transactional, unstable. This is partly the result of the fact that the main players in US domestic politics – the Republican and Democratic parties over the past thirty years have increasingly come under the influence of religious and ethno-nationalist factors, which, in my opinion, is fundamentally contrary to the long-term national interests of the United States, and in general the principles of democracy.

"If we consider the foreign policy nature of the resolution, it is likely to damage the deteriorating allied relations between the United States and Turkey, but more importantly, it will be an example of Washington's unstable short-term policy in the region. As far as the historical context is concerned, it is generally absurd that politicians with no professional historical background should decide on a problem that requires a purely scientific approach. Armenia and the Armenian lobby present the adoption of the resolution as a historic victory. In fact, the adoption of the document at this moment against the background what is happening in the region reveals the fact that, as in 1915, the Armenian question is used by the world powers as an instrument of foreign policy.

Against this background, it makes sense for Azerbaijan to demand more fundamentally from Western partners, whom Azerbaijan continues to make a certain contribution, to call things by their proper names - to recognize the ongoing occupation of Azerbaijani territories as aggression by the Republic of Armenia, and the tragic events of February 25, 1992 in Khojaly as genocide, " Shafiyev said.