Fuad Huseynaliyev: US continues general rhetoric of Western countries directed against Azerbaijan

The US continues the general anti-Azerbaijani rhetoric initiated by Western countries in order to weaken Russia’s influence in the South Caucasus region, Fuad Huseynaliyev, director of Report News Agency, told CBC TV channel.

“Washington today continues the general rhetoric of Western countries directed against Azerbaijan. We saw this from France, then the EU got involved, and now the US. In particular, the West has concentrated on clearly knocking Russia out of Armenia and, possibly, from the whole region,” he said.

Huseynaliyev noted that Western countries are using the situation around the already resolved Karabakh conflict to achieve this goal.

“They accuse Russia of betraying and not supporting Armenia. Although how could they support Armenia? After all, Azerbaijan took absolutely all steps on its sovereign territory, within internationally recognized borders. Azerbaijan’s sovereignty was recognized by all international organizations,” he said.

The director of the news agency called it noteworthy that there are contradictions in recent statements by US officials.

“For example, yesterday’s statement by [State Department spokesperson Matthew] Miller is not very consistent with previous statements by [Assistant Secretary of the State for European and Eurasian Affairs James] O’Brien, who accused Azerbaijan of almost all mortal sins. This indicates the absence communications between some links in the State Department and the US leadership,” Huseynaliyev said.

He added that the US has chosen the path of confrontation with Azerbaijan, the leading country in the South Caucasus, while forgetting about many years of mutual cooperation and support from Baku in various important issues.

“Azerbaijan was one of the base countries through which the US carried out operations in Afghanistan. In addition, Baku has always supported operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries at the international level,” he said.

Huseynaliyev stressed that Azerbaijan still stands for the development of ties with countries that are aimed at equal and mutually beneficial cooperation.