YEREVAN (RFE/RL)–The U.S. State Department flatly denied on
Wednesday an Azerbaijani press report alleging that Washington
has threatened to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent
state unless Baku commits to a peaceful resolution of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani dispute.
The “Yeni Musavat” daily claimed that Deputy Assistant Secretary
of State Tina Kaidanow issued the warning during a recent visit
to the Azerbaijani capital. It cited Kaidanow as telling
Azerbaijani leaders that they should avoid attempting to win
back Karabakh by force or risk a formal U.S. recognition of the
region’s secession from Azerbaijan.
Terry Davidson, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Baku,
dismissed the report as “manufactured.” “She said nothing like
that,” Davidson said in a statement.
“Tina Kaidanow did speak at length about U.S. support for a
peaceful resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in an
interview with ANS TV,” he added. “In that interview, she said
‘I think it’s important to say right away that the United States
is very supportive of a peaceful and a just resolution of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.’”
Analysts also disputed the credibility of the report, saying
that it contradicted Karabakh-related policies of successive
U.S. administrations. Rasim Musabekov, a prominent Azerbaijani
pundit, suggested that it was an attempt by unspecified forces
to undermine Azerbaijan’s relations with the U.S.
“I don’t rule out that there are people not really interested in
the development of U.S.-Azerbaijani relations,” Musabekov told
RFE/RL’s Armenian service by phone.
He noted that the “Yeni Musavat” report coincided with a visit
to Washington by an Azerbaijani government delegation. The
delegation comprises senior Azerbaijani diplomats and security
officials.
