“Statements by the Armenian lobby and plans of the Committee on Foreign Relations of U.S. House of Representatives are not surprising. Even if the protocols are ratified by the parliaments of Turkey and Armenia, the Armenian lobby will still be forcing some members of Congress to put some sort of resolution to a vote in subcommittees, committees and plenary sessions.
The Armenian lobby cannot stop doing it because this kind of resolution is culmination of all their efforts,” Adil Bagirov, candidate of political sciences, the U.S. Azeris Network Executive Director said.
“Of course, the Committee on Foreign Relations may adopt this resolution. The Committee adopted a similar resolution in Oct. 2007. The U.S. will hold midterm elections next November. The Armenian diaspora promises its vote, financial input for the congressmen who would back their resolution. The chairman of a committee from the State of California also helps the Armenian lobby. If Armenians try hard, the resolution may even pass one chamber of Congress, as the Jewish lobby will not try to stop the Armenian lobby because of the known problems with the ruling AKP in Turkey and the ruling coalition in Israel which worsened last year.”
“However, over the past year, Turkish-Americans, as well as the Turkish government, were able to strengthen its lobby both through developig its diaspora and by hiring more powerful lobbying firms. It’s no secret that success in the U.S. political arena requires several instruments, including the hiring of professional lobbyists which is much cheaper. It is not surprising that almost all “favorites” countries of the of the Congress such as Taiwan, India, Korea, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Japan, the Netherlands, even Canada, the United Kingdom and the EU spend millions annually on lobbying the U.S. Congress,” Bagirov added.
“Apart from historical and moral reasons for which Azerbaijan and Azerbaijanis do not agree with the view of the Armenian lobby, one should not forget about economic and geostrategic ones. The more the Armenian lobby is engaged in unsuccessful promoting such resolution, the less money, time and energy it will have for other more important issues and projects. It would be difficult to Azerbaijan and Turkey if the Armenian lobby would not be spending a mere 70 percent of its resources on the resolution, but on something else. Also, if it had not been for such resolutions, there would be less interest in the history of Turkey and Azerbaijan,” Bagirov noted.
“Armenia succeeds to maintain good relations with Russia, the U.S., Iran Israel, India,China, Arab countries and Europe, the Turkic states of Central Asia and even with Turkey to some degree. If it were not for these resolutions, Turkey still would not have broadcasts of public radio and TV soon in Eastern Armenian language (official language of Armenia), there would be no chairs in Armenian language and history in Turkish universities, there would be no historical research and publications, as well as consolidation of the Turkic diaspora and joint resistance against the Armenian propaganda. So, one should thank the Armenian lobby for such unforeseen and unintended effect of strengthening, professionalizing and consolidation of the Turkic peoples, communities, diaspora and lobby,” Bagirov said.
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