That’s not surprising, given that the US is like every other country in not recognizing Artsakh as a sovereign entity; the only “country” that does is Transnistria. How can you recognize elections of a head of government when you don’t recognize the government?
This is essentially non-news, it doesn’t change anything, it doesn’t indicate a shift in US policy or approval by the US of Azerbaijan’s action in regard to Nagorno-Karabakh. It just… is.
>QUESTION: No. Okay. Last question on housekeeping again. The Secretary spoke with President Aliyev of Azerbaijan on September 1st, and it some sort of urgent call, because he was traveling, he raised concerns about what was going on. And the State Department came out with a readout on September 6th, six days after that. That did not speak urgency. Why?
>
>MR MILLER: So separate and apart from the question of when a readout that was over a holiday weekend might have come out, I think if you want to speak to the urgency that the department has shown to this matter, look not just to the conversation that the Secretary had then, but that the Secretary spoke with the leaders of both Armenia and Azerbaijan over the weekend while he was traveling – one call from New Delhi, one call from Hanoi.
>
>It is a – and I think I’ll speak directly to the situation, because it is something that the Secretary has personally been involved in while he was on international travel and, of course, the Acting Assistant Secretary Kim has been involved in, and others. **We are deeply concerned about the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. We repeat our call, as the Secretary did in a statement over the weekend, for the immediate and simultaneous opening of the Lachin and Aghdam routes to allow passage of desperately needed humanitarian supplies to the men and women and children in Nagorno-Karabakh.** We urge the leaders, as the Secretary did in his calls, against taking any actions that raise tensions or distract from this goal.
>
>And I will say, in addition, we have consistently stressed this need for open – to open routes in Nagorno-Karabakh and for a dialogue between the parties. **While it is important that Nagorno-Karabakh have credible representatives for this process, as we have said in the past, we do not recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent and sovereign state, and therefore we do not recognize the results of those so-called presidential elections that were announced over the last few days.**
>
>So I will say that the United States will continue to strongly support efforts by Armenia and Azerbaijan to resolve outstanding issues through direct dialogue, and that’s why Secretary Blinken and Senior Advisor for Caucasus Negotiations Lou Bono have been consistently engaged, and we will stay consistently engaged on this question.
It is as others said. This is not a gotcha moment. By virtue of it not being recognized as an independent and sovereign state, by default the elections are not recognized (since recognizing them would mean you do recognize them as a sovereign and independent state). This is not a change in policy or what have you.
5 comments
[Link to the video](https://twitter.com/azcanet/status/1701343729464799658)
edit: update the link
That’s not surprising, given that the US is like every other country in not recognizing Artsakh as a sovereign entity; the only “country” that does is Transnistria. How can you recognize elections of a head of government when you don’t recognize the government?
This is essentially non-news, it doesn’t change anything, it doesn’t indicate a shift in US policy or approval by the US of Azerbaijan’s action in regard to Nagorno-Karabakh. It just… is.
>QUESTION: No. Okay. Last question on housekeeping again. The Secretary spoke with President Aliyev of Azerbaijan on September 1st, and it some sort of urgent call, because he was traveling, he raised concerns about what was going on. And the State Department came out with a readout on September 6th, six days after that. That did not speak urgency. Why?
>
>MR MILLER: So separate and apart from the question of when a readout that was over a holiday weekend might have come out, I think if you want to speak to the urgency that the department has shown to this matter, look not just to the conversation that the Secretary had then, but that the Secretary spoke with the leaders of both Armenia and Azerbaijan over the weekend while he was traveling – one call from New Delhi, one call from Hanoi.
>
>It is a – and I think I’ll speak directly to the situation, because it is something that the Secretary has personally been involved in while he was on international travel and, of course, the Acting Assistant Secretary Kim has been involved in, and others. **We are deeply concerned about the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. We repeat our call, as the Secretary did in a statement over the weekend, for the immediate and simultaneous opening of the Lachin and Aghdam routes to allow passage of desperately needed humanitarian supplies to the men and women and children in Nagorno-Karabakh.** We urge the leaders, as the Secretary did in his calls, against taking any actions that raise tensions or distract from this goal.
>
>And I will say, in addition, we have consistently stressed this need for open – to open routes in Nagorno-Karabakh and for a dialogue between the parties. **While it is important that Nagorno-Karabakh have credible representatives for this process, as we have said in the past, we do not recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent and sovereign state, and therefore we do not recognize the results of those so-called presidential elections that were announced over the last few days.**
>
>So I will say that the United States will continue to strongly support efforts by Armenia and Azerbaijan to resolve outstanding issues through direct dialogue, and that’s why Secretary Blinken and Senior Advisor for Caucasus Negotiations Lou Bono have been consistently engaged, and we will stay consistently engaged on this question.
It is as others said. This is not a gotcha moment. By virtue of it not being recognized as an independent and sovereign state, by default the elections are not recognized (since recognizing them would mean you do recognize them as a sovereign and independent state). This is not a change in policy or what have you.
Kosovo?
Source: https://www.state.gov/briefings/department-press-briefing-september-11-2023/
TL;DR fuck the U.S. and fuck the West. Why was Kosovo any different?