Aliyev: US actions 'seriously harm' Baku ties
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, in a phone call with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, expressed concern that recent US statements and actions have significantly harmed relations between Washington and Baku.
During their conversation on Monday night, Aliyev highlighted biased remarks about Azerbaijan made by US Assistant Secretary of State James O’Brien at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on November 15, 2023, which he said misrepresented the reality and were dismissed by Azerbaijan.
President Aliyev agreed to Blinken's request for O’Brien to visit Azerbaijan in December, on the condition that the US lift its baseless ban on visits by high-level Azerbaijani officials. Blinken accepted this condition. The discussion also covered bilateral relations and efforts to normalize ties between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Aliyev stressed Armenia's 70-day delay in responding to Azerbaijan's peace agreement draft, interpreting it as a tactic to prolong negotiations. He and Blinken exchanged views on the upcoming special commission meeting on November 30, focusing on the border delimitation at the Armenian-Azerbaijani "conditional border."
The relationship between the two former Soviet republics has been strained since 1991, following the Armenian military's occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh, internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan and seven adjacent regions. Azerbaijan regained most of this territory during the 2020 war, leading to a Russian-brokered peace agreement and the beginning of normalization efforts. Azerbaijan reasserted full sovereignty in Karabakh following a September "anti-terrorist operation" that led to the surrender of separatist forces in the region.
