What did President Aliyev and US Secretary of State Blinken really talk about?
Blinken and Aliyev’s phone conversation
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has held a telephone conversation Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. The parties discussed several issues of mutual interest. But the US State Department’s information about this telephone conversation is very different from that published by the Azerbaijani media. So, what did Blinken and Aliyev really talk about?
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American version
A US State Department report on the conversation states:
“Secretary of State Anthony J. Blinken met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev today.
Secretary Blinken stressed the continued importance of the US-Azerbaijan bilateral partnership and the US commitment to promoting a peaceful, democratic, and prosperous future for the South Caucasus region.
Amid the recent reports of escalation between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces, the Secretary of State urged the parties to exercise restraint and intensify diplomatic engagement to find comprehensive solutions to all outstanding issues.
He also stressed the importance of respecting human rights and fundamental freedoms in Azerbaijan.
The Secretary of State stressed the US commitment, along with other partners, to continue to hold Moscow and its supporters, including the Lukashenka regime in Belarus, accountable for the Kremlin’s unprovoked and unjustified war against Ukraine”.
Azerbaijani version
The Azerbaijani state news agency AzərTAc presented an official report on this telephone conversation as follows:
“On March 15, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.
During the conversation, an exchange of views was held on issues related to the post-conflict period in the South Caucasus region, including the normalization process between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
During the telephone conversation, issues of regional security were also discussed.
United States Secretary of State Anthony Blinken thanked Azerbaijan for providing humanitarian assistance to Ukraine”.
In comparison with the American version of the information about the telephone conversation, the Azeri version “disappeared” the points about the observance of human rights in Azerbaijan and the last paragraph about the attitude of the United States and its partners towards Russia and Belarus.
Expert commentary
JAMnews turned to political scientist Shahin Jafarli for comment on the difference in reports of the same telephone conversation.
According to our interlocutor, Blinken’s calls to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan were made in the nature of a warning from the United States:
“The United States and other Western countries have imposed quite serious economic sanctions against Russia and Belarus due to the ongoing war of occupation in Ukraine. The West fears that Russia will circumvent these sanctions with the help of some post-Soviet countries, through their banking structures. I note that this way of circumventing sanctions is quite legal, and therefore Blinken warned Baku and Yerevan about the inadmissibility of such steps.
Regarding the difference in the reports of the State Department and the government media of Azerbaijan, official Baku does not want speculation on this topic and, where possible, blocks information about this part of the telephone conversation”.
In response to our question: “Yesterday, Azerbaijani politician Azer Gasimly said that after the war in Ukraine, Baku will not have the opportunity for a balanced policy between the Kremlin and the West. How would you comment on this statement?”, Jafarli replied:
“I agree with this point of view. If Russia fails to achieve its stated goals in Ukraine, it will lose its status as a world power and, at best, turn into a regional leader. Under such circumstances, the power and influence of the West will be decisive for our region, and it will be difficult to ignore this”.
