Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, October/November 1997, Pages 64-65

Diplomatic Doings

Azerbaijani President's Visit Makes Waves in Washington

Azerbaijani President Geidar Aliyev's first-ever visit to the United States in late July generated a remarkable amount of mostly positive media coverage and mostly negative activism. The former resulted from good public relations work fueled by Azerbaijan's oil potential, the latter from the activities of Armenian Americans, America's third most effective (after the Israelis and Greeks) ethnic lobby.

On July 29 an estimated 150 picketers lined Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the Willard Hotel, where a reception was held for the Azerbaijani president, chanting, holding placards, and beating oil drum barrels for several hours. Meanwhile, President Aliyev was meeting with congressmembers on Capitol Hill to ask that they rescind Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act which bans U.S. aid to Azerbaijan. The demonstration was organized by the Armenian National Committee of America, representing 1.5 million Armenian Americans.

At the rally, ANCA chairman Mourad Topalian read a letter from Armenian President Levon Der-Petrossian accusing Aliyev of implementing an "evil program" to annihilate the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The conflict over the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, an area within Azerbaijan, began in 1992 when the ethnic Armenian majority there proclaimed its autonomy after democratically electing its own governing body. Since then the residents of Nagorno-Karabakh have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory in order to link Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia. For their part, the Azeris have imposed a blockade on Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh since 1988. With Turkey's cooperation, the blockade has largely cut the Armenians off from the world.

The demonstrators focused on the issue of self-determination for the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, and advocated ending the blockade, banning participation in Azeri oil deals until peace has been made between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan, and continuing the congressional ban on U.S. aid to Azerbaijan.

Representative Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ) spoke at the demonstration, arguing that Aliyev heads a dictatorial regime and refuses to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh's autonomy. Furthermore, he said, "The State Department should not be sold for oil."

Pallone supported blocking aid to Azerbaijan for several reasons, namely, Aliyev's history as a KGB general, his support of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and his coming to power in 1993 through a military coup that ousted the elected president of Azerbaijan and repressed the political opposition. Aliyev was also a member of the USSR's Politburo and was dismissed on corruption allegations in 1989, Pallone said.

Among those attending the Willard Hotel reception for President Aliyev were Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, who stood behind the Azerbaijani leader during his speech. Other guests at events on the Azeri president's schedule included former Secretary of State Gen. Alexander Haig and former national security advisers Zbigniew Brzezinski and Brent Scowcroft.

—Elyse Semerdjian