The Hill, the U.S. Congress’s blog, has released NKR Office Advisor to the USA Aram Avetisyan’s response to Azerbaijani journalist Nasimi Aghayev’s editorial which, according to Avetisyan, was aimed at distracting readers, reports Tert.am.

Avetisyan mentions that the resolution adopted by the government of California supporting Artsakh’s independence and self-determination shows that California highly supports Artsakh contrary to Ilham Aliyev’s regime that spends years and millions of dollars to help the regime carry out its acts.

The author states that Aghayev has a reason to be concerned about the future of his country’s “caviar diplomacy” in California.

It is noted that the people of Artsakh took peaceful and democratic actions to relieve itself of the persecutions of Soviet Azerbaijan and that Azerbaijan was the one that chose war, which was the consequence of the Azerbaijani authorities’ inability to perceive the logic of decolonization.

“Today, the goal is to prevent future tragedies, but it’s painful to see that Aliyev’s regime doesn’t share that goal. This is seen not only in the rhetoric of hatred against the Armenians, but also through the persecutions against Azerbaijanis expressing the desire for peace,” Avetisyan says.

Touching upon Aghayev’s allegations, the author brings counterarguments. Azerbaijan hasn’t been complying with the resolutions of the UN Security Council for the past 20 years. Azerbaijan also doesn’t comply with the demand of the USA and the international community to call its snipers back from the line of contact.

The Azerbaijani authorities’ attempt to present the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as a territorial dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan is against the 1994 ceasefire signed by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh, which clearly shows that this is a trilateral format.

According to the author, the negotiations aren’t fruitful since Azerbaijan refuses to return to the format that existed prior to 1998 when the NKR was participating in the negotiations.

The author also notes that Aghayev’s attempt to present his country as “an example of success in the post-Soviet era” is absurd. It’s typical and ridiculous for the Aliyev administration’s rhetoric as the corrupt regime enjoys the goods ensured by petrol sales and punishes citizens for making comments on Facebook, has nearly 100 political prisoners and pressures human rights activists and NGOs in spite of the criticism from the USA and the international community. Avetisyan also reminds readers about the threatening sanctions against Azerbaijan and notes that this can rarely be considered an example of success that deserves to be followed.

Avetisyan expresses gratitude to California for understanding the mentioned facts and to the U.S. Congress for providing great assistance to Artsakh.