Azerbaijan–United States relations

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United States – Azerbaijan relations
Map indicating locations of Azerbaijan and USA

Azerbaijan

United States
Diplomatic mission
Embassy of Azerbaijan, Washington, D.C.Embassy of the United States, Baku
Envoy
Ambassador Khazar Ibrahim[1]Ambassador Mark W. Libby[2]
Embassy of Azerbaijan in Washington, D.C.
U.S. Embassy in Baku

According to the 2012 U.S. Global Leadership Report, 53% of Azerbaijanis approve of U.S. leadership, with 27% disapproving and 21% uncertain.[3]

History

A first encounter of the

1919 Paris Peace Conference. Azerbaijani delegates were unimpressed by the meeting in Paris, as instead of recognition, President Wilson advised them to develop a confederation with Transcaucasian neighbours on the basis of a mandate granted by the League of Nations. The Azerbaijani question, Wilson concluded, could not be solved prior to the general settlement of the Russian question.[4] But recalling this meeting in his speech at the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco
on September 18, 1919, Wilson outlined his positive impression of Azerbaijani delegation:

Do you know where Azerbaijan is? Well, one day there came in a very dignified and interesting group of gentlemen who were from Azerbaijan. I didn't have time, until they were gone, to find out where they came from. But I did find this out immediately: that I was talking to men who talked the same language that I did in respect of ideas, in respect of conceptions of liberty, in respect of conceptions of right and justice.[5][6]

Following the

Transcaucasian Federative Soviet Socialist Republic. No direct inter-state relations existed between Azerbaijan SSR and the United States.[7]

Contemporary relations

Heydar Aliyev and Bill Clinton (Stamp of Azerbaijan - 2013)

On October 18, 1991, the

its embassy in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.[9][10]

In 2005, as a freshman senator, Barack Obama visited Azerbaijan on a working trip together with Senate colleague Richard Lugar.[11]

Speaking at a conference on U.S.-Azerbaijani relations at Georgetown University in September 2009, the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William J. Burns outlined three main areas of interest for the United States in its bilateral relations with Azerbaijan: security cooperation, energy, and economic and democratic reform.[12]

U.S. Federal Grand Jury Probe

On Jan 21, 2022, ABC News reported that a federal grand jury in Washington had issued subpoenas to search the home and Texas office of Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar, “seeking records about a wide array of U.S. companies and advocacy organizations, many of them with ties to the former Soviet nation of Azerbaijan.” According to ABC, a subpoena reviewed by the news organization “asks for records relating to any ‘work, act, favor, or service’ that Cuellar or his wife may have provided at the behest of certain foreign companies, government officials, American business leaders, or others.” Cuellar has denied wrongdoing.[13][14]

Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

Modern U.S.-Azerbaijani relations have been strongly influenced by the U.S. official position on the

James Baker III proposed a set of rules named after him, which eventually defined the representation of the conflicting sides within the OSCE Minsk Group negotiation format.[15]

In 1992, the

wrote:

Section 907 damages US national interests by undermining the administration's neutrality in promoting a settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh, its ability to encourage economic and broad legal reforms in Azerbaijan, and efforts to advance an East-West energy transport corridor.[20]

After the

US military operations in Afghanistan,[22] President George W. Bush waived the section in January 2002;[23] and President Barack Obama
further extended that waiver.

Security partnership

Donald Rumsfeld with Safar Abiyev during a press conference in Baku

The U.S.-Azerbaijani security relations developed along several paths, including Azerbaijan's active participation in the

War on Terror, apart from troop contributions, Azerbaijan provided overflight, refueling, and landing rights for U.S. and coalition aircraft bound for Afghanistan and Iraq; shared information to combat terrorism financing; detained and prosecuted suspected terrorists.[12] Apart from usage of Azerbaijani airspace by U.S. air forces, over one-third of all of the nonlethal equipment including fuel, clothing, and food used by the U.S. military in Afghanistan travels through Baku.[25]
In November 2011, the
Defense Minister announcing the military ties between their countries would expand. The U.S. State Department already offered Azerbaijan $10 million to enhance its security structures in the Caspian Sea earlier that year.[26]

Economic cooperation

Azerbaijan-U.S. ICT Forum, December 3, 2013

U.S.–Azerbaijani ties in the economic sphere developed primarily in the context of Caspian energy resources and their transportation to Western markets. The U.S. companies are actively involved in the development of Caspian hydrocarbons in offshore Azerbaijani oilfields, and the U.S. government actively supported the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline as the primary route of transportation for Caspian oil.[27]

In January 2008, commenting on a trip to Azerbaijan by Sen.

Joseph Biden, D-Del., endorsed the need for "a special representative focused on energy issues in the Caspian to safeguard long-term U.S. interests" in a letter they sent earlier to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.[28]

The United States has signed a bilateral trade agreement with Azerbaijan, granting it the status of a "most favored nation", in 1995; and a bilateral investment treaty with Azerbaijan, naming it a beneficiary country under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program, in 2008.[10] The U.S. also supports Azerbaijan's application for accession to the World Trade Organization.[12]

Democracy development

Remarks made by U.S. officials praise Azerbaijan as the first secular democracy in a majority-Muslim nation.[29] In spite of this, it commonly scores poorly in independent assessments of democratic governance published by non-governmental organizations. For example, Freedom House’s Freedom in the World 2018 report listed Azerbaijan as “not free”, with a score of 12/100.[30] One component of the aid package provided by the U.S. government to Azerbaijan focuses on democratic development assistance “with an emphasis on support for civil society, independent media, and rule of law.” The largest part of this assistance is provided by the United States Agency for International Development.[29]

In 2014, Deputy Assistant Secretary Thomas O. Melia of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor noted in a written testimony that “Azerbaijan has taken some positive steps” in building democratic institutions and developing democratic norms. “More broadly, however, we have been seeing increasing constraints on fundamental freedoms that increase the risk of domestic instability, undermine the confidence the rule of law will be respected, and prevent Azerbaijanis from reaching their full potential.”[29] United States Department of State press releases between 2011 and 2016 note concern with the actions of the Azerbaijan government over the sentencing of journalists and human rights activists as part of a “broad pattern of increasing restrictions on human rights in Azerbaijan.”[31] Deputy Assistant Secretary Melia's statement lists a number of democratic transgressions, including limiting foreign NGO involvement, incarcerating journalists and peaceful protestors, and withholding travel rights to activists. “These are not the kinds of actions the United States or the broader international community wants to see from a partner, an OSCE participating State, and currently the chair of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.“[29]

Eric Rubin, Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, also commented on Azerbaijan's democratic track record. In a testimony submitted to the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe in 2014, he wrote:

“I want to emphasize that the United States remains committed to a constructive dialogue with Azerbaijan based on friendship between our people and mutual respect between our governments. But a constructive dialogue means that we can and must have frank and honest discussions in areas where we disagree. Discussing matters of agreement and disagreement in a candid way is part of the nature of a serious dialogue. We therefore have been disappointed by allegations by some of Azerbaijan’s authorities that the United States is interfering in the country’s domestic affairs when we share our views or send democracy-related delegations to Azerbaijan."[32]

High-level visits

Azerbaijani presidential visits to the United States

President Date Type of visit Sources
President H.Aliyev 25-30 September 1994 working visit [33]
President H.Aliyev 20-26 October 1995 working visit [34]
President H.Aliyev 27 July- 6 August 1997 official visit [35]
President H.Aliyev 22-27 April 1999 working visit [36]
President H.Aliyev 12-18 February 2000 working visit [37]
President H.Aliyev 4-9 September 2000 working visit [38]
President H.Aliyev 1-13 April 2001 working visit [39]
President H.Aliyev 14-23 February 2003 official visit [37]
President I.Aliyev 25-28 April 2006 official visit [40]
President I.Aliyev 24 September 2010 working visit [37]
President I.Aliyev 2-4 May 2012 working visit [41]
President I.Aliyev 20-21 May 2012 working visit [42]
President I. Aliyev April 1, 2016 official visit [43]
President I.Aliyev September 19, 2017 official visit [44]

Resident diplomatic missions

See also

References

  1. ^ Распоряжение Президента Азербайджанской Республики o назначении Х.З.Ибрагима чрезвычайным и полномочным послом Азербайджанской Республики в Соединенных Штатах Америки
  2. ^ Ilham Aliyev received credentials of incoming ambassador of U.S. to Azerbaijan
  3. Gallup
  4. ^ Report of the Delegation, No. 7, June, 1919, Fund of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dossier No. 3, p. 7, as cited in Raevskii, Английская интервенция и Мусаватское правительство, p. 53
  5. .
  6. ^ The Commonwealth Club of California (1920) [Sep 1919]. "Address by President Wilson". Transactions. Vol. 14. San Francisco. p. 376.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  7. ^ "Relations between Azerbaijan and the United States reach level of strategic partnership in some areas – Ilham Aliyev". © TURAN NEWS AGENCY. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
  8. , p. 150
  9. ^ Betty Blair (1993). "Azerbaijan International: Regional Stability and US Interests". Vol. 1–2. Azerbaijan International.
  10. ^ a b "U.S. Department of State. U.S.-Azerbaijan relations". Retrieved 2010-07-08.
  11. ^ Larson, Christina (Sep 2006). "Hoosier Daddy". Washington Monthly. Archived from the original on 2008-04-30.
  12. ^ a b c Burns, William J. (Sep 18, 2009). "Remarks: U.S.-Azerbaijan Relations". Georgetown University: Department of State.
  13. ^ "Feds issue subpoenas seeking records related to Rep. Cuellar and his wife, associates". ABC News.
  14. ^ Aronoff, Kate (25 January 2022). "Henry Cuellar's Azerbaijan Scandal is a Very American Tale of Oil Addiction". The New Republic.
  15. ^ . To make early negotiations possible, the United States also brokered an agreement under which both the Armenian and the Azerbaijani communities of Nagorno-Karabakh would participate separately in the Minsk Group, though not as sovereign states.
  16. ^ U.S. Public Law No: 102-511
  17. . It was passed by the US Congress at the insistence of a powerful Armenian lobby
  18. ^ "Azerbaijan - Section 907". azer.com.
  19. ^ "Oil and Turmoil in the Caucasus". Washington Post. Jul 19, 1997. Section 907 was enacted over the opposition of the Bush administration and now is opposed by the Clinton administration
  20. .
  21. ^ 107th U.S. Congress (Jan 10, 2002). "Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2002". Public Law 107-115.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  22. .
  23. ^ Chouldjian, Elizabeth S. (Jan 25, 2002). "President Bush waives Section 907". Press Release. Armenian National Committee of America.
  24. ISBN 9781437929331. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help
    )
  25. ^ Richard Solash (2011-12-29). "U.S. Ambassador To Azerbaijan Leaving Post". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved 2012-01-05.
  26. ^ "Azerbaijan, U.S. to Expand Military Ties". CRI English. 2011-11-22. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved 2011-11-25.
  27. , p. 195
  28. ^ a b Daily, John C.K. (2008-01-18). "Analysis: U.S. has ally in Azerbaijan". United Press International. Archived from the original on 22 January 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-21.
  29. ^ a b c d Melia, Thomas O. “U.S.-Azerbaijan Relations: The Democracy and Human Rights Dimension.” U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of State, 11 June 2014, 2009-2017. https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/rm/2014/227450.htm.
  30. ^ “Azerbaijan.” Freedom House, Freedomhouse.org, 27 Mar. 2018, https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2018/azerbaijan Archived 2019-07-16 at the Wayback Machine
  31. ^ Toner, Mark C. “Sentencing of Azerbaijani Investigative Journalist Khadija Ismayilova.” U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of State, 1 Sept. 2015, 2009-2017. https://state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2015/09/246534.htm.
  32. ^ Rubin, Eric. “The Security, Economic and Human Rights Dimensions of U.S.-Azerbaijan Relations”, U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of State, 11 June 2014, 2009-2017.
  33. ^ "Reply of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev to a reporter's question at Bina Airport before his leave for the United States of America in order to take part at the 49th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations - September 25, 1994". lib.aliyev-heritage.org. Retrieved 2018-04-29.
  34. ^ "The speech of the President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev at the official reception held by the oil Consortium of the USA in honor of the Azerbaijani President - New-York, October 24, 1995". lib.aliyev-heritage.org. Retrieved 2018-04-29.
  35. ^ "Official visit of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev to the United States of America (July 27 - August 6, 1997)". lib.aliyev-heritage.org. Retrieved 2018-04-29.
  36. ^ "Speech of the Azerbaijan President Heydar Aliyev at a meeting, held at the US Naval Academy, during his visit to the United States of America - April 23, 1999". lib.aliyev-heritage.org. Retrieved 2018-04-29.
  37. ^ a b c "Azerbaijan - Visits by Foreign Leaders - Department History - Office of the Historian". history.state.gov. Retrieved 2018-04-29.
  38. ^ "Speech of the Azerbaijan President Heydar Aliyev at the meeting with the leaders of major Jewish organizations in USA - September 8, 2000". lib.aliyev-heritage.org. Retrieved 2018-04-29.
  39. ^ "President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev met President of the United States of America George Bush - Washington, 9 April 2001". lib.aliyev-heritage.org. Retrieved 2018-04-29.
  40. ^ Tran, Mark (2010-09-23). "United Nations general assembly – live". the Guardian. Retrieved 2018-04-29.
  41. ^ "Working visit of Ilham Aliyev to the United States of America". en.president.az. Retrieved 2018-04-29.
  42. ^ "Chicago NATO Summit 2012 | The Official Host Committee site for the 2012 NATO Summit". www.chicagonato.org. Retrieved 2018-04-29.
  43. ^ "4th Nuclear Security Summit begins in Washington". currentaffairs.gktoday.in. April 2016. Archived from the original on 2019-05-14. Retrieved 2018-04-29.
  44. ^ "U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters, September 19, 2107". U.S. Embassy & Consulates in the United Kingdom. 2017-09-20. Archived from the original on 2019-05-14. Retrieved 2018-04-29.

External links

Media related to Relations of Azerbaijan and the United States at Wikimedia Commons