During the debate titled “The Future of Nagorno-Karabakh” in the US Congress Foreign Affairs Committee, James O’Brien, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, announced that they will focus on 3 areas: how they will take care of people who were forced to leave their homes in September, how they will support Armenia, and how they will achieve peace.
He emphasized that this conflict in the region is the legacy of the involvement of the USSR and Russia.
“We have been dealing with that role for centuries; we are talking about the last three decades in particular: more than 100,000 people have left NK, so we insist that they should have access to that region if they want,” he said.
According to O’Brien, they are working in that direction and want the NK Armenians to have the right to vote.
“In addition, the United States, on the instructions of the Secretary of State, is preparing a comprehensive and transparent report on what happened in Nagorno Karabakh. We have hired independent investigators and have our investigators working on the ground; there is information from non-governmental organizations, and when the report is ready, we will present the results openly. I can’t say dates”, he said.
James O’Brien also announced that they are working to support Armenia. “I think we will help Armenia overcome this difficult situation. We are working with the EU to offer support to Armenia in the coming months.”
European and Eurasian affairs assistant James O’Brien announced they also worked towards a peace agreement.
“The next two weeks will be critical to checking the parties’ readiness. In negotiations, the most difficult thing is to say ‘yes.’ We have made it clear that after September 19, relations with Azerbaijan cannot continue on a normal course if there is no progress on the path of peace. Therefore, he noted that we have canceled several high-level visits and condemned Azerbaijan’s actions.”
O’Brien added that the use of force is unacceptable. “Any corridor should be created only with the agreement of Armenia. Corridors created in other ways will receive a quick response and will not be successful. The Baku authorities have assured us that they have no such intentions. We follow the movements of the armed forces and ammunition. We didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.”
