(MENAFN- AzerNews)
Fuad Muxtar-Aqbabali read more The Biden administration has again failed to invite Azerbaijan
and Türkiye to the second Summit for Democracy, scheduled for March
30, whereas Armenia, which had retained Azerbaijani land under
occupation for nearly 30 years contrary to universally-cherished
principles and is still exacerbating tension in the region, is
among the invitees.
The criteria, applied by the Biden administration to the
selectees, are absolutely ill-defined and amorphous. The reasons
for the failure to invite Azerbaijan and Türkiye to the summit
should be sought in the context of these states' independent
foreign policies serving primarily their national interests and
benefiting others.
Azerbaijan has been playing a pivotal role in supplying Europe
with energy resources and its importance has grown in the wake of
the Russian war in Ukraine, and Türkiye as a venue for many crucial
oil and gas pipelines augmented endeavors both economically,
politically and has remained conducive in secure transit to eastern
and western European nations.
Baku's role in this end has been repeatedly credited by various
US administrations and several of them have even played a huge role
in implementing mega gas and oil projects. However, aggressor
Armenia's negative role in the South Caucasus and close relations
with the theocratic Iran regime are turned a blind eye and its
misdeeds are encouraged and promoted as a nation fighting for
democratic values.
Alas, this is yet another miscalculation of the Biden
administration as this initiative was born during his term of
office.
Notwithstanding the reasons why Azerbaijan and Türkiye were not
invited to the Democracy Summit, it is crucial for the
international community to engage with all countries in the region.
Without applying internationally-binding principles and guarantees
as well as respect for basic principles, one cannot ensure peace,
order, economic development, prosperity, and good-neighborly
relations in the South Caucasus. The need for promoting greater
regional stability and democratic values in the region is the most
important now than it was two years ago since justice has now been
served by Azerbaijan despite the collective indifference of the
world.
It is deeply disturbing to observe the implementation of the US
foreign policy in a very distorted and biased fashion by the
Biden-Harris Administration. The Republic of Azerbaijan embodies
the essential components of a thriving democratic society, US
pundit Peter Tase told Azernews in a comment.
The decision of the US State Department to invite autocratic
regimes that encourage disruption in the Trans-Atlantic alliance
that embodies a plethora of economic and industrial sectors for the
development of the United States and Europe, above all autocratic
regimes such as the one in Yerevan, are regularly engaged and
conspire with America's enemies abroad.
It is blatantly implausible to observe that Washington has
failed to invite the governments of Türkiye and Azerbaijan to
attend the Summit for Democracy, even though tremendous progress
has been made in bolstering democratic institutions and fostering
greater transparency in the administration of elections in Baku and
Ankara, the pundit said.
The geopolitical proclivity of the Biden-Harris Administration
is deeply puzzling and exposes a vulnerable US foreign policy that
does not reflect the political and military interests of
Washington.
“It is shocking to observe that Biden's second Summit for
Democracy, scheduled for March 28-30, 2023, will be co-hosted with
the Government of Zambia - an African country that is widely known
to have rampant levels of corruption and political killings. In
2021, Zambia experienced violent tensions, protests, and police
forces used live bullets against unarmed citizens. Zambian
authorities continue to crack down on the right to freedom of
expression and suppress human rights. Zambia is also the most
important economic ally of America's largest strategic competitor
in Eastern Asia,” Peter Tase said.
Another country that is invited by the Biden-Harris
Administration is Honduras; a nation that is engulfed in a great
crisis of human trafficking and drug trafficking operations with
various Cartels in the US-Mexico border area. Honduras has the
first female president, Xiomara Castro, who is allegedly as corrupt
as her predecessor Juan Orlando Hernandez. In 2019, it was revealed
that he was a co-conspirator in a drug trafficking and money
laundering case, and $1.5m in drug proceeds was used to help elect
him in 2013. Incumbent President Castro was propelled politically
by America's largest geopolitical rival in Latin America.
It is wrong to associate Azerbaijan's non-invitation with
democracy as there are more serious issues here. One of them is
that Azerbaijan regained occupied lands by force and without the
approval of the west, which angered pro-Armenian lobby groups with
deep ties with all US administrations. Another reason should be
sought in years-long black PR campaigns against Azerbaijan and
Turkiye in the West by the Armenian Diaspora groups and their
patrons driven by their own interests in attacking Baku and
Ankara.
Third, Azerbaijan does not want to undermine relations with the
mighty northern neighbor despite ongoing pressure to this end as it
realizes that being a neighbor with Russia stands for existing in
the same geography forever and no government in Azerbaijan has the
right to act under alien diktat to satisfy their demands.
Democracy is never exported but arises from the internal demand
of a country. Democracy is an important step taken by individual
countries to join the overall development of the world. Azerbaijan
has been also taking corresponding steps in this direction and the
negative impact of Armenia's 30-year-long occupation of its lands
cannot and should be disregarded since democracy is born and
thrives in the atmosphere far away from destruction, occupation,
and killing of innocent people. No government has ever managed to
install democracy side by side with millions of refugees and IDPs
and Azerbaijan had been through them and is still coping with
hardships.
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