BAKU, November 16. /TASS/. The foreign minister of Azerbaijan has refused to meet with his Armenian counterpart in Washington next week following remarks by a US State Department official, according to a statement from the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.
The statement took aim at the hearings at the US House Foreign Affairs Committee that took place on November 15, saying the event and the remarks made there by US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs James O’Brien are a "blow to relations between Azerbaijan and the US in bilateral and multilateral formats."
"Such a unilateral approach of the United States may lead to the loss of its role as a mediator (in the normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia - TASS). It is important to note that under such conditions we do not consider it possible to hold the proposed meeting of foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia in Washington on November 20, 2023," the ministry said.
Referring to O'Brien's statement on the suspension of military assistance to Baku, the Foreign Ministry said the US suspended Amendment 907 to the Freedom Support Act (the amendment, which prohibited the US from providing assistance to Azerbaijani government, was suspended annually since 2002 - TASS), after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 as Azerbaijan supported the US efforts in the fight against terrorism.
"It was Azerbaijan that extended a helping hand to the US by opening its airspace routes and logistical capabilities, the Northern Distribution Network, to the American side," the statement said. "Azerbaijan was a partner country, the last to leave Afghanistan. It turns out that the US has always considered the support of Azerbaijan as temporary, but one should not forget that history may repeat itself."
O’Brien said on Wednesday that the US had canceled some high-level visits of Azerbaijani officials due to the lack of progress in the peace settlement between Baku and Yerevan. He also said that the US had suspended military and other assistance to Azerbaijan. According to the US official, Washington has signaled to Baku that their bilateral relations won’t get back to normal until there is progress in peace talks with Armenia.