The U.S. political establishment has people who would like to bind Azerbaijan to one or another pole, but the reality is that Azerbaijan initially outlined the priorities of its foreign policy, which are balanced, friendly relations with its neighbors and not joining military- political structures.
This was stated by political scientist Fikrat Sadikhov, commenting on an article of former U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan Richard Kozlarich on the position of Azerbaijan regarding the opposition of Iran and the United States, which in recent months was replaced by convergence.
In article "Azerbaijan and West rapprochement with Iran" for EurasiaNet.org, Kozlarich writes that the current process of rapprochement is disadvantageous to Azerbaijan, which allegedly "in every way tried to isolate Iran from the regional processes".
According to Fikret Sadikhov, Azerbaijan has never aimed to isolate Iran, as well as joining the West, North or South.
"Such sentiments by some Western politicians, distorting the foreign policy of Azerbaijan, are built on hunches and aim to denigrate the real political reality of our country, both in the external and internal field," he said.
The political scientist noted that Azerbaijan has repeatedly stated that it is not interested in escalating the tension between Iran and the West.
"We are not indifferent to the fate of the people of Iran, while the worsening of the situation would threaten environmental and humanitarian consequences, as well as the emergence of a number of other political issues," said Sadikhov.
"Moreover, we both then and today announced that we have never been interested in resolving the Iranian nuclear issue through military force, though such plans existed at the former American administration, and it is not hidden," he added.
According to the analyst, it all indicates that the reality prevailing in the region is far from certain assumptions of committed politicians, even those who had engaged in diplomatic activity in the region.
Especially, he said, it's surprising to hear from Richard Kozlarich that as Ambassador to Baku who welcomed friendly relations of Azerbaijan and the United States and approved the peaceful course of Azerbaijan spoke about the necessity of restrained foreign policy paradigm.
In the article Kozlarich notes that Azerbaijan, developing relations with the U.S. in the energy sector, allegedly initially sought to exclude Iran from the region's energy system by piping bypassing it.
According to Sadikhov, when signing the contract of the century in 1994, Azerbaijan had several route options to transport its oil. And the route through Georgia and Turkey was chosen to be the most profitable and meets the interests of not only Azerbaijan, but also all transit countries.
Despite the balanced Azerbaijani foreign policy, official Baku has always adhered to a clear and unambiguous position on Iran, said the analyst.
"We have always said that the solution of any issue should not happen by military force, and even more so by intervention and seizure of foreign territories," he said.
The consequences of tactics against Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Sadikhov, prompted the current American administration to realize the need for reconciliation with the official Tehran.
"The United States had itself to understand all this, and instead of taking a position of intimidation, it should have gone to such a rapprochement and solve this issue diplomatically."
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