United States–Azerbaijan relations

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United States-Azerbaijan relations
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The United States and Azerbaijan had diplomatic relations since 1919, when a delegation from the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic attended the Paris Peace Conference and was granted an audience with President Woodrow Wilson [1]. At this meeting Wilson advised the Azerbaijanis that it would be better for them to develop a spirit of confederation with neighboring countries of Georgia and Armenia, and that such a confederation of all peoples of Transcaucasia could receive the protection of some power on the basis of a mandate granted by the League of Nations[2]. However, in 1922, after the Bolshevik takeover, the Azerbaijan became part of Soviet Union as the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (Azerbaijan SSR), and no direct formal relations existed between Azerbaijan and the United States.

On October 18, 1991, the Supreme Council of Azerbaijan adopted a declaration of independence. Subsequently, on December 25, 1991 President George H.W. Bush announced that the United States recognized the independence of all 12 former Soviet republics, inlcuding Azerbaijan.[3]

Contents

[edit] Security relations

The security relations of the United States and Azerbaijan developed along several paths:

[edit] Economic relations

U.S.-Azerbaijani ties in 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[4].

In January 2008, commenting on a trip to Azerbaijan by Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, John C.K. Daily of UPI called Azerbaijan "the one remaining friend that America has in the Caspian basin"[5]. During this visit Sen. Lugar also suggested that he along with fellow Senate Foreign Relations Committee member 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[5].

[edit] Regional conflicts

[edit] Diplomatic missions

[edit] References

  1. ^ Bulletin d'Information de l'Azerbaidjan, No. I, September 1, 1919, pp. 6-7
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ James P. Nichol. Diplomacy in the Former Soviet Republics, Praeger/Greenwood, 1995, ISBN 0275951928, p. 150
  4. ^ Bülent Gökay. The Politics of Caspian Oil, Palgrave Macmillan, 2001, ISBN 0333739736, p. 195
  5. ^ a b Daily, John C.K.. "Analysis: U.S. has ally in Azerbaijan", United Press International, 2008-01-18. Retrieved on 2008-01-21.