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FROM BAKU TO NASHVILLE, WITH LOVE
EurasiaNet.org
May 20 2014
May 20, 2014 - 4:55am, by Giorgi Lomsadze
Nashville, Tennessee has apparently become another unlikely proxy
battleground for a war going on a world away -- between Armenia and
Azerbaijan, which both are busy building strategic alliances in the
United States.
If he had known what precarious territory he was wading into, state
lawmaker Joe Towns would have probably thought twice before pushing
a resolution in support of energy-rich Azerbaijan into Tennessee's
House of Representatives. The Memphis Democrat's mission, however,
did not go unnoticed by the ever-alert Diaspora-Armenian community
and eventually resulted in a scathing expose by Nashville-based News
Channel 5.
In an investigative piece, the CBS-affiliate claimed that Towns, a
Memphis Democrat, allegedly had accepted $10,000 in campaign donations
from seven supposedly Azerbaijan-linked sources. When confronted by
the station's chief investigative reporter, Phil Williams, Towns could
not coherently explain what motivated him to lobby for Baku-Nashville
friendship or who were the alleged campaign contributors.
Williams implied that Representative Towns' story was a case of
Azerbaijan buying lawmakers in Tennessee to promote questionable
policies.
The reporter's sole commentator, Barry Barsoumian, identified as
an Armenian immigrant and activist, pointed at the suspicious link
between the "strange" resolution, which eventually flopped, and the
murky donors. The concerned Barsoumian also presented the channel
with the Armenian version of the decades-long confrontation between
the Caucasus nations over the breakaway territory of Nagorno Karabakh.
Hot on the topic, the News Channel 5 reporter then began asking
questions about a re-election valentine sent to Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev from the Tennessee governor's office. "Congratulations on
your re-election!" enthused Tennessee State Commissioner of Safety and
Homeland Security Bill Gibbons in a message to Aliyev in 2013, when
the Azerbaijani leader got himself a controversial third consecutive
presidential term, reported News Channel 5. The station did not
hesitate to provide the chorus for international criticism of the vote,
quipping in its headline "Congratulations on your rigged re-election!"
It's unclear how much of this story the good people of Tennessee were
able to grasp, but it's clear to viewers by now that some countries
with exotic names and exotic interests are up to something in the
Music City.
But this is not the first time that Tennessee politicians have heard
tell of the Caspian-Sea country.
Last March, following the example of other state legislatures, the
House of Representatives adopted a resolution commemorating the 1992
massacre of ethnic Azeris at Khojaly in Nagorno Karabakh. The primary
sponsor? Legislator Towns.
Interest in Azerbaijan also has surfaced among the state's nine
congressional representatives. Namely, Rep. Steve Cohen (D) , who
co-chairs the Congressional Azerbaijan Caucus, and, like Towns, hails
from Memphis. Rep. Cohen has signed onto the Congressional Caucuses
on Turkey and on US-Turkey Relations and Turkish Americans as well.
Azerbaijani and Turkic activist publications also name Tennessee Rep.
John J. Duncan, Jr. ( R ), as a member of the Congressional Azerbaijan
Caucus, although the congressman's site does not identify him as such.
But, as in its home region, Azerbaijan, a relative latecomer to the
US lobbying scene, has its match in this game of influence.
Earlier in May, California, the main population center for Diaspora
Armenians in the US, passed a resolution calling for independence of
ethnic-Armenian-dominated Karabakh, which Azerbaijan is struggling
to reclaim.
Attempts to pass rival resolutions on Karabakh or Khojaly look
likely to continue to pop up in various states. Azerbaijan is trying
translate its growing oil-and-gas wealth into lobbying fodder, while
Diaspora-Armenian communities are committed to keeping Azerbaijani
influence over US politics at bay.
Meanwhile, ordinary US voters are left struggling to make sense of
it all.
-- Elizabeth Owen added reporting to this post.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/68387
EurasiaNet.org
May 20 2014
May 20, 2014 - 4:55am, by Giorgi Lomsadze
Nashville, Tennessee has apparently become another unlikely proxy
battleground for a war going on a world away -- between Armenia and
Azerbaijan, which both are busy building strategic alliances in the
United States.
If he had known what precarious territory he was wading into, state
lawmaker Joe Towns would have probably thought twice before pushing
a resolution in support of energy-rich Azerbaijan into Tennessee's
House of Representatives. The Memphis Democrat's mission, however,
did not go unnoticed by the ever-alert Diaspora-Armenian community
and eventually resulted in a scathing expose by Nashville-based News
Channel 5.
In an investigative piece, the CBS-affiliate claimed that Towns, a
Memphis Democrat, allegedly had accepted $10,000 in campaign donations
from seven supposedly Azerbaijan-linked sources. When confronted by
the station's chief investigative reporter, Phil Williams, Towns could
not coherently explain what motivated him to lobby for Baku-Nashville
friendship or who were the alleged campaign contributors.
Williams implied that Representative Towns' story was a case of
Azerbaijan buying lawmakers in Tennessee to promote questionable
policies.
The reporter's sole commentator, Barry Barsoumian, identified as
an Armenian immigrant and activist, pointed at the suspicious link
between the "strange" resolution, which eventually flopped, and the
murky donors. The concerned Barsoumian also presented the channel
with the Armenian version of the decades-long confrontation between
the Caucasus nations over the breakaway territory of Nagorno Karabakh.
Hot on the topic, the News Channel 5 reporter then began asking
questions about a re-election valentine sent to Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev from the Tennessee governor's office. "Congratulations on
your re-election!" enthused Tennessee State Commissioner of Safety and
Homeland Security Bill Gibbons in a message to Aliyev in 2013, when
the Azerbaijani leader got himself a controversial third consecutive
presidential term, reported News Channel 5. The station did not
hesitate to provide the chorus for international criticism of the vote,
quipping in its headline "Congratulations on your rigged re-election!"
It's unclear how much of this story the good people of Tennessee were
able to grasp, but it's clear to viewers by now that some countries
with exotic names and exotic interests are up to something in the
Music City.
But this is not the first time that Tennessee politicians have heard
tell of the Caspian-Sea country.
Last March, following the example of other state legislatures, the
House of Representatives adopted a resolution commemorating the 1992
massacre of ethnic Azeris at Khojaly in Nagorno Karabakh. The primary
sponsor? Legislator Towns.
Interest in Azerbaijan also has surfaced among the state's nine
congressional representatives. Namely, Rep. Steve Cohen (D) , who
co-chairs the Congressional Azerbaijan Caucus, and, like Towns, hails
from Memphis. Rep. Cohen has signed onto the Congressional Caucuses
on Turkey and on US-Turkey Relations and Turkish Americans as well.
Azerbaijani and Turkic activist publications also name Tennessee Rep.
John J. Duncan, Jr. ( R ), as a member of the Congressional Azerbaijan
Caucus, although the congressman's site does not identify him as such.
But, as in its home region, Azerbaijan, a relative latecomer to the
US lobbying scene, has its match in this game of influence.
Earlier in May, California, the main population center for Diaspora
Armenians in the US, passed a resolution calling for independence of
ethnic-Armenian-dominated Karabakh, which Azerbaijan is struggling
to reclaim.
Attempts to pass rival resolutions on Karabakh or Khojaly look
likely to continue to pop up in various states. Azerbaijan is trying
translate its growing oil-and-gas wealth into lobbying fodder, while
Diaspora-Armenian communities are committed to keeping Azerbaijani
influence over US politics at bay.
Meanwhile, ordinary US voters are left struggling to make sense of
it all.
-- Elizabeth Owen added reporting to this post.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/68387