The attack on Azerbaijanis in Los Angeles helped to draw the attention of the American society to the real state of affairs in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, where Armenia is the aggressor and Azerbaijan is only trying to defend its territories. Former US Ambassador to Azerbaijan, former Assistant Secretary of State for the South Caucasus Matthew Bryza, spoke about this in an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza's correspondent, commenting on the condemnation of violence against peaceful Azerbaijani demonstrators by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.
"The reaction of Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti to the violence perpetrated by Armenian Americans against Azerbaijani protesters as well as the Azerbaijani consulate is entirely appropriate. Eric Garcetti needs to be coming out publicly and condemn any such violence and who perpetrates it. Fortunately, he said that he will ensure that the city will continue to protect the safety of the Azerbaijani American community as well as the consulate. And that is exactly the job of the mayor of Los Angeles, his government and his police force. That is nothing surprising there. That is what he is supposed to do", Bryza said.
"In terms of overall reaction of the American authorities to the incident in LA, yes, for better or worse, that incident hasn’t really resonated very loudly elsewhere outside Los Angeles in the US. This reflects the fact that the whole Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the enduring conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia does not get enough attention in the US. Azerbaijani Embassy in Washington does a very good job with ambassador Suleymanov, as well as its cooperation with the American Jewish community. A lot of people who are now in the US, at least specialists academics, international relations specialists who are saying that a lot of people who condemn Israel for occupying Palestinian territory have a double standard when they do not criticize Armenia for occupying Azerbaijani territory", he emphasised.
"What happened in Los Angeles helps to understand that the Azerbaijani embassy in Washington and ambassador Suleymanov have been trying to appraise the American people. That is the main result of what happened. Finally, I would like to say that it is important that American law enforcement authorities remain vigilant everywhere about this violence perpetrated by these people. Because of the history of ASALA targeting, murdering Turkish diplomats, it is important to take this very seriously," the American diplomat paid attention.
"I really hope that this reality will become crystal clear because the narrative of the US about the Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict has been turned to Azerbaijan’s disadvantage. Reporters who try to bring the light to the truth are attacked and sued by the Armenian National Committee of America. I mean stories like which we have talked about long before. The former president of ANKA is convicted of illegal possession of explosives. He was accused of going to conduct terrorist attacks on Turkish people en masse in the US. The part of that terrorism was not proven, but the possession of the explosions was and he ended in jail. Yet few American journalists talk about that," Bryza said.
"But instead, the Armenian National Committee of America has succeeded in training the people who perpetrate these acts of terror and their supporters as somehow victims of so-called Azerbaijani aggression. I think the more these Armenian nationalists conduct this sort of attack on Azerbaijanis in the US, the worse it is in general. But the more likely it is the American journalists and the general public will be paying attention to the true reality," the diplomat concluded.
