BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 6. Armenian lobbying has led to biased narratives in the US on religious freedom in Azerbaijan, US analyst Irina Tsukerman told TurkicWorld.
She made the remark while commenting on the statement of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the inclusion of several countries, including Azerbaijan, on a certain "watch list" in connection with freedom of religion.
"Unfortunately, this is a result of extensive Armenian lobbying in an election year and failure of counternarratives by Azerbaijan, which underscores the need to form relationships with US government officials, such as groups for monitoring religious freedom with the State Department, early and maintaining a continuous communication with them, which is what Armenian lobby does well," she said.
Tsukerman pointed out that, even without Armenians, those groups are infamous for their lackluster approach in drafting those reports on religious freedom.
"During the Trump administration, for instance, that particular group included individuals with clear biases and a complete lack of direct experience with Azerbaijan. They at one point wrote a negative report about Azerbaijan in the State Department report on religious freedom for "discrimination against Shia", seemingly unaware that Azerbaijan is a Shia majority state, and at another point attacked for having arrested violent Al Qaeda and ISIS infiltrators and putting them in prison as an issue of "religious freedom". There is no way to combat that level of ignorance and professional incompetence other than with constant vigilance and consistent communication. Since people populating these groups lack sufficient area knowledge to form informed and independent assessments, biased narratives easily sway their final products resulting in bizarre and absurd results such as the placement of Azerbaijan on the "special surveillance list" and damage to its reputation. The result of course is not only a strain in relations with the US on the government level but the spread of disinformation in social circles which may deter tourists, investors, or religious delegations from coming to the country and undermine Azerbaijan's image, economy, relationships, political influence, and global standing," the analyst noted.
She added that when officials fail to do due diligence on the information they receive from NGOs and base their assessments on convenient talking points or only on one-sided stories from familiar legacy organizations, it ends up being a huge disservice to religious freedom around the world and makes it more difficult to make the most of the many rich relationships the US has with countries like Azerbaijan.
"The US takes religious freedom seriously, which is a good thing; the problem is, its actions and policies are only as good as the officials who formulate them. The only way to respond is once again to challenge this perception, invite the State Department delegation to engage in conversation and travel to the country to see diverse religious communities exactly, bring in guests from different religious backgrounds to testify to the contrary, and actively provide the State Department with reliable data and valid counterpoints to the Armenian allegations," Tsukerman concluded.
