A Slip of Tongue or Slap on the Face: Is Karabakh a Negotiating Party?

United States seems to be tightening the screws with Azerbaijan with US Assistant Secretary of State Philip J. Crowley referring to Nagorno Karabakh as a negotiating party while speaking about Armenia-Turkey normalization in a recent briefing.

"And clearly, we're also supporting the Minsk process regarding Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh," said Crowley.

It follows statements by Azerbaijani leaders criticizing US and accusing it of partiality as a co-mediator country over the Nagorno Karabakh issue.

"The United States does not implement policy towards Azerbaijan as a strategic partner, and that's why we might reconsider our policy towards the United States," Ali Hasanov, Aliyev's head of public-political issues, said in an interview with Reuters news agency.

"We believe the Americans should not only think of how to help Armenia overcome the economic crisis," he said, but as a co-mediator in talks on Nagorno-Karabakh, Washington "should first of all promote a solution to the Karabakh conflict."

The US response was quick enough with Press Secretary of the US Embassy in Baku, Terry Davidson saying that the United States "has always been pursuing a balanced policy when it comes to the Nagorno-Karabakh issue."

Later on President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev accused the OSCE Minsk Group of not being aware of what exactly is happening in the region, advising all the parties concerned to try to study the conflict thoroughly by reading books about the situation.

"The co-mediator states should be very attentive. May be people are not well aware of the situation in the region and should try to study it. If this is the case, I do not want to accuse anyone, let them study the situation so that to draw correct conclusions. But we do see that today, at this definitive moment, Armenia is getting such a strong political support that it may completely withdraw from the negotiations in the future," said Aliyev.