By Ivan Gharibyan

While snowfalls, snowstorms and frosts are striking the United States and Europe, Armenia and Azerbaijan are still enjoying warm weather. However, unlike Yerevan, the situation in Baku is far from being calm.

The son of the “national leader” Heydar Aliyev, Ilham Aliyev, is exerting vain efforts to make a semblance of Azerbaijan’s progress in all the fields, particularly the development of the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process in Azerbaijan’s favor. A couple of millions of Azerbaijanis go on trading in fruit and vegetables in Russia in dreadful conditions, the oil price is not reaching the desired level, international mediators demand that Azerbaijan make mutual substantial concessions to the Armenian side. On top of all, the U.S. Congress will not understand the Azerbaijanis’ hopes and aspirations.

And it is the U.S. Congress that has played a dirty trick on Mr. Aliyev by marring the celebrations of the victory “to be gained” by the ruling party Yeni Azerbaijan (New Azerbaijan) on December 23, as a result of a “local election show”. Now, driving more urgent matters to the background, Azerbaijan has once again to go off into hysterics about the U.S. Congress resolution on U.S. $48m financial aid to Nagorno-Karabakh.

Oh, what an outcry can be heard in Azerbaijan, which is constantly boasting of its wealth! Official Baku will not understand there is no sense in going off into hysterics about U.S. annual financial aid to Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan showered the United States with letters of protest and received a fully comprehensive answer: the United Sates is assisting the people residing in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) rather than a “separatist regime” Azerbaijan is speaking about.

But the Azeri authorities remained discontented with this and sent an official inquiry about the U.S. aid to Nagorno-Karabakh. In this, however, Azerbaijan proved dead unlucky too. The United States is getting ready for the Christmas and could not care less about Baku’s outcry now. As ill luck would have it, Washington is under snow, and bitter frost has set in the city. So Khazar Ibrahim, Advisor to the Azerbaijani Ambassador to the United States, had to explain the reasons for the delayed official answer of the U.S. Department of State. “The roads were not cleaned, and we could hardly get to work. Our embassy the only one working now,” he said thereby dashing every hope for an outcome of the pointless diplomatic dispute in Baku’s favor.

Well, the New Year is at hand, and the Catholics are going to celebrate Christmas on December 25. So the Azerbaijani authorities will have to wait long to get an answer to their enquiry about the U.S. aid to Nagorno-Karabakh. Even after they receive it, life will not seem sweet to them.

T.P.