YEREVAN. – The U.S. State Department’s decision on removing Azerbaijan from a list of countries eligible to purchase U.S. military hardware is logical but postponed, expert Karen Bekaryan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

According to him, if one of the sides of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement claims about achieving its goals by applying force, such reaction will be responded by the mediator-states sooner or later.

“Logically the State Department should have adopted such a decision long time ago. It is likely that hatred in the Azerbaijani rhetoric has achieved to such level that it is no more possible to keep silent,” the expert said.

Asked to comment on the idea that the U.S. move may be simply of diplomatic character, as Azerbaijan is not so much interested in the American hardware, Bekaryan said that it may not play a huge role on military level. However, the matter is in political platform.

The State Department gave a political estimation and it is not simply a move but a very important symbolic act.

As the agency informed earlier, in response to Congressional concerns first raised by House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Democrat Howard Berman, the State Department has removed Azerbaijan from a list of countries eligible to purchase U.S. military hardware which could be used by the Aliyev regime in its ongoing attacks against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

“This decision by Secretary Clinton is in the best interests of the Armenian people and for peace in the region,” said Rep. Berman, upon receiving the modified formal notification from the State Department late on June 27.