In an interview with Zartonk Media, he stated that if he becomes president, he will impose sanctions on Azerbaijan for the “forced expulsion of Armenians from Karabakh.”
It is clear that no one seriously considers the chances of the son of the late U.S. Attorney General occupying the Oval Office. However, after the news that Joe Biden is exiting the presidential race, this notorious politician held a press conference, declaring that the main battle will now be between him and Donald Trump, and that he is “ahead of Trump in the polls.”
From this, it can be inferred that Kennedy’s primary strategy to defeat heavyweight Trump and the likely Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris involves securing the votes of Armenian Americans. It is no coincidence that Kennedy Jr., periodically using the rhetoric of the head of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), Aram Amparian, attacks Azerbaijan. For example, in January this year, at a meeting organized by leaders of the Armenian community in Southern California, he stated that, as president, he would certainly “return sovereignty over Karabakh to Armenia.”
Amparian welcomed Kennedy’s statement, noting that “it is important to keep the Armenian issue on the agenda of the presidential campaign” and that “both current President Joseph Biden and his main opponent Donald Trump are to blame for the loss of Karabakh.”
Now, Kennedy Jr. not only threatens Azerbaijan with sanctions “due to the resale of Russian oil to European countries” but also promises to involve EU countries in these sanctions.
It should be noted that fake news about Azerbaijan’s involvement in selling sanctioned Russian oil and gas to Europe is one of the “tricks” used by the Armenian lobby in the West in their propaganda war against Baku. These false claims periodically appear in influential Western media and even become topics of discussion among some European politicians.
In the same interview with Zartonk Media, Robert Kennedy also criticized Turkey, accusing Ankara of “genocide against Kurds in northern Syria” and the “occupation of half of Cyprus.” According to him, NATO is not taking the necessary measures to “stop” Turkey, and that after his election as president, he would review the role of the North Atlantic Alliance.
Kennedy also expressed his opposition to maintaining NATO as a military organization or alliance, stating that he would seek to turn it into a “peace-supporting organization.” It is evident that in their anti-Azerbaijani activities, ANCA representatives have deliberately placed their bet on Robert Kennedy Jr. – a known adventurer and scandalous politician who has long discredited the previously untarnished reputation of one of the most respected political clans in the U.S.
For Donald Trump, the “Armenian issue” was never relevant in either the current or previous election campaigns. The now-absent Joe Biden also greatly disappointed the Armenian diaspora by refusing, despite their hysterical calls, to impose sanctions against Baku in response to Azerbaijan establishing full sovereignty over Karabakh. The White House administration concluded that for U.S. national interests and foreign policy priorities in the South Caucasus region, relations with Azerbaijan are more important than the votes of the Armenian diaspora.
As a result, the Armenian National Committee of America had no choice but to finance the campaign of a candidate who has no chance of success.
While Kennedy Jr.’s attacks on Azerbaijan may sound like music to the Armenian community, they do not affect Azerbaijan’s international image. As Confucius once said, if someone spits on your back, it means you are ahead.
Farhad Mammadov
Translated from haqqin.az
