American policy toward the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and implications for its resolution

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as one of the most destructive regional conflicts, has became a problem not just for the conflicting sides but also for other regional and even non-regional actors as well, such as the United States (US) which experiences difficulty in dealing with the conflict. The US policy toward the conflict was constrained by its domestic politics and lobbies, which act on their narrow interests, compared with the global role and interests of the US. On the one hand US interests require the protection of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and stability, since it has substantial energy resources. On the other hand, domestic constraints prevented the US administration from playing the honest broker in conflict resolution, at least for Azerbaijan. The realization of projects advancing the transportation of Caspian energy resources to the world markets was delayed and despite the ceasefire agreement in 1994, the problem continues. This paper analyses US policy towards the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and focus on the US role during the peace process. The analysis points to the need for the US to pay attention to the early settlement of the conflict without which the normalization of Turkey-Armenia relations, which remains one of the major aims of the US regional policy, will also not be possible.