Conservatives are notoriously bad at establishing a collective policy. Most every-day American conservatives are hard-working and God-fearing. They take care of their piece of the pie and expect others to do the same. Republicans also tend to think locally. They care about what impacts their family and view matters at the national and international level, as beyond their concern . . . unless policies enacted at those levels adversely impact the local level.

That is why conservative think-tanks are bad representatives on foreign policy.

The Heritage Foundation published a commentary last week encouraging American policy to increase America’s partnership with Azerbaijan — a former Soviet satellite that was created by the Soviets to appease Turkish ambitions in the Ottoman Empire.

The Heritage researcher’s article highlighted the European Commission’s Ursula von der Leyen, who traveled to Azerbaijan to sign an energy agreement, with the supposed goal of divesting from Russian oil.

Three takeaways are emphasized in the article:

1. Azerbaijan is strategically placed to counter Russia and Iran.

2. The United States has a long history of supporting Azerbaijan.

3. Azerbaijan has measurably advanced its economic freedom.

These positions supporting Azerbaijan are not reflected in the reality of geo-politics in the region and, if implemented into American policy, could see the United States supporting a genocidal dictator for worthless gain.

Before and after the fall of the Soviet Union, American foreign policy has been aimed at strategically countering Russia from expanding its range of influence. Especially after the Union’s fall, America saw the former Soviet satellites as an opportunity to bring capitalistic and democratic freedoms to many countries in order to drive a pro-Western environment.

Independent Azerbaijan’s first democratically elected president was overthrown in 1993 by Heydar Aliyev. Aliyev was a high-ranking KGB agent under the Soviet Union and, after mustering power in the newly independent state, assumed temporary powers before being “elected” a few months later.

Aliyev held power for ten years, and his son, Ilham Aliyev, has held the presidency since then owing to, as international observers have noted, a fraudulent election system.

The Economic Intelligence’s 2021 report lists Azerbaijan with seven other countries as, “authoritarian regimes,” along with Afghanistan and Russia.

The Heritage Foundation writes, according to their in-house matrix, “Azerbaijan has made meaningful progress in liberalizing its economy… Its overall rating improvement has become one of the highest.”

This rating is at odds with other reports, including World Economics Research in London, who list Azerbaijan as a “C” ranking. Among a list of nations, Azerbaijan rates lower than Russia, Sri Lanka, and, regional rival, Armenia.

It is the geo-politics involving Azerbaijan with Armenia, where we see overwhelming violations of human rights.

Armenia was the first nation to adopt Christianity as the state religion in the year 301. Its position between two massive empires, Roman and Persian, has long seen the Christian nation struggle for survival. When Islam sprang out of Arabia to decimate both powers, Armenians were slaughtered, women were raped on church altars, and buildings were demolished.

This practice continued under the Seljuq and Ottoman Turks, the latter of whom formed a lasting Empire that threatened Europe, itself, with the treatment doled out to Christian Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, and countless others.

Azerbaijan, as a country, didn’t enter the picture until 1918. Azeris, a Turkic-Iranian tribe, were a minority in the modern-day region until they were aided by the Ottoman Empire to oust the Russians and massacre the Armenian populace from the area. Now the Azeris dominate the remaining minority ethnicities in today’s Azerbaijan.

The Soviet Union absorbed Azerbaijan and Armenia, with an interesting wrinkle that was popular under Joseph Stalin’s rule. The region of Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as the Republic of Artsakh, was an Armenian autonomous region, but Stalin gave the “oblast” to Azerbaijan to maintain administrative oversight of.

This policy was intended to kindle tension in the region so that the focus of conflict could be directed at each other, rather than Moscow.

When the Soviet satellites began filing for independence, the people of Artsakh included, the international community recognized each nation, except for Artsakh. The world decided, instead, to continue the policies of Stalin and recognize Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan.

Artsakh, however, did not wish to be subjected to a nation known for massacring Armenians and won its war for independence.

In 2020, Azerbaijan launched an invasion of the Republic of Artsakh and, over the course of the 44-day war, committed countless violations of human rights, which the U.S. State Department has documented:

“[U]nlawful or arbitrary killing; torture; arbitrary detention; harsh and sometimes life-threatening prison condition …. Significant human rights issues connected with the Nagorno-Karabakh armed conflict included unlawful killings, civilian casualties, and inhuman treatment.”

Azerbaijan was supported in this effort by NATO-member Turkey. Turkey facilitated the transportation of Islamic-Jihadist terrorists from Syria to use as mercenaries against the Christian Armenians.

Relying on Azerbaijan for oil and gas is bad policy for both the Europeans and United States. 

Energy experts warn that Azerbaijan currently lacks the ability to offset Russian oil. The Azeris currently transport ten billion cubic meters of gas to Europe, while Russia – prior to its invasion of Ukraine – shipped 185 billion cubic meters.

Even if the United States and Europe were to invest billions of dollars into the coffers of a genocidal dictator, like Azerbaijan’s Aliyev, it would take years to build up the infrastructure to export.

It also cannot be ignored that Azerbaijan has its own agreements with Russia not to compete against them. Azerbaijan, like its overlord in Turkey, will lie and bribe Western leaders to support them, and then stab the West in the back to increase Islamic power in the region.

A far simpler solution, and one that everyday Republicans can support, is to continue the hard fight at home to embrace policies that will allow the United States to be energy independent.

Conservatives don’t want to partner with people who will slaughter fellow Christians, but many Americans have never heard of the countries involved. Conservative think-tanks and publishers must be honest with the people they represent.

Otherwise, you’ll see Republicans in office who will willingly sacrifice human lives for oil.

Trey Blanton is a former army captain and Texas deputy who gave up career to research and write on behalf of persecuted Christians.