The Armenian pressure campaign comes as Washington has started to turn its focus toward the fighting.
Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) introduced a resolution earlier this month condemning Azerbaijan and Turkey’s role in the conflict, which has drawn 67 co-sponsors. And Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met separately on Friday with the Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov in an effort to end hostilities.
The effort recalls the push to convince Washington lobbying firms representing Saudi Arabia’s government to cut ties with the kingdom in 2018 after Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The Washington Post, where Khashoggi had been a contributing opinion writer, threatened to bar two lobbyists from writing columns for the paper unless their firms stopped working for Saudi Arabia.
The pressure ultimately led five lobbying firms to sever ties with the kingdom.
Turkey and Azerbaijan aren’t bereft of lobbying power now without Mercury, which Turkey hired in January on a contract scheduled to run through the end of the year, according to a copy filed with the Justice Department. The firm was charged with helping to organize events that would let Turkey “connect with public policy stakeholders” and with advising the Turkish government on media relations.
Turkey also retains the lobbying firms Capitol Counsel and Greenberg Traurig while Azerbaijan’s government retains BGR Group, according to disclosure filings. The countries’ lobbyists include former Reps. Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.), Charles Boustany (R-La.), Randy Forbes (R-Va.) and Albert Wynn (D-Ma.).
The Armenian government, meanwhile, hired former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole last month for help in Washington.
Another former lawmaker, former Rep. Bob Livingston (R-La.) of the Livingston Group, stopped representing Azerbaijan’s government last week, according to a disclosure filing, although it’s unclear whether Livingston was actually lobbying for the country.
