“New York Times” has published documents that show the lobbying of Azerbaijan in Washington. In 2012 Azerbaijan has used the services of a 
company to influence public opinion and lobbying in Washington to present Azerbaijan as a reliable partner on security issues. According to the “New York Times”, the Azeri state oil company SOCAR has invested large sums to the “charm offensive” to the analysis and opinion “Atlantic Council” center. Nevertheless, according to the newspaper, the objectives of Baku would not have been achieved. Azerbaijan would nevertheless held in Washington a series of lectures and seminars obeying this lobbying, conferences, one of whose themes was “efforts visibility of Azerbaijan as a NATO partner” and had the participation of a number of officials and leaders of an American State Department stressed that the role of Baku as a strategic partner of the Atlantic Alliance. Also in this continuity, Azerbaijan would have called this year the services of a lobbying organization “Podesta Group” led by a certain Tony Podesda, close to President Barack Obama.
Krikor Amirzayan