U.S. State Department Signals Pause in U.S. Military Aid to Azerbaijan
-- House Foreign Affairs Committee Members Press Biden to Send Aid for Artsakh Refugees; Enforce Sanctions on Azerbaijan
WASHINGTON, DC – In an overdue and still inadequate response to Azerbaijan’s U.S.-armed genocide of Artsakh’s indigenous Christian Armenians, President Biden has only now started to outline potential accountability measures – starting with a cut-off of all U.S. military aid to Azerbaijan – that have long been called for by the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), our Congressional allies, and community and coalition partners.
Ambassador James O’Brien, Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, told House Foreign Affairs Committee members today “we have not and don’t anticipate submitting a waiver on [Section ] 907,” referencing the 1992 U.S. law that restricts U.S. aid to Azerbaijan based on its ongoing aggression against Armenia and Artsakh. Amb. O’Brien flatly rejected arguments – often advanced by the Azerbaijani lobby — that enforcing Section 907 would undermine U.S. national security interests.
“A day late, and a dollar short,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “Having armed, emboldened, and actively abetted Azerbaijan’s genocide of Artsakh – the U.S.-backed ethnic cleansing of Armenians from yet more of our indigenous homeland – President Biden will need to do far more than send signals about his willingness to enforce an existing U.S. statute. He can, for example – if he is serious and not just engaged in electoral damage control – lead a UN Security Council resolution establishing an international mandate providing security for the safe and sustainable return of Armenians to Artsakh.”
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