Armenian Assembly of America calls on American companies to abandon  lobbying activities in favor of Azerbaijan

ArmInfo.The Armenian Assembly of America (AAA) calls on American companies lobbying the interests of Azerbaijan to refuse to cooperate with this country.  This is stated in the message received in Armenia by AAA.

"Instead of supporting the regime, whose leader promised to  exterminate Christian Armenians like dogs, American firms should stop  cooperating with Azerbaijan and Turkey if they have even a grain of  conscience or a sense of American patriotism," said Assembly  Co-Chairs Anthony Barsamyan and Van Krikorian ... According to them,  accepting blood money to spread misinformation from the Aliyev and  Erdogan regimes among members of Congress and the Trump  administration is immoral and unjustified.  These tyrants in Baku and  Ankara imported jihadist terrorists to organize another genocide. And  no excuses can hide the crimes committed by international terrorism,  replete with a large number of beheadings of Christians. AAA notes  that American companies lobbying for Azerbaijan's interests should be  ashamed.  The country's armed forces are striking schools, churches,  hospitals, urban infrastructure and residential areas of Artsakh  using heavy artillery and modern attack drones. Civilians pay a high  price with their lives.  Meanwhile, the report notes, Erdogan and  Aliyev refuse to observe the signed truce, refusing even to take the  bodies of Azerbaijani, Turkish and jihadist militants killed on the  battlefields. In view of these developments, lobbying firms  representing some of America's leading corporations should not accept  blood money from Baku.

News reports indicate that the Azerbaijani government is allowing the  services of some of the most powerful lobbying firms in Washington to  be retained. So, the BGR Group company reported on fees in the amount  of more than $ 500 thousand in 2019. In addition, corporate interests  of companies such as BP, as well as former officials, are actively  pouring water on the mill of Azerbaijan, which is usually called  "Azerbaijan's laundry". The AAA reminds that human rights  organizations and the US State Department regularly refer to the  Azerbaijani government for suppressing dissent, as well as for  imprisoning and torturing government critics. Reporters Without  Borders ranks Azerbaijan 168th in terms of press freedom out of 180  countries it monitors. In addition, the US State Department, in its  2019 report, reported on the appalling state of human rights in  Azerbaijan. Significant human rights problems in this country  included murder, torture, arbitrary detention, harsh and sometimes  life-threatening prison conditions, political prisoners, arbitrary  interference with privacy, widespread problems with judicial  independence, severe restrictions on freedom of expression , press  and the Internet. Violence against journalists, harassment and  imprisonment of journalists on questionable charges, and blocking of  websites have also been reported.  There has been significant  interference with the rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of  association, restrictions on freedom of movement, the forced return  of refugees to a country where they face threats to their lives or  freedom, severe restrictions on political participation, systemic  corruption in government, police detention and torture of lesbians ,  gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people. The government of  Azerbaijan did not prosecute or punish most officials who violate  human rights, impunity remains a problem in Azerbaijan. The AAA also  emphasizes that Armenia is a country with a population of about 3  million people, whose defense budget is about $ 1.4 billion. ...  Azerbaijan has three times the population of Armenia and is armed  with both Russia and the United States. He spends $ 7 billion a year  on his army.  The attacks, which began on Sunday, September 27, were  aided by Turkey, a country of 82 million and fully armed with the  most advanced weapons of NATO countries. Recently, Azerbaijan has  also purchased lethal weapons from Israel, Belarus, China and South  Korea. Armenia is the oldest Christian nation in the world. Its  vulnerability in the face of Azerbaijani, Turkish and jihadist  aggression should worry Christians around the world and every citizen  of the world who cares about justice and peace. "We call on all  respectable people in the United States and around the world to act  immediately to save lives. Lobbyists who spread lies on behalf of a  country that denies many basic human rights are no better than  mercenaries on the battlefield," Barsamyan and Krikoryan said.