Thursday, November 17 2022 01:45

ArmInfo. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D-NJ) led a stinging indictment of the U.S. policy on Azerbaijan, charging that the State Department witnesses testifying at the November 16th hearing were "wholly unresponsive" to  concerns about the ongoing waiver of Section 907 restrictions on U.S. aid to Azerbaijan and the lack of meaningful U.S. assistance to Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) and Armenia following Azerbaijani attacks, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).  

"We want to thank Chairman Menendez for holding this hearing and  shining a much-needed spotlight on our State Department's deeply  flawed policies in the Caucasus region," said Aram Hamparian,  Executive Director of the ANCA. "The inability of either witness to  answer straightforward questions speaks to the incoherence of our  present State Department policy - how very far the Administration's  reckless and irresponsible approach toward the region has drifted  from actual U.S. interests and core American values." 

Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen  Donfried and State Department Senior Advisor for Caucasus  Negotiations Philip Reeker were witnesses at the November 16th Senate  Foreign Relations Committee titled "Assessing U.S. Policy in the   Caucasus." 

Chairman Menendez summed up their responses this way: "This has been  one of the most disappointing hearings I've ever held, but it has  crystalized some things for me. One is, it seems to me the United  States is in bed with Azerbaijan."

Citing Assistant Secretary Donfried's testimony that the U.S. urges  Azerbaijan to respect human rights, Chairman Menendez pushed back,  "yet we give it money and they continue to do what they want. Money  is fungible, and so whether it is direct assistance that can hurt   Armenia or not, money is fungible." 

Calling the Administration's annual waiver of Section 907  restrictions on U.S. aid to Azerbaijan "automatic," Chairman Menendez  asked, "how on Earth can the United State justify sending any kind of  support, security or otherwise to a regime in Baku. It's inexcusable.  I personally think it's morally repugnant and it makes a mockery of  the FREEDOM Support Act." 

Chairman Menendez called out the false parity in U.S. statements,  citing US apparent refusal to clearly and unequivocally condemn  Azerbaijani aggression against Armenia and Artsakh.  "You have to  recognize when there is an aggressor. If I am the recipient of the  violence, and you are urging both sides to stop the violence, if  there is one side that is the aggressor, you should direct your  comments to the aggressor.  We seem incapable of doing that." 

Chairman Menendez was visibly angered by the lack of State Department  investigation into Azerbaijan's use of illegal munitions against  Artsakh during the 2020 war.  "We have done NOTHING to verify the  videos and evidence of cluster munition, of white phosphorus - which  are illegal," stated Chairman Menendez. He also called attention  State Department inaction in the face of Azerbaijani torture, and  murder of Armenian POWs, including the mutilation of a female  Armenian soldier in September. "We have done NOTHING to verify the  videos of the execution of Armenian soldiers, the abuse of female  Armenian soldiers - we have done nothing.  I ask you, are you aware  of the videos, [you respond] 'yes', but did we do anything to verify  them, 'no'," stated Menendez.  

Both Assistant Secretary Donfried and Senior Advisor Reeker evaded  the Chairman's questions on U.S.  assistance to help the people of  Artsakh and Armenia following the 2020 war and Azerbaijan's ongoing  attacks, with Reeker citing a paltry $2 million in U.S. demining  assistance. "You come to a hearing in which you can't even tell me,  with any degree of specificity, what humanitarian assistance we are  providing. So, it's totally, totally unacceptable and you can tell  the Secretary I will be looking for ways to express my  dissatisfaction," stated Chairman Menendez.  

Senior Foreign Relations Committee member Ed Markey (D-MA) noted that  this September, he and several colleagues had sent a letter to  Secretary of State Blinken and Secretary of Defense Austen asking  them to prevent any security assistance from going to Azerbaijan  until Armenia and Azerbaijan reach a permanent lasting resolution to  ensure peace and stability in Nagorno Karabakh. He noted that they  had not yet received any answers to several questions they had posed  in the letter and proceeded to ask them the witnesses directly about  US aid to Azerbaijan and the lack of U.S. assistance to Artsakh.  

Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) asked if the State Department had  issued an assessment on Azerbaijan's unilateral attack on Armenia in  September.  Assistant Secretary Donfried replied that, "all of these  things are complicated and our focus has been, how do we move these  two countries to a peace agreement after thirty years of conflict."  Sen. Van Hollen pressed again, asking whether the State Department  felt that Azerbaijan's attack was in response to Armenian aggression.  Assistant Secretary Donfried, again evading the question regarding  Azerbaijan's unilateral attack, stated, "at that time, when we spoke  to both parties [Armenia and Azerbaijan] our focus was on stopping  the violence.  I do think we played an important role in that  violence being stopped."  Sen. Van Hollen responded, "with all due  respect, that did not answer my question" and stated he would follow  up later.  

Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) focused on the impact of the Ukraine  conflict and on Russia's role as peacekeepers in Nagorno Karabakh  and, politically more broadly in the region.  Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD)  asked whether the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe  (OSCE) Minsk group mediation efforts on Nagorno Karabakh still had  relevance.  Others asking broader questions regarding Ukraine,  Georgia, and the situation in the Caucasus region included Senators  Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Tim Kaine (D-VA), and Chris Murphy (D-CT).