Friday, June 9 2023 11:50

ArmInfo.Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), the powerful Ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations  Subcommittee on Foreign Operation, is urging her Congressional colleagues to call on the Biden Administration to end all U.S. military aid to Azerbaijan, in light of President Aliyev's ongoing six-month brutal blockade of Artsakh's 120,000 indigenous Armenian Christian population, reported the Armenian National Committee of  America (ANCA).  

"The Biden-Harris Administration's military aid to  Azerbaijan pours fuel on the fire - emboldening its Aliyev regime to  further escalate its aggression and tighten its blockade of Artsakh,"  said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. "Take a moment today to  call, tweet, and write your U.S. Representatives to join with  Congresswoman Lee and her colleagues to end all U.S. security and  military aid to Baku - then ask your friends and family to do the  same."

    Rep. Lee's Congressional letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken,  an initiative strongly supported by the ANCA, comes as the foreign  ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan are scheduled to hold another  round of talks in Washington DC as early as next week. The letter  stresses that "Azerbaijan's prolonged blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh  and its continued occupation of Armenian sovereign territory not only  threatens to jeopardize tenuous conflict resolution efforts, but  gravely endangers the security and welfare of Nagorno- Karabakh's  Armenian population."

    "Dismay" at State Department's Weak Response to Azerbaijan's  anti-Armenian Threats

    The Congressional letter goes on express "dismay" at the State  Department's reticence to forcefully reject President Aliyev's recent  threats against the Artsakh's authorities.  "Either they [Artsakh]  will bend their necks and come themselves or things will develop  differently now. If I say that amnesty can be an option, they should  not miss this opportunity. They have missed many opportunities, a  number of opportunities, and each time, as they say, we had to knock  them over to bring them to their senses," stated President Aliyev in  remarks on May 28th.  Instead of condemning the statement, a State  Department spokesman "welcomed" President Aliyev's remarks.

    Calls on Biden Administration to Enforce Section 907 Sanctions on   Azerbaijan 

Rep. Lee's congressional letter states, "In the context of this  ongoing blockade and President Aliyev's continuing threats, extending  the Presidential waiver of Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act  would send a dangerous message to Azerbaijan's government - that  there will be no repercussions for its attempts to impose its will on  the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh by intimidation, starvation and   deadly force." 

The Biden Administration is currently deciding whether to reauthorize  of the Presidential waiver of Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act.   Enacted in 1992, the law establishes statutory restrictions on US  assistance to the Government of Azerbaijan "until the President  determines, and so reports to the Congress, that the Government of  Azerbaijan is taking demonstrable steps to cease all blockades and  other offensive uses of force against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh."  Congress included a Section 907 waiver in the FY2002 Foreign  Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations   Act.  

The Section 907 waiver and subsequent extensions require a number of  certifications, including that granting the waiver "will not  undermine or hamper ongoing efforts to negotiate a peaceful  settlement between Armenia and Azerbaijan or be used for offensive  purposes against Armenia." A US Government Accountability Office  (GAO) report, issued in 2022, revealed that the State Department  consistently failed to inform Congress of the impact of over $164  million in assistance to Baku on the military balance between  Azerbaijan and Armenia.  

U.S. presidents - Republican and Democrat - have waived Section 907  annually since 2001, including President Biden, who, as a candidate,  called on the Trump Administration to enforce Azerbaijan sanctions  and apply the measure.  

Rep. Barbara Lee: A Champion of U.S. Assistance to Artsakh 

Rep. Lee's Congressional letter is a continuation of her leadership  of sending expanded aid to Artsakh in the face of increasing  Azerbaijani aggression.  

With strong support from the ANCA, Congresswoman Lee was successful  late last year in including language in the Consolidated  Appropriations Act (P.L.117-103) directing that the U.S. Department  of State and U.S. Agency for International Development provide  Congress with an "assistance strategy for addressing humanitarian and  recovery needs arising from the [Artsakh] conflict" that identifies  the U.S.  "resources and programs," available for this purpose. This  Artsakh aid provision, now signed into law, was made possible only  because of the determined leadership of Congresswoman Lee - who  during the 117th Congress - served as the Chair of the House  Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on State and Foreign  Operations, which is responsible for foreign aid. The Artsakh  provision included a sixty-day timeline for the Biden Administration  to report back to Congress - a deadline that must be met by the end  of February of 2023.  In response to public questioning by Senate  Foreign Relations Committee Chair Robert Menendez (D-NJ), USAID  Administrator Power confirmed that they have conducted the Artsakh  needs assessments.  The State Department has failed to make the  review publicly available. No U.S.  humanitarian assistance programs  have been implemented in Artsakh since the election.  

Earlier this year, Congresswoman Lee spoke at a Capitol Hill press  conference held in the Press Triangle at the foot of the U.S. Capitol  Building and called on the Biden Administration to stop US military  aid to Azerbaijan and send emergency aid to Artsakh in response to  the devastating humanitarian crisis in Artsakh caused by Azerbaijan's  blockade of the Lachin Corridor. "I have long been a strong advocate  for humanitarian support and recovery needs arising from the Artsakh  conflict," explained Rep. Lee. "As we all know, Artsakh is enduring a  major and growing humanitarian crisis caused by Azerbaijan's illegal  blockade of the Lachin Corridor, Artsakh's only humanitarian lifeline  to Armenia. So yes, like all of you, I strongly condemn Azerbaijan's  blockade of the vital corridor connecting Armenia and Artsakh and  call for the immediate opening." Rep. Lee applauded the leadership of  the Armenian American community for working with her committee to  include language in the Fiscal Year 2023 Omnibus funding bill calling  for a comprehensive strategy to address Artsakh's humanitarian needs.  "I'm looking forward to continuing to work with the Administration to  get this done," stated Rep. Lee