Category: 2021

U.S. Representatives are leading the charge to block U.S. arms and aid to Azerbaijan, as part of a series of eight pro-Artsakh/Armenia amendments to the Fiscal Year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (H.R.4350) filed this week, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA). Other amendments demand Azerbaijan’s immediate release of Armenian POWs; call for an investigation of the use of U.S. technology in Turkish drones used against Artsakh and Armenia; explore ways to expand U.S. aid to Artsakh; and, designate Turkey’s “Grey Wolves” as a terrorist group.

The ANCA is leading a nationwide grassroots effort – anca.org/ndaa – to secure cosponsors for each of the amendments, which are set to be considered by the House Rules Committee as early as Monday, September 20th. The full U.S. House will have the opportunity to vote on each of the amendments ruled “in order” during consideration of H.R.4350. Amendments with strong, bipartisan backing are generally considered more favorably by Rules Committee members.

“We thank Representatives Cardenas, Pallone, Schiff, Sherman, Speier, Titus, and Valadao for offering their Congressional colleagues a long-overdue opportunity for an up-or-down vote on zeroing out all U.S. military aid to oil-rich Azerbaijan and other key pro-peace initiatives,” said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. “In the wake of Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing last year of 100,000+ indigenous Armenians from Artsakh – amid Aliyev’s ongoing invasion and occupation of Armenian territory – the Congress must act in a bipartisan manner to hold both Azerbaijan and Turkey accountable for their violent anti-Armenian aggression.”

A brief overview of each of the eight amendments is presented below along with their lead sponsors, listed as numbered by the House Rules Committee:

Amendment #52 – Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA): Blocks Federal funds from being obligated or expended to provide any United States military or security assistance or cooperation to the defense or security forces of the Government of Azerbaijan.

Amendment #90 – Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA): Prohibits the transfer of United States security assistance to the Government of Azerbaijan.

Amendment #122 – Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ): Withholds U.S. military aid to Azerbaijan through the Section 333 Building Partner Capacity Program.

Amendment #123 – Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ): Requires a report from the Secretary of Defense, in collaboration with the Secretary of State, addressing allegations that some units of foreign countries that have participated in security cooperation programs under section 333 of title 10, U.S.C. may have also committed gross violations of internationally recognized human rights before or while receiving U.S. security assistance. This report would also includes recommendations to improve human rights training and additional measures that can be adopted to prevent these types of violations.

Amendment #408 – Rep. David Valadao (R-CA) / Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA): Requires a report within 180 days of all US humanitarian and developmental assistance programs in Nagorno Karabakh, including an analysis of the effectiveness of such programs and any plans for future assistance.

Amendment #560 – Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) / Rep. Tony Cardenas (D-CA): Expresses the Sense of Congress that the government of Azerbaijan should immediately return all Armenian prisoners of war and captured civilians. It also urges the Administration to engage with Azerbaijani authorities, including through the OSCE Minsk Group, to make clear the importance of adhering to their obligations under the November 9 statement and international law to immediately release all prisoners of war and captured civilians.

Amendment #579 – Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV): Requires a report by the Secretary of State on the activities of the Grey Wolves organization (AKA Bozkurtlar & Ülkü Ocaklari) undertaken against U.S. interests, allies, and international partners, including a review of the criteria met for designation as a foreign terrorist organization.

Amendment #586 – Rep. Tony Cardenas (D-CA): Requires a report from the Secretary of Defense on U.S. parts found in Turkish Bayraktar drones deployed by Azerbaijan against Nagorno Karabakh and an assessment of potential violations of Arms Export Control Act.

What is happening in Armenia’s Syunik Province, particularly on the road between Goris and Kapan is extremely important and the United States has repeatedly stressed the need for a comprehensive settlement since the November 9 ceasefire arrangement, U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Lynne Tracy told reporters on Wednesday.

She reiterated that the United States does not see the status of Nagorno-Karabakh as having been resolved.

“We don’t see the status of Nagorno-Karabakh as having been resolved. We see the need for a comprehensive settlement that requires negotiations, and that is one very important way to try to address the various tensions that we have been seeing particularly in the border areas,” the diplomat said.

Lynne Tracy underlined that the Karabakh status remains on the agenda of the OSCE Minsk Group.

“This is the U.S. policy,” she added.

The Armenian opposition believes the Azerbaijani toponyms are being used by the Armenian authorities deliberately, former Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan, the leader of the opposition Armenia parliamentary faction, told reporters on Wednesday.

“There may be a hidden aspect in it. They assume that after the demarcation and delimitation these territories will fall under Azerbaijan’s control,” Ohanyan said, answering a journalist’s question about the use of Azerbaijani toponyms by Nikol Pashinyan and the National Security Service when referring to the settlements near the Goris-Kapan road.

He says he cannot understand on what legal basis and in what conditions the border demarcation process would take place.

Ohanyan noted that the Armenian government officials constantly use Azerbaijani names of settlements, while the leadership of Azerbaijan calls the settlements of Armenia by Azerbaijani toponyms.

Ohanyan states it is yet another manifestation of the pressure on the Armenian leaders by Azerbaijan.

“After the defeat in the war, the pressure and provocations will continue for a long while,” said the ex-defense minister.

He noted that the parliamentary opposition has organized hearings on the matter to also find out whether or not the Azerbaijani toponyms are being used by the Armenian authorities on purpose. However, he said, the opposition believes that it is being done deliberately.

He states that the handover of the territories to Azerbaijan envisaged by the November 9 statement is understandable, but the surrender of the areas of strategic importance during the actual demarcation and delimitation process after the peace deal is “completely incomprehensible”.

Ohanyan wondered why the map of the Soviet Union or various other maps are used in the demarcation, questioning their legal basis. He stressed that the parties should have stopped where they were at the end of the war.

Azerbaijani forces have detained the drivers of two Iranian trucks carrying bitumen to Stepanakert and Yerevan on the Vorotan community section of the Goris-Kapan interstate road, Para TV reported on Wednesday, citing its sources.

According to the sources, the drivers managed to make a phone call and said that they were detained and the Azerbaijanis were going to try them, after which communication with them was cut off.

MP Artur Vanetsyan, the leader of the opposition I’m Honored faction in the parliament, reacted to Nikol Pashinyan’s statement that the law “On Administrative Territorial Division” adopted in 2010 clearly states that the administrative boundaries of the villages of Shurnukh and Vorotan in Syunik Province correspond to the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

“These are just fairy tales,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “When the well-known statement was signed on November 9, the Azerbaijani armed forces were at least 60-70 kilometers away from the area where they are stationed today. Then they said, ‘We handed it over as a result of verbal agreements’.”

The opposition leader says it is necessary to set up an interstate commission on border demarcation and delimitation, but Armenia has hostile relations with Azerbaijan.

“Using the weakness of the Armenian authorities and their own “advantages”, Azerbaijan is trying to silently carry out demarcation and delimitation activities,” Vanetsyan said.

He condemned the authorities for “destroying the country and its security system”.

“The people need to realize that by staying in power, these men are destroying our country and its security system on a daily basis, are ceding territories [to Azerbaijan] piece by piece and cannot represent the interests of the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh,” Vanetsyan said.