Azerbaijan Military Assistance Waiver Delayed as Review Drags on

In an interview, Moreno Ocampo argued that if the international community fails to act, it will be “complicit in genocide.”

The U.S. and EU-brokered peace talks, meanwhile, have stalled in recent months as Azerbaijan has refused to hold mediated dialogues with leaders from Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenian community.

Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act of 1992 bars the United States from offering assistance to Azerbaijan unless Baku takes “demonstrable steps to cease all blockades and other offensive uses of force against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.”

The White House first issued the assistance waiver in 2002 when Azerbaijan allowed the Bush administration to use the country’s territory as a land bridge to get troops into Afghanistan. That opened the door for wide-ranging military and security partnerships between the two countries.

Azerbaijan, a major producer of natural gas that shares a maritime and land border with Iran, has also proved to be a useful partner for the U.S. in the Middle East as a counterweight to Tehran.

Azerbaijan receives significant military and financial support from Washington. Amid growing tensions with neighboring Iran in 2018, the Trump administration stepped up funding for the country’s border guards, providing $100 million worth of equipment and other assistance, making the South Caucasus nation one of the main beneficiaries of American tax dollars in the region. During the 2020 war, more than a dozen Democrats including then-Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Bob Menendez of New Jersey, wrote to the State Department urging that support be suspended.

Hikmet Hajiyev, foreign policy adviser to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, said that efforts to restrict military support for Azerbaijan were being orchestrated by “representatives of Congress who actually represent the Armenian lobby and aren’t thinking about their own national interest.” Such actions, he added, could be “detrimental” to the efforts of the U.S. and its allies in trying to secure a lasting peace.

The Armenian embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.

Armenian diaspora groups want the U.S. to halt military assistance to Azerbaijan. They argue U.S. attempts to influence Azerbaijan via Section 907 have fallen short.

Gev Iskajyan, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of Artsakh, which lobbies for Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh, explained that the U.S. has previously used the waiver in order to get concessions from Azerbaijan, only to relent and grant the waiver before Baku makes any changes.

“They dangle the waiver in front of [Azerbaijan], but at the last minute it’s always given,” Iskajyan said. “That strategy hasn’t been working.”

“There is a growing awareness on Capitol Hill that U.S. military support for Azerbaijan is enabling Aliyev to commit war crimes and human rights abuses against Armenians,” said Tim Jemal, president of the Global ARM advocacy group, which has been meeting with D.C. politicians as part of a push for sanctions. “There must be consequences for Azerbaijan’s bad behavior.”

A number of lawmakers on Capitol Hill want to see the waiver eliminated. “There is no justifiable reason to continue this waiver,” Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.), the Republican co-chair of the Congressional Armenian Caucus said in a statement, noting that Azerbaijan has used military equipment obtained from the U.S. against the residents of Nagorno-Karabakh.

“We have to be tougher with Aliyev if we want a peace deal,” said Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.). “What we’ve done so far hasn’t done anything to help a peace agreement, so getting tougher is more likely to achieve a good end.”

(Eric Bazail-Eimil reported from Washington. Gabriel Gavin reported from Yerevan, Armenia.)