Prior to last year’s US presidential election, Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev openly rooted for Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Aliyev may have got what he wanted, but that still likely won’t be enough to ease rancorous US-Azerbaijani diplomatic relations anytime soon.
Baku earlier this month signaled that a reset of fractured bilateral relations was not in the offing when Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov announced the US Agency for International Development (USAID) had been barred from conducting activities in Azerbaijan since June 1 of last year. He then proceeded to air grievances with the Biden administration for imposing penalties on Azerbaijan for what he characterized as the country’s “restoring its sovereignty.”
Specifically, Bayramov criticized US officials for following provisions outlined in Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act, thus preventing Baku from directly receiving any kind of assistance from the US government. Washington took such action ostensibly to punish Azerbaijan for its actions during the reconquest of Nagorno-Karabakh: Azerbaijani forces gained full control of the territory in late 2023, forcing an estimated 100,000 Armenian residents to flee.
Since the 9/11 terrorist tragedy, Azerbaijan had received a waiver for Section 907’s provisions. But a bill introduced in Congress in early 2024, known as the Armenian Protection Act, specifically sought to “repeal Freedom Support Act section 907 waiver authority with respect to assistance to Azerbaijan.” Although the bill has not been enacted by Congress, the Biden administration had, in effect, adhered to Section 907 penalties on Baku.
“After Azerbaijan restored its territorial integrity in 2023, our country began to be subjected to groundless pressure by the United States. … The Biden administration wanted to punish us by depriving Azerbaijan of aid,” said Bayramov, speaking at a news conference January 16 with his Georgian counterpart, Maka Bochorishvili.
Soon after the introduction of the Armenian Protection Act, the Azerbaijani government ordered a review of indirect US aid activity in Azerbaijan. That review led to Azerbaijani officials’ questioning the utility of USAID’s presence in the country. “When we analyzed the USAID framework document and its activities in the country in recent years, we realized that its works are not in line with Azerbaijan’s interests and wishes but rather serve the US agenda,” Bayramov said.
