InternationalAsk Congress to help maintain the peace
Published: Friday November 27, 2009
On the eve of a summit with his Armenian counterpart, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev issued an ultimatum: If the meeting "ends without result, then our hopes in negotiations will be exhausted and then we are left with no other option," he said, according to The Associated Press. "We have the right to liberate our land by military means."
The Azerbaijani president noted, "Azerbaijan is spending billions on buying new weapons, hardware, strengthening its position on the line of contact."
We have every confidence in the ability of Karabakh to defend itself against any Azerbaijani onslaught. Indeed, if Azerbaijan were to choose to initiate war again, it would likely lose territory again; as it courted new defeats, however, Azerbaijan would bring more misery to families in Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Karabakh alike.
All of us with a commitment to peace must act to prevent war. At the very least, we cannot allow our government in the United States to underwrite the war Mr. Aliyev proposes to start.
The United States Congress can and must send an unequivocal message to Mr. Aliyev regarding his latest threat of war: just as war has consequences, threats of war have consequences.
Conferees from the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives will be meeting shortly to reconcile the different foreign assistance bills passed in the two houses of Congress. One of the line items in the foreign-aid bills is military aid to Azerbaijan. In the Senate version, in keeping with the recommendation of the Obama administration, Azerbaijan would receive $4.9 million in U.S. military aid. In the House version, it would receive $3.5 million, the same as Armenia.
In response to Mr. Aliyev's latest threats, conferees should cut off U.S. military assistance to Azerbaijan altogether.
Military aid to Azerbaijan is meant to support U.S. strategic objectives vis-à-vis Iran and Afghanistan. Azerbaijan is explicitly barred from using it to wage war against Armenians. But when, as Mr. Aliyev admits with pride, his government is spending "billions" precisely to wage war against Armenians, it is impossible to argue that $3.5 million or $4.9 million a year from the United States is sorely needed.
In considering Azerbaijan's reliability as a strategic partner, it is useful to consider that Mr. Aliyev is actively seeking to undermine the normalization of Armenia-Turkey relations, a process supported and encouraged by the United States.
We urge readers to write to members of the House and Senate Foreign Operations Subcommittees and the co-chairs of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues. Ask them to give a clear response to Baku's military buildup and Mr. Aliyev's threats of war: in agreeing on a foreign-aid budget for 2010, House and Senate conferees should cut off military aid to Azerbaijan.
Members of the Senate Subcommittee on the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
Patrick Leahy (D.-Vt.), chair
Judd Gregg, ranking member (R.-N.H.)
To contact members of the Senate, write:
Office of Senator (Name)
United States Senate
Washington DC 20510
Or call the Senate switchboard at
1-202-224-3121.
Members of the House Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
Nita Lowey (N.Y.), chair
Kay Granger (R.-Tex.), ranking member
Ben Chandler (D.-Ky.)
Ander Crenshaw (R.-Fla.)
Steve Israel (D.-N.Y.)
Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. (D.-Ill.)
Mark Steven Kirk (R.-Ill.)
Barbara Lee (D.-Calif.)
Jerry Lewis (R.-Calif.), ex officio
Betty McCollum (D.-Minn.)
David R. Obey (D.-Wisc.), ex officio
Dennis R. Rehberg (R.-Mt.)
Steven R. Rothman (D.-N.J.)
Adam Schiff (D.-Calif.)
Co-chairs of the House Armenian Caucus
Frank Pallone, Jr. (D.-N.J.)
Mark Steven Kirk (R.-Ill.) (also a member of the subcommittee above)
To contact members of the House of Representatives, call the House switchboard at
1-202-225-3121
Or find their addresses at clerk.house.gov
