Fresno’s Armenians and congressmen call for action from President Biden over Azerbaijan aid
About a month after being praised for recognizing the Armenian Genocide by the Turks, President Joe Biden is taking flack for waiving restrictions on Azerbaijan, which has been accused of war crimes against Armenians.
Biden on April 24 became the first president since President Ronald Reagan to call the killing of Armenians from 1915 to 1923 a genocide carried out by the Ottoman Empire, what is modern-day Turkey.
The move gained Biden wide praise, including from Fresno’s Armenian community. But the honeymoon was short, because less than a week later Biden waived a restriction on U.S. aid to Azerbaijan under Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act. It has been waived annually since 2002.
Fresno attorney Marshall Moushigian said he was left scratching his head.
“Given Azerbaijan’s ever-present and increasingly bellicose tone toward Armenia, not to mention the nearly 200 POWs still being held and tortured and killed,” Moushigian wrote in an email, “it is tough to wrap our heads around the idea that out of one side of his mouth the president talks about the evils of the Armenian Genocide and out of the other side he rewards an increasingly corrupt and authoritarian dictatorship.”
Azerbaijan carried out a months-long war in 2020 against Armenia. Some 200 Armenian soldiers were captured and the Azerbaijani government has been accused of their mistreatment. Like Turkey, the oil-rich country of Azerbaijan also has roots that go back to the Ottoman Empire.
Armenian-American leaders have urged Biden to uphold Section 907, according to Mariam Khaloyan, Armenian Assembly of America congressional relations director.
“The U.S. has provided over $100 million in aid from American taxpayer dollars to Azerbaijan, which is being used by the Aliyev regime to destabilize the South Caucasus region with its aggressive and unchecked actions,” she said.
Thirty-two members of Congress sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken to raise concerns about the waiver. Central San Joaquin Valley Reps. David Valadao, R-Hanford; Jim Costa, D-Fresno; and Devin Nunes, R-Tulare signed the letter.
“Not a single American tax dollar should be sent to the armed forces of oil-rich Azerbaijan — a country that ethnically cleansed Artsakh, holds Armenians POWs and now occupies territory in the Republic of Armenia,” Valadao said Monday in a statement.
A State Department spokesperson earlier this month told The Hill in an emailed statement that “U.S. security assistance programs in Armenia and Azerbaijan are designed to enhance regional stability and are carefully monitored to ensure they do not hamper ongoing efforts to negotiate a peaceful settlement to the conflict.”
