Seeks Formal U.S. Sanctions over Aliyev’s ‘Gross Violations of Internationally Recognized Human Rights’
WASHINGTON—The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) is calling on the Obama Administration to investigate violations of the “Leahy Law” regarding U.S. military assistance to units of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces that are credibly reported to have committed “gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.”
An ANCA letter sent today to Obama—as well as community appeals directed, via the ANCA website, to members of Congress—raise alarms about Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s major escalation in aggression: the introduction of advanced weapons, the high level of fatalities, and the “gross violations of internationally recognized human rights” his forces are credibly alleged to have committed against both civilians and soldiers.
The ANCA specifically called on the president and members of Congress to “immediately zero-out U.S. military aid to Azerbaijani pending the outcome of a Leahy Law investigation” and “subsequent to a determination that Azerbaijani forces have, in fact, violated the terms of U.S. law…to statutorily prohibit all military aid to Baku and to take effective measures to bring the responsible members of Azerbaijan’s security forces to justice.”
The ANCA letter also asked U.S. officials to recall that “the Azerbaijani government has yet to bring to justice Ramil Safarov, who, in 2004, axe-murdered Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan while he was asleep at a NATO Partnership for Peace peacekeeping training program in Hungary. Rather than supporting efforts to punish this admitted killer, President Aliyev secured Safarov’s transfer from a Hungarian prison and then brought him home to Baku, where he was pardoned, given a parade, promoted in rank, and given back pay.”
Credible reports of atrocities committed by Aliyev’s forces against civilians and Karabagh defense forces during the April 2-7 Azerbaijani attack on the Nagorno-Karabagh Republic (NKR/Artsakh) are now emerging—including the execution and mutilation of an elderly couple in the village of Talish and the beheading of three Armenian soldiers.
Aliyev’s military annually receives millions of dollars in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) and International Military Education and Training (IMET) appropriations, and, as such, is subject to congressional oversight to ensure compliance with U.S. law (including the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and recurring provisions of annual Department of Defense appropriations).
The “Leahy Law,” first introduced in 1997, prohibits the U.S. Department of State and Department of Defense from providing military assistance to foreign military units that violate human rights with impunity. In keeping with core American values, these laws help ensure that our U.S. tax dollars are not used by units or individuals of foreign armed units or security forces to commit human rights abuses and war crimes.
For information about the Leahy Law, see https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R43361.pdf.
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Well done ANCA in exposing the criminal actions of Aliyev. The Azeris comited many atrocities during Artsakh’s fight for independance which constitute war crimes. Their tactics have not changed as violation of human rights is of no importance to them and forms a part of their cultural makeup. I am sure the American Nation will be outraged by these crimes and would not want their government associated with such negative poblicities. Americans will demand immediate stop of any aid given to these Azeri criminals.
Do you really think and hope that obama does something constructive? Do you really think america, israel and those other nations will stop supplying arms to this regime in azerbaijan? Come on be serious, there is alot of money to be made and if you put obama into this equation, well! Nothing will eventuate but more talk and no action – it is a fact. The truth always hurts – a la carte america and the rest of the gang that supplies arms. Where is that useless mob – the UN? The toothless and useless mob of political humans who sit around and getting fat pay cheques for doing nothing in many arears.
It may not produce the full result that we want, but this kind of pressure is always helpful.
For what it’s worth, please sign this petition to kick Turkey out of OSCE https://www.change.org/p/osce-we-demand-to-expel-turkey-from-osce-minsk-group?recruiter=13626682&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=autopublish&utm_term=des-lg-share_petition-no_msg&fb_ref=Default.
ANCA has done a good job in bringing these atrocities by Azeri President Aliyev, to the attention of Mr. Obama. I don’t know if Mr. Obama will do anything about it. He knows Aliyev’s crimes very well, especially when it comes to the Armenians. He has broken his word in the past.