Hellenic Americans have joined Armenians to stop U.S. arms and aid to Azerbaijan. They call on US Congress to vote for Pallone Amendment to the foreign aid bill, H.R.4373, reports the Armenian National Committee of America.
“The US must stop enabling Azerbaijan-Turkey’s loyal wing man-as it undermines peace, stability and human rights,” he Hellenic American Leadership Council (HALC) said in a Twitter post.
Pallone Amendment (H.R.4373) talking points:
Stop U.S. Arms and Aid to Azerbaijan:
— Amid so many pressing needs here at home, why would Congress send U.S. tax dollars to subsidize the oil-rich, anti-Armenian regime of Azerbaijani dictator Ilham Aliyev?
— In the wake of Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing of 100,000+ indigenous Armenians from Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) – and amid Azerbaijan’s invasion and occupation of Armenian territory – the U.S. should be sending a single U.S. tax-dollar to the oil-rich Aliyev regime.
— The more than $120,000,000 in military aid the U.S. has recklessly provided Azerbaijan has emboldened the tyrannical regime in Baku, materially empowering their ethnic-cleansing on Artsakh last September and encouraging Baku to continue invading and occupying Armenian land today.
— Now, more than ever, the Congress must act in a bipartisan manner to maintain the spirit and the letter of Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act, a longstanding provision of law aimed at holding Azerbaijan accountable for its relentless aggression against Armenians.
Strengthen America Values as a Core Tenet of U.S. Foreign Policy
— Sending U.S. military aid to human rights abusers like Azerbaijan not only recklessly enables Baku’s aggression, it undermines the Administration’s commitment to human rights as a core tenet of our foreign policy.
— The cost of green-lighting military aid to Azerbaijan extends well beyond the South Caucasus. Abetting one of the world’s most authoritarian regimes during a regional humanitarian and security crisis signals that the U.S. is willing to abandon our values for the sake of oil interests.
— U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide comes with the responsibilities, among them not sending arms or aid to states – like Azerbaijan – that are openly attempting to complete this crime.
Background:
As a candidate, President Joe Biden called on the United States to enforce Section 907 of the FREEDOM SUPPORT ACT and “stop the flow of military equipment to Azerbaijan.”
Section 907, as originally enacted in 1992 with strong bipartisan support, restricts U.S. assistance to the Government of Azerbaijan until the President determines, and so reports to the Congress, that the Government of Azerbaijan is taking demonstrable steps to cease all blockades and other offensive uses of force against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. It has been waived – under expanded authority granted by Congress in 2001 – during the Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden Administrations.
