U.S. Democratic Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Ed Markey said during a news conference at COP29 on Saturday (November 16) that they support Armenia, Reuters reports.
Their comments came in response to a question from a Baku TV journalist, who asked why the United States hasn’t made efforts to sanction Armenia.
“I think Senator Markey and I support Armenia, both of us. We are very regretful that the dislocation of so many Armenians has taken place. To put it mildly, I’m far from convinced that Armenians are to blame for that. And I don’t want to dwell in the home of my hosts on human rights issues. But if that were to be the topic, I would not be very complimentary,” Senator Sheldon Whitehouse said.
“We believe that the political prisoners should be released. We believe there should be a right of return of Armenians to Nagorno-Karabakh. And we believe that there should be a peace treaty between Azerbaijan and Armenia. And our hope is that it’s negotiated soon so that these issues can be resolved, including the issue of a capacity to have a road that can be traversed through Armenia by Azerbaijan. But it all has to be part of a negotiated treaty. My hope is that that will be the case. But as Sheldon (Whitehouse) said, you know, we ultimately need to make sure that that those prisoners are released and that there is a right to return peacefully by Armenian people to Nagorno-Karabakh,” Senator Markey said.
In October, nearly 60 US lawmakers including Whitehouse and Markey, asked Secretary of State Antony Blinken to press Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev to uphold human rights protections and release political prisoners ahead of the COP29 climate summit.
The lawmakers urged Blinken to force Azerbaijan to take “tangible measures” to free political prisoners and condemn provocative statements against Armenia, which “run the risk of undermining peace negotiations” after it retook full control of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev later rejected the letter, calling it “a disgusting appeal that cannot influence our will” and said it had been drawn up “to threaten and accuse us”.
