Baku, October 5, AZERTAC

A group of MPs of the 7th convocation of the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan have made an appeal to Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeyhun Bayramov.

AZERTAC presents the appeal:

“Dear Mr. Minister,

First of all, we would like to state that the restoration of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of our country under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev has laid the foundation for the long-term peace and stability in the region. Having ended the thirty-year occupation and injustice, Azerbaijan has not only ensured its national interests but also upheld the supremacy of international law.

This new situation allows our country to actively contribute to solving global problems. The unanimous support of the decision for Azerbaijan to host the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) on December 9, 2023, shortly after Azerbaijan restored its sovereignty on September 20, 2023, is proof of the great support given by the world to Azerbaijan's vision for international peace and development.

Azerbaijan’s thorough preparation for COP29 demonstrates how seriously our country takes the fundamental issues of climate change that concern all of mankind.

Unfortunately, certain circles are attempting to use Azerbaijan’s hosting of COP29 to pressure our country into accepting certain demands. The letter sent to the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on October 3, 2024, by a group of US senators and members of Congress is one such example.

It must be openly stated that we have no doubt that this letter was organized by the US Department of State. As President Ilham Aliyev highlighted in Jabrayil on October 4, they write letters to themselves at the State Department to threaten Azerbaijan.

The mentioned letter, which contains racial discrimination against Azerbaijan, is full of slander, contradicts the spirit of dialogue, and calls for the release of war criminals and the militarization of Armenia. It is unacceptable, contravenes the international law, and demonstrates that the U.S. is not interested in the harmonious continuation of bilateral relations.

We would like to remind the authors of this letter, which criticizes Azerbaijan with baseless arguments on human rights and international humanitarian law, that during the wars waged by the U.S. in Iraq, Afghanistan, and various other parts of the world, millions of civilians were killed, many were subjected to torture, and many more were punished without due process. Despite its claims about human rights, the U.S. has not signed key human rights conventions. It was the very same U.S. that kept the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture from visiting Guantanamo for years.

The U.S., as a co-chair of the Minsk Group, has never recognized its responsibility, and along with France, tried so that Azerbaijani territories remained under occupation. Under the watchful eyes of the U.S., Azerbaijan’s cultural heritage, mosques, and historical monuments were destroyed and desecrated in the formerly occupied territories, while entire cities and villages were wiped off the face of the earth. The U.S. never condemned these barbaric acts of Armenia’s.

These renewed attacks on Azerbaijan, which began after the 2020 Patriotic War and intensified last year, are the reflection of the U.S.' refusal to accept Azerbaijan's restoration of its territorial integrity and sovereignty, as well as its ethnic and religious discrimination against the Azerbaijani people, and its intent to create a new conflict in the region. Why does the U.S., which has occupied various countries under false accusations, consider Azerbaijan’s operation to free its own territory and end separatism an act of “military aggression”? The same congressmen who constantly speak of Armenia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity have never once mentioned respect for Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The congressmen accusing Azerbaijan of “ethnic cleansing” remain silent on the deportation of all Azerbaijanis from Armenia and do not react to the appeals of the Western Azerbaijan Community to the very same Antony Blinken.

These congressmen have descended to such a disgracefully low level that they use an article by an Armenian author as "proof" against Azerbaijan. They accuse Azerbaijan of not wanting to sign a peace treaty, conveniently forgetting that it was Azerbaijan that initiated the peace treaty, and drafted its text. They remain silent about the fact that Armenia's constitution still contains territorial claims against our country.

When these congressmen refer to “unresolved territorial conflicts in Azerbaijan,” what exactly do they mean? The Karabakh conflict has been resolved. The Azerbaijani people and state have resolved the Karabakh conflict, and opinions from those sitting thousands of kilometers away do not change reality. The Azerbaijani people have eternally returned to Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur. The reality is the homes built today in Jabrayil for former internally displaced persons, the reality is the Azerbaijanis returning to their ancestral homelands.

Do the congressmen not know that the individuals they refer to as the “political leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh” are war criminals, the butchers of Khojaly, arms dealers, financial fraudsters, and oligarchs involved in all kinds of dirty deeds?! Why does the U.S. defend those who take pride in committing the Khojaly genocide, grant visas to separatists, and welcome them with open arms?! Have those calling for the release of these criminals ever spoken up about the fate of the more than 4,000 Azerbaijanis who have been missing for over 30 years?!

Armenia, which the congressmen consider a 'democratic' country, is a country that kept another country's territory under occupation for 30 years, committed ethnic cleansing, suffers from the disease of national exceptionalism, and even now has not prosecuted war criminals but instead glorifies them.

It should be once more reminded that Azerbaijan has always demonstrated patience and prudence in advancing bilateral relations and has pursued a path of continuing and developing partnership on issues of mutual interest between the two countries. Azerbaijan has actively participated in cooperation on international security issues that are of far greater interest to the U.S., contributed to NATO operations at the request of the U.S., and participated in those operations with dignity. In short, Azerbaijan has acted responsibly and constructively in establishing and developing friendly relations with the U.S. in accordance with the interests of the two nations and the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.

Unfortunately, despite Azerbaijan’s responsible and measured approach, the U.S. has acted non-constructively since the very first day of our independence. The anti-Azerbaijani measures, which began with the infamous Section 907 amendment, continue unabated. This is the same U.S. that, after Armenia’s perpetration of the Khojaly genocide and the occupation of Shusha and Lachin, imposed sanctions not on Armenia but on Azerbaijan.

The United States has turned a blind eye to the tragedies inflicted upon the Azerbaijani people by Armenia over the past 30 years—the occupation of Azerbaijani territories, the expulsion of more than one million Azerbaijanis from Armenia and the occupied Azerbaijani lands, the mass destruction of Azerbaijani cultural heritage, the devastation of hundreds of Azerbaijani cities and villages, and the planting of millions of landmines in our territories. The U.S. has, in fact, encouraged Armenia to continue its occupation and ethnic cleansing.

After Azerbaijan liberated its territories from Armenian occupation and resolved the conflict, the U.S. has been taking steps to reignite it. The U.S., along with several other states at its initiative, allocated large amounts of financial aid to Armenia, which enabled Armenia to rearm and encouraged it to adopt a non-constructive stance in peace negotiations. At the meeting held on April 5, 2024, in Brussels between the U.S., the European Union, and Armenia, Armenia was effectively given an order to start a new war. In doing so, the U.S. is bringing geopolitical competition to the South Caucasus, creating dividing lines in the region.

In this context, the letter sent by members of the U.S. Congress to Secretary of State Antony Blinken proves that the U.S. is not interested in the smooth continuation of bilateral relations.

While noting Azerbaijan’s commitment to continuing bilateral relations, we would like to emphasize that this is not possible with the efforts by one side alone. Based on the principle of reciprocity and guided by the aim of bringing bilateral relations back to a logical track, we believe that it is time to respond to the steps taken by the U.S. We remind the congressmen who are calling on the State Department to put pressure on Azerbaijan and its President that the events following 2020 have once again shown that Azerbaijan has never bowed to pressure or slander, and no lies or threats can have even the slightest effect on its determination. On the contrary, with such actions, the U.S. further erodes its already low standing in the Azerbaijani society. This letter of ours also expresses the Azerbaijani people's indignation towards the United States' double standards and false values. These unjust, ridiculous accusations and threats against the region’s most powerful state also reflect the imprudence of the congressmen who signed the letter.

In this regard, we ask you to take the following steps to reassess relations between Azerbaijan and the U.S.:

- Terminate the agreements in force between Azerbaijan and the U.S., particularly the “Joint Declaration on Future Military and Defense Cooperation between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the U.S.” signed in 1997, and the “Agreement on the Acquisition of Equipment and Mutual Services between the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Department of Defense of the United States of America” signed in 2013;

- Immediately cease negotiations on new agreements and the extension of existing agreements;

- Suspend all projects implemented in Azerbaijan by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and U.S. non-governmental organizations, deny permission for new projects, and terminate USAID’s activities in our country.”