Senate votes to stop Azerbaijan aid waiver amid Armenia invasion fears

WASHINGTON ― Senators unanimously handed laws final week that will reduce off U.S. safety support to Azerbaijan for the subsequent two years amid rising issues that it might invade southern Armenia within the close to future.

The Senate handed the Armenian Safety Act by unanimous consent with little fanfare on Wednesday. The invoice, launched by Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., would bar President Joe Biden from issuing a waiver in fiscal 2024 and FY25 wanted to unlock Azerbaijani safety help.

The vote comes after greater than 100,000 Armenians fled the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh area after Azerbaijan positioned them beneath siege for greater than 9 months in what Armenia has described as ethnic cleaning.

“We should ship a robust message and present our companions all over the world that America will implement the situations that we connect to navy support,” Peters, who sits on the Armed Providers Committee, mentioned on the Senate ground Wednesday. “If we don’t take motion when nations willfully ignore the phrases of our agreements with them, our agreements will turn out to be successfully meaningless and toothless.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken briefed lawmakers on the scenario in October and expressed concern that Azerbaijan might launch an invasion of southern Armenia within the coming weeks, Politico reported.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has known as on Armenia to determine a hall by southern Armenia to straight join Azerbaijan with its exclave that borders Turkey and Iran, at occasions threatening to take action by drive.

Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs James O’Brien instructed the Home Overseas Affairs Committee on Wednesday earlier than the Senate vote that the Biden administration doesn’t intend to resume the waiver wanted to offer safety support to Azerbaijan. The waiver is a longstanding level of rivalry between the State Division and the Congressional Armenian Caucus, which boasts greater than 100 lawmakers.

Congress first blocked safety support to Azerbaijan in 1992 after the primary Nagorno-Karabakh battle. Nevertheless, it subsequently handed laws in 2001 that allowed the State Division to challenge an annual waiver permitting Baku to obtain navy support amid mounting tensions on the time between Azerbaijan and neighboring Iran over vitality exploration within the Caspian Sea.

The State Division and Pentagon reported $164 million in safety support for Azerbaijan between FY02 and FY20, per the Authorities Accountability Workplace, a small portion of the general U.S. safety help finances. The Trump administration was answerable for the majority of that whole, offering practically $100 million in safety support to Azerbaijan in FY18 and FY19 beneath a Pentagon program designed to construct companion capability.

Congress elevated stress on the State Division to finish Azerbaijan’s safety support waiver after the second Nagorno-Karabakh battle in 2020, which noticed Baku take again management of the disputed territory.

The Home has but to cross the Armenian Safety Act that will finish the waivers for the subsequent two years.