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SCHIFF SEEKS TO STOP MILITARY AID TO BAKU
asbarez
Tuesday, December 4th, 2012
Rep. Adam Schiff
WASHINGTON-Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA), a senior member of
the House Appropriations Committee, on Tuesday called on his House
and Senate colleagues to cut all security assistance to Azerbaijan,
reported the Armenian National Committee of America.
His request comes in the wake of the continuing scandal surrounding
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's pardon and promotion of Ramil
Safarov, a confessed axe-murderer who killed an Armenian officer while
he slept during a 2004 NATO Partnership for Peace training exercise
in Hungary.
"We join with Congressman Schiff in opposing U.S. taxpayer subsidies
to an openly aggressive Azerbaijani regime that makes heroes of
racist murderers, and unapologetically threatens to use every military
resource at its disposal to renew its aggression against both Artsakh
and Armenia," said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. "If
the Safarov scandal has taught us anything, it's that, rather than
funding and arming the Azerbaijani military, the U.S. government
should be using the full measure of America's geo-political leverage
to block Baku's drive to plunge the entire Caucasus back into war."
Representative Schiff's request, which he sent in letters to Senators
Patrick Leahy and Lindsey Graham, and Representatives Kay Granger and
Nita Lowey, the Chairs and Ranking Members of the State and Foreign
Operations Subcommittees in the Senate and House, made the case that:
"Azerbaijan has committed the most terrible subversion of justice -
making a hero of a cold-blooded killer. Plainly the investment we
have made in training Azeri forces has been worse than wasted. The
United States must not tolerate any acts of aggression against
Armenia or Nagorno-Karabakh, and this hateful action by President
Aliyev undermines all international efforts to bring about a peaceful
solution in the region."
Congressman Schiff also emphasized, in his letter, that: "Azerbaijan
must pay a high price for its actions. Baku treasures the security
assistance that it receives from Washington, not because it needs the
money (it does not), but because it signifies a certain closeness in
the bilateral relationship. By cutting off military aid to Azerbaijan,
the United States would signal its disgust with the Safarov affair,
while also reminding Aliyev that the United States will not tolerate
any acts of aggression against Armenia or Nagorno-Karabakh."
The ANCA, in testimony presented to House Appropriators this March
and in many other settings, has long been on record opposing any and
all military aid to the Azerbaijani government, both prior to and
after the Safarov scandal.
The complete text of letter Congressman's Schiff's sent to the Chairmen
and Ranking Members is provided below:
Dear Chairmen Leahy and Granger and Ranking Members Graham and Lowey:
As you continue work on the 2013 State, Foreign Operations and Related
Programs appropriations bill, I urge you to cut all security assistance
to Azerbaijan, including Azerbaijan's IMET funding, in response to the
egregious repatriation and release of Ramil Safarov, an Azerbaijani
army captain who had confessed to the savage 2004 axe murder of
Armenian army lieutenant Gurgen Margaryan, while the latter slept. At
the time, the two were participating in a NATO Partnership for Peace
exercise in Budapest, Hungary. After the murder, Safarov was sentenced
to life in prison by a Hungarian court and imprisoned in Hungary.
On August 31, Safarov was sent home to Azerbaijan, purportedly to
serve out the remainder of his sentence. Instead of prison, he was
greeted as a hero by the Azeri government and promenaded through the
streets of Baku carrying a bouquet of roses. President Ilham Aliyev
immediately pardoned Safarov and he was promoted to the rank of major
and given a new apartment and eight years of back pay.
The Aliyev government's rapturous welcome for Safarov in Baku exposes
a fundamental contempt for the rule of law that is the underpinning
of any state that aspires to greater integration into Euro-Atlantic
institutions. It also further poisons relations between Azerbaijan and
Armenia over the ethnic Armenian territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. The
OSCE's Minsk Group (United States, Russia and France) has been trying
to work with the parties to fashion a settlement to a crisis that
threatens to plunge the Caucasus into war. That effort, already
difficult because of years of repeated sniping incidents by Azeri
forces, as well as a stream of bellicose statements from Baku, is
now even more challenging.
Azerbaijan must pay a high price for its actions. Baku treasures the
security assistance that it receives from Washington, not because
it needs the money (it does not), but because it signifies a certain
closeness in the bilateral relationship. By cutting off military aid to
Azerbaijan, the United States would signal its disgust with the Safarov
affair, while also reminding Aliyev that the United States will not
tolerate any acts of aggression against Armenia or Nagorno-Karabakh.
Furthermore, the United States should immediately suspend all
IMET activities with Azerbaijan. According to the Defense Security
Cooperation Agency, which oversees IMET, the program has two aims:
- To further the goal of regional stability through effective,
mutually beneficial military-to-military relations which culminate
in increased understanding and defense cooperation between the United
States and foreign countries; and
- To increase the ability of foreign national military and civilian
personnel to absorb and maintain basic democratic values and protect
internationally recognized human rights.
Azerbaijan's actions in pardoning, parading and promoting an
axe-murderer like Safarov clearly indicate that our investment there
in IMET has been an abject failure. The funding, training and support
has plainly not fostered either regional stability or the absorption
of democratic values and a respect for human rights.
I would be happy to discuss this issue further with you or your staff,
but we cannot continue to embrace a government and a military that
operates at cross-purposes to our own interests and in violation of
the most basic norms of international behavior.
Sincerely,
[signed] Adam Schiff Member of Congress
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
asbarez
Tuesday, December 4th, 2012
Rep. Adam Schiff
WASHINGTON-Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA), a senior member of
the House Appropriations Committee, on Tuesday called on his House
and Senate colleagues to cut all security assistance to Azerbaijan,
reported the Armenian National Committee of America.
His request comes in the wake of the continuing scandal surrounding
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's pardon and promotion of Ramil
Safarov, a confessed axe-murderer who killed an Armenian officer while
he slept during a 2004 NATO Partnership for Peace training exercise
in Hungary.
"We join with Congressman Schiff in opposing U.S. taxpayer subsidies
to an openly aggressive Azerbaijani regime that makes heroes of
racist murderers, and unapologetically threatens to use every military
resource at its disposal to renew its aggression against both Artsakh
and Armenia," said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. "If
the Safarov scandal has taught us anything, it's that, rather than
funding and arming the Azerbaijani military, the U.S. government
should be using the full measure of America's geo-political leverage
to block Baku's drive to plunge the entire Caucasus back into war."
Representative Schiff's request, which he sent in letters to Senators
Patrick Leahy and Lindsey Graham, and Representatives Kay Granger and
Nita Lowey, the Chairs and Ranking Members of the State and Foreign
Operations Subcommittees in the Senate and House, made the case that:
"Azerbaijan has committed the most terrible subversion of justice -
making a hero of a cold-blooded killer. Plainly the investment we
have made in training Azeri forces has been worse than wasted. The
United States must not tolerate any acts of aggression against
Armenia or Nagorno-Karabakh, and this hateful action by President
Aliyev undermines all international efforts to bring about a peaceful
solution in the region."
Congressman Schiff also emphasized, in his letter, that: "Azerbaijan
must pay a high price for its actions. Baku treasures the security
assistance that it receives from Washington, not because it needs the
money (it does not), but because it signifies a certain closeness in
the bilateral relationship. By cutting off military aid to Azerbaijan,
the United States would signal its disgust with the Safarov affair,
while also reminding Aliyev that the United States will not tolerate
any acts of aggression against Armenia or Nagorno-Karabakh."
The ANCA, in testimony presented to House Appropriators this March
and in many other settings, has long been on record opposing any and
all military aid to the Azerbaijani government, both prior to and
after the Safarov scandal.
The complete text of letter Congressman's Schiff's sent to the Chairmen
and Ranking Members is provided below:
Dear Chairmen Leahy and Granger and Ranking Members Graham and Lowey:
As you continue work on the 2013 State, Foreign Operations and Related
Programs appropriations bill, I urge you to cut all security assistance
to Azerbaijan, including Azerbaijan's IMET funding, in response to the
egregious repatriation and release of Ramil Safarov, an Azerbaijani
army captain who had confessed to the savage 2004 axe murder of
Armenian army lieutenant Gurgen Margaryan, while the latter slept. At
the time, the two were participating in a NATO Partnership for Peace
exercise in Budapest, Hungary. After the murder, Safarov was sentenced
to life in prison by a Hungarian court and imprisoned in Hungary.
On August 31, Safarov was sent home to Azerbaijan, purportedly to
serve out the remainder of his sentence. Instead of prison, he was
greeted as a hero by the Azeri government and promenaded through the
streets of Baku carrying a bouquet of roses. President Ilham Aliyev
immediately pardoned Safarov and he was promoted to the rank of major
and given a new apartment and eight years of back pay.
The Aliyev government's rapturous welcome for Safarov in Baku exposes
a fundamental contempt for the rule of law that is the underpinning
of any state that aspires to greater integration into Euro-Atlantic
institutions. It also further poisons relations between Azerbaijan and
Armenia over the ethnic Armenian territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. The
OSCE's Minsk Group (United States, Russia and France) has been trying
to work with the parties to fashion a settlement to a crisis that
threatens to plunge the Caucasus into war. That effort, already
difficult because of years of repeated sniping incidents by Azeri
forces, as well as a stream of bellicose statements from Baku, is
now even more challenging.
Azerbaijan must pay a high price for its actions. Baku treasures the
security assistance that it receives from Washington, not because
it needs the money (it does not), but because it signifies a certain
closeness in the bilateral relationship. By cutting off military aid to
Azerbaijan, the United States would signal its disgust with the Safarov
affair, while also reminding Aliyev that the United States will not
tolerate any acts of aggression against Armenia or Nagorno-Karabakh.
Furthermore, the United States should immediately suspend all
IMET activities with Azerbaijan. According to the Defense Security
Cooperation Agency, which oversees IMET, the program has two aims:
- To further the goal of regional stability through effective,
mutually beneficial military-to-military relations which culminate
in increased understanding and defense cooperation between the United
States and foreign countries; and
- To increase the ability of foreign national military and civilian
personnel to absorb and maintain basic democratic values and protect
internationally recognized human rights.
Azerbaijan's actions in pardoning, parading and promoting an
axe-murderer like Safarov clearly indicate that our investment there
in IMET has been an abject failure. The funding, training and support
has plainly not fostered either regional stability or the absorption
of democratic values and a respect for human rights.
I would be happy to discuss this issue further with you or your staff,
but we cannot continue to embrace a government and a military that
operates at cross-purposes to our own interests and in violation of
the most basic norms of international behavior.
Sincerely,
[signed] Adam Schiff Member of Congress
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress