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REP. ADAM SCHIFF CALLS ON APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE TO CUT ALL SECURITY FUNDING TO AZERBAIJAN
Congressional Documents and Publications
December 4, 2012
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. (29th CD), issued the following news
release:
Today, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) sent a letter to Senators Patrick
Leahy and Lindsey Graham, and Representatives Kay Granger and Nita
Lowey -- the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the State and Foreign
Operations Subcommittees in the House and Senate -- calling on them
to cut all security assistance to Azerbaijan, including Azerbaijan's
International Military Education and Training Account (IMET) funding.
This latest request comes after 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
during a NATO Partnership for Peace Program.
"Azerbaijan has committed the most terrible subversion of justice -
making a hero of a cold-blooded killer," said Rep. Schiff. "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."
The full letter Schiff sent to the Chairmen and Ranking Members
is 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,
Adam Schiff Member of Congress
From: A. Papazian
Congressional Documents and Publications
December 4, 2012
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. (29th CD), issued the following news
release:
Today, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) sent a letter to Senators Patrick
Leahy and Lindsey Graham, and Representatives Kay Granger and Nita
Lowey -- the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the State and Foreign
Operations Subcommittees in the House and Senate -- calling on them
to cut all security assistance to Azerbaijan, including Azerbaijan's
International Military Education and Training Account (IMET) funding.
This latest request comes after 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
during a NATO Partnership for Peace Program.
"Azerbaijan has committed the most terrible subversion of justice -
making a hero of a cold-blooded killer," said Rep. Schiff. "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."
The full letter Schiff sent to the Chairmen and Ranking Members
is 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,
Adam Schiff Member of Congress
From: A. Papazian