President Trump is Rewarding the Same Azerbaijani Crimes that his own State Department Condemns
WASHINGTON, DC – Following the release of the U.S. State Department’s 2024 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Azerbaijan, the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) reiterates its calls for the U.S. to take immediate action to address the widely documented human rights violations perpetrated by Azerbaijan through the immediate reversal of the Trump Administration’s waiver of Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act, the enforcement of Global Magnitsky Sanctions against Azerbaijan officials responsible for war crimes, and the unconditional release of Armenian prisoners of war and civilian hostages.
“The Trump Administration’s own human rights report leaves no doubt — Azerbaijan continues to hold and torture Armenian prisoners, destroy Armenian heritage, and systematically erase Artsakh’s Armenian presence,” stated ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “Waiving Section 907 rewards this record. We urge the Administration to reverse this waiver, block arms sales, and sanction the Azerbaijani architects of these atrocities under the Global Magnitsky Act.”
The State Department’s report on Azerbaijan highlights “credible reports of arbitrary or unlawful killings; torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; arbitrary arrest and detention; transnational repression against individuals in another country”, noting that the government of Azerbaijan “did not take credible steps or action to identify and punish officials who committed human rights abuses.”
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The State Department’s report cites the UN Committee against Torture June 5th report detailing “severe and grave violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law committed by Azerbaijani military forces against prisoners of war and other protected persons of Armenian ethnic or national origin.” It further documents that on September 27th, 2024, UN human rights experts raised “concern regarding the alleged enforced disappearance of 23 Armenian soldiers and one civilian following their captivity by Azerbaijani forces in Zangilan in 2020” and that Azerbaijan “did not respond during the year.”
The State Department report highlights a November 11, 2024 Freedom House fact-finding study concluding that Azerbaijan “acted upon a comprehensive, methodically implemented strategy to empty Nagorno-Karabakh of its ethnic Armenian population between 2020 and 2023, subjecting the population… to attacks, intimidation, deprivation of basic rights and adequate living conditions, and forced displacement.”
In that 133-page report, Freedom House concluded that “the Azerbaijani state ethnically cleansed Nagorno-Karabakh of its ethnic Armenian population, using forced displacement as a means”, recommending governments “impose targeted sanctions on Azerbaijani officials responsible for the ethnic cleansing and related human rights violations”, “halt the sale, supply, or transfer of offensive military equipment, technology, and intelligence to Azerbaijan,” and to “continue pursuing international legal avenues to seek accountability measures and remedies… includ[ing] ongoing efforts at the International Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights.”
The State Department report also notes that, according to media reports, “only 15 ethnic Armenian residents remained in Nagorno-Karabakh as of October 24, 2024,” and that “Caucasus Heritage Watch reported on the destruction of cultural heritage sites, including the St. John the Baptist Church and the Ghazanchetsots Cemetery in Shusha.” The report further cites a September 2024 Bellingcat investigation showing “satellite and social media images from Khankendi of numerous high piles of debris from what it alleged were ransacked apartment buildings and civilian homes.”
Released just days after the White House-brokered Azerbaijan-Armenia “peace” deal – widely criticized for ignoring these very crimes – the State Department’s own findings reinforce ANCA’s position that U.S. aid, arms sales, and diplomatic concessions to Azerbaijan without justice and accountability only embolden its aggression.
“An agreement that ignores Azerbaijan’s 2023 genocidal ethnic cleansing of Artsakh, its destruction of Armenian cultural heritage, the torture and detention of Armenian POWs, and the right of return for displaced Armenians is not the foundation for a durable and lasting peace,” added Hamparian. “It is, instead, a green light for Baku to commit more aggression, confident that it will face no consequences from Washington.”
On August 8, the ANCA released a detailed Congressional memo citing the shortcomings of the Azerbaijan-Armenia peace deal. Armenian Americans can visit anca.org/realpeace to urge President Trump and their Members of Congress to oppose U.S. military assistance to Azerbaijan, press for the release of Armenian prisoners, and support sanctions against Baku’s war criminals.
Armenian National Committee of America
