Azerbaijan’s Parliament condemns US committee bill as political pressure tool

The Azerbaijani Parliament, the Milli Majlis, has expressed a strong protest against the H.R. 9087 bill adopted by the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee on July 22.

In a statement, the parliament said it “categorically rejects the unfounded accusations levelled against Azerbaijan in this document,” describing the initiative as “a clear example of gross disregard for the norms and principles of international law” and “yet another attempt to use the US Congress as an instrument of political pressure against Azerbaijan in the interests of the Armenian lobby,” Caliber.Az reports. 

The statement said the bill’s author, Brad Sherman, who is continuing Robert Menendez’s political line, is known for his ties to Armenian lobbying groups and has consistently pursued their political agenda.

“It is obvious that this initiative has been put forward as part of a long-running campaign by the Armenian lobby to discredit Azerbaijan,” the parliament said, adding that former International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo was carrying out “a similar dirty mission.”

The statement reminded that Ocampo prepared politically motivated opinions with financial support from individuals linked to Armenian nationalist circles, including Russian oligarch of Armenian origin Samvel Karapetyan.

The parliament said the same political line could be seen in the activities of a number of European parliamentary bodies, including the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. It singled out certain lawmakers, including Frank Schwabe, accusing them of having for a long time put forward biased and prejudiced initiatives regarding Azerbaijan.

“All these actions are part of a carefully coordinated campaign being conducted by the Armenian lobby across various international parliamentary platforms,” the statement said.

The Azerbaijani Parliament said such actions served the interests of radical nationalist circles within the Armenian lobby, which had obstructed the normalisation of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations for decades and were now exploiting regional tensions to pursue political and financial objectives.

The statement also expressed “particular outrage” over the inclusion in the bill of the terms “prisoners of war” and “political prisoners” in reference to individuals convicted by Azerbaijani courts.

“Particular outrage is caused by the inclusion in the bill of the terms ‘prisoners of war’ and ‘political prisoners’ in reference to individuals convicted by the courts of the Republic of Azerbaijan. These individuals are neither prisoners of war nor political prisoners. They have been held criminally responsible in accordance with Azerbaijani legislation and international law for war crimes, torture, terrorism and other criminal acts,” the parliament said.

The parliament further noted that attempts to portray those individuals as victims of political persecution are “a deliberate distortion of the facts and direct interference in the justice system of an independent state.”

“The Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan calls on US lawmakers to abandon the practice of making decisions under the influence of Armenian lobbying groups, respect international law and the sovereignty of Azerbaijan, and not become instruments in the hands of forces interested in disrupting the peace process in the South Caucasus,” the statement concluded. 

By Sabina Mammadli