President Aliyev hails end of Section 907 era as Azerbaijan-US ties reach new heights

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev highlighted the complete repeal of Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act and the development of Azerbaijan-US relations during the opening ceremony of the 4th Shusha Global Media Forum.

Addressing the forum, President Aliyev stated that the repeal of the amendment had become possible due to recent developments in Azerbaijan-Armenia relations and Baku’s steps aimed at supporting regional connectivity, Caliber.Az reports, citing state media.

“First, because Azerbaijan and Armenia initiated a peace agreement in the White House in the presence of President Trump. Second, Azerbaijan unilaterally lifted all the transit restrictions to Armenia, and now, since we did it, more than 40,000 tons of different cargo was transported to Armenia from Russia, from Kazakhstan, and from other destinations,” the head of state said during his speech in this regard.

The President noted that Azerbaijan had also started supplying oil products to Armenia, with the volume already exceeding 10,000 tons, as far as he remembered. He stressed that this support came at a time when many countries were facing difficulties in accessing fuel sources, while Armenia had a reliable supply channel through Azerbaijan.

If Azerbaijan had not taken these steps, Aliyev said, Armenia would likely have been searching for gasoline and diesel supplies around the world. According to the President, this once again demonstrated that Section 907 had become outdated and should be fully repealed.

Touching upon the history of the amendment, President Aliyev recalled that its adoption by the US Congress in 1992 had been an unfair decision against Azerbaijan.

"First on the 907 amendment—you know it very well, but maybe not everyone knows that—that was a very unfair move from the United States Congress towards Azerbaijan back in 1992," Aliyev emphasised.

"When the Freedom Support Act was adopted in the U.S. Congress to support the newly independent countries after the collapse of the Soviet Union with financial assistance, Amendment 907 was introduced by pro-Armenian senators. By the way, President Biden was one of them. He was a senator at that time, and this probably explains why we had so many difficulties with the Biden administration," the head of state stressed.

The President also emphasised that relations between Azerbaijan and the United States had entered a new stage, describing the current level of cooperation with the Trump administration as unprecedented.

"I would say relations between Trump's administration and Azerbaijan are excellent, and we are very glad that these relations have elevated to the level of a strategic partnership," the president said.

Recalling his meetings with President Trump, the head of state noted: “My historic meeting with President Trump last August in Washington, our meeting in Davos in January this year, the invitation for Azerbaijan to be a founding member of the Board of Peace initiated by President Trump, the visit of Vice President JD Vance, and the signing of the joint declaration on establishing a strategic partnership with the Vice President in Baku, along with many other factors, demonstrate that our relations are now at a peak, unprecedented level, which we have never had before.”

By Jeyhun Aghazada