Azerbaijan’s War Crimes—Why the World Can No Longer Stay Silent

For a president who entered workplace claiming human rights could be the central tenet of his overseas coverage, President Joe Biden has had a combined document midway by his presidency. There is no query that his management on the world stage in defending and supporting nations like Ukraine has despatched a powerful message to autocrats like Russian President Vladimir Putin that their nefarious actions is not going to be tolerated.

President Biden’s willingness to face as much as bullies each right here and overseas has the potential to be a key hallmark of his presidency. However his administration’s dealing with of Azerbaijan’s unlawful battle and unprovoked assaults on Armenia guarantees to derail any of these accomplishments.

Put merely, Azerbaijan is committing battle crimes and atrocities. Regardless of overwhelming proof, the Biden administration has achieved subsequent to nothing in holding Azerbaijan accountable and retaining them in test.

Taking a web page out of Vladmir Putin’s playbook, Azerbaijan’s petro-dictator Ilham Aliyev used the pretext of historic revisionism to start out an illegal battle in 2020 in opposition to Armenians dwelling of their ancestral homeland of Nagorno-Karabakh, generally known as Artsakh to Armenians.

And whereas a tenuous ceasefire stays in place, Azerbaijan continues to violate the phrases of the peace settlement by attacking the territorial integrity of Armenia. Final month, Azerbaijan fired artillery and drone strikes in opposition to Armenian border cities together with Vardenis, Goris, Sotk, and Jermuk whereas killing a whole lot of Armenian troopers and forcing Armenian civilians to evacuate.

It was throughout these current clashes the place Azerbaijan troops mutilated a feminine Armenian soldier who was subsequently stripped bare with textual content written throughout her breasts and abdomen. A stone was positioned in her eye socket and a severed finger in her mouth. And video proof lately emerged exhibiting Azerbaijani troops executing a small group of captured Armenian troopers.

This patten of illicit habits led Genocide Watch to subject a genocide warning in opposition to Azerbaijan with a advice that Western nations cease all army gross sales to Baku, and a warning that sanctions be positioned on Azeri oil and fuel exports if assaults proceed.

In current days, now we have additionally seen a refrain of bipartisan assist from members of Congress condemning these newest Azerbaijani crimes together with new laws from Senate Overseas Relations Committee Chair Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and senior member Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) that requires an finish to army help to Azerbaijan and potential sanctions on the Aliyev regime. These efforts come on the heels of Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s historic go to to Armenia, the place she highlighted america’ “agency dedication to a peaceable and democratic Armenia, and a steady and safe Caucus area” and strongly rebuked Azerbaijan for his or her “unlawful and lethal assaults” on Armenia.

Whereas one of these congressional assist is welcoming, the silence coming from the White Home is deafening.

Armenians see these newest acts of aggression by Azerbaijan as a continuation of the 1915 Armenian genocide and an existential risk to their very existence. In some ways, historical past is repeating itself.

However what is going on to Armenians is not any totally different to what’s taking place to Ukrainians. These occasions aren’t mutually unique, but the Biden administration is approaching them in another way.

No extra is that this evident than within the disparity in overseas help. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. has dedicated greater than $16.9 billion in safety help to Kyiv whereas unleashing a raft of financial sanctions in opposition to Moscow. In distinction, the Biden administration’s 2023 funds proposal features a 47 p.c minimize in U.S. help to Armenia ($24 million) and no particular greenback quantity for Artsakh, whereas calling for $164 million in U.S. army help to Azerbaijan.

In actual fact, days after formally recognizing the Armenian genocide, Biden waived Part 907 of the Freedom Help Act that bans overseas help to Azerbaijan. Whereas Armenian Individuals welcomed this historic and lengthy overdue recognition, the spirit of its intent was short-lived. In essence, Biden acknowledged a genocide, solely to permit one other one to proceed.

There was a false narrative being floated that Azerbaijan’s assaults final month have been over the territorial dispute in Nagorno-Karabakh. Nothing may very well be farther from the reality. Aliyev has been on document claiming that components of Armenia’s territory are Azerbaijan’s historic lands. He has defended this perception in speeches and has gone so far as to say that Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, belongs to Azerbaijan.

In different phrases, Azerbaijan desires Armenia whereas Armenia desires peace.

This shouldn’t be a zero-sum sport. The folks of Ukraine deserve all the assistance and assist that the world may give them. However so do the folks of Armenia. The parallels between Ukraine and Armenia couldn’t be starker. Each are fledgling democracies who’re beneath risk from nations who’re led by autocrats. And by specializing in only one group solely undermines one other whereas giving depots cowl to commit wanton acts of violence with no penalties.

There’s nonetheless time for the Biden administration to get issues proper. The State Department’s recent statement that the U.S. is “deeply disturbed” by reports of Azerbaijani soldiers executing unarmed Armenian POWs and calling for a full and impartial investigation is definitely a optimistic signal. But it surely doesn’t go far sufficient. Actions communicate louder than phrases. It’s time for the Biden administration to deal with all human rights equally and maintain Azerbaijan accountable.

Stephan Pechdimaldji is a communications strategist who lives within the San Francisco Bay Space. He is a first-generation Armenian American and grandson to survivors of the Armenian genocide.

The views expressed on this article are the author’s personal.