Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bob Menendez sees the need to discuss the issue of sanctions against Azerbaijan for its policy of ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh. As Armenpress reports , Menendez expressed this position at the hearing “Assessment of the crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh” in the Foreign Relations Committee of the US Senate.
He noted that Azerbaijan allowed only one truck for 120 thousand Armenians to enter Nagorno-Karabakh through Agdam, whereas before the blockade of the Lachin corridor, 120 trucks passed through it every day.
“President [of Azerbaijan Ilham] Aliyev says he is not organizing ethnic cleansing. But that’s exactly what he is doing,” he said, adding that Aliyev seeks to politically enslave or starve the people of Artsakh.
The Senator added that with Azerbaijan reportedly amassing troops along the border, one must be prepared for military action. The Senator stressed that time is of the essence. He quoted part of the report of the former prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo: “Hunger is the invisible weapon of genocide, without immediate fundamental changes, this group of Armenians will be destroyed in a few weeks.”
“A few weeks – we have so much time,” Menendez emphasized.
Speaking about the actions expected from the Biden administration and the international community to prevent this atrocity, he said: “Our message at the highest level must be clear: end the blockade, stop threatening the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, stop threatening the Armenians, and open the Lachin corridor immediately.”
The Senator emphasized that these are obligations that Azerbaijan itself assumed on 9 November, 2020 as part of the ceasefire agreement.
He also touched upon the duties of Russian peacekeepers.
Menendez noted that the United States and Europe also bear responsibility for stability in Europe. Over the past year, the United States has helped negotiate a long-term and sustainable peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan. “I support any effort to ensure sustainable peace and security and fundamental rights for all people in the region. But the reality is: conversation is useless when one side in those negotiations is engaged in a campaign of ethnic cleansing,” Menendez said.
He expressed hope that a way to alleviate the humanitarian crisis for the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh will be found, and that measures that should be taken to force the Baku authorities to open the Lachin corridor will be found as well.
“And why aren’t we more publicly discussing sanctions for actions that I think we can all agree are clearly punishable,” Menendez concluded.
