Armenian-Americans: ‘President Biden Recognized a Genocide, Only to Allow Another One to Continue’
Biden’s administration needs to uphold Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act. Thousands of lives depend on it.
In April President Biden did something that no U.S. president has ever done. He officially recognized the Armenian Genocide and fulfilled a campaign promise to end Turkey’s century-long campaign to deny justice for the 1.5 million Armenians who were systematically murdered in the final days of the Ottoman Empire.
He eschewed the politics of his predecessors who used euphemistic language and verbal gymnastics in a feeble attempt to placate Turkey to describe what an overwhelmingly number of historians acknowledge as the first genocide of the 20th century.
For Armenian-Americans, this intrepid decision by President Biden felt like a turning point in their long and difficult history in seeking justice and validation for this crime against humanity. However, that sense of vindication was short-lived as President Biden made a low-key decision that may cost more Armenian lives. He waived Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act that bans foreign aid to Azerbaijan days after recognizing the Armenian Genocide.
Widely supported by both Democrats and Republicans, Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act prohibits U.S. aid to the government of Azerbaijan until “the President determines, and so reports to the Congress, that the Government of Azerbaijan is taking demonstrable steps to cease all blockades and other offensive uses of force against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.”
To fully understand why many Armenian-Americans feel that President Biden basically recognized a genocide only to allow another one to continue requires a look at the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave that Azerbaijan, with the help of Turkey, invaded last fall in attempt to wipe out ethnic Armenians living in the area.
Armenians see both Azerbaijan and Turkey’s aggression over Nagorno-Karabakh as a continuation of the 1915 Armenian Genocide and a threat to their very existence.
In many ways, history is repeating itself.
During the war, Turkey armed and sent Syrian mercenaries, including Islamic terrorists, into the region to help Azerbaijan fight Armenians where there were a myriad of confirmed reports of war crimes and atrocities being committed. Sadly, Armenians had seen this scenario before when Ottoman Turks a hundred years ago enlisted the help of Kurds who participated in the Armenian Genocide. It is as if Turkey and Azerbaijan turned to the Ottoman Empire’s playbook in how to commit a genocide.
And while a ceasefire was brokered to avoid further damage and loss of life, there continues to be reports of Armenian heritage and cultural sites including churches and monasteries that have stood for hundreds of years being defaced, vandalized, and destroyed as part of Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing campaign in the region.
For example, under the guise of restoration, Azerbaijanis are dismantling the iconic Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in Shushi, a symbol of Armenian existence in the region, which further underscores Azerbaijan’s ongoing efforts in race extermination.
Images have also recently surfaced showing that a memorial dedicated to the victims of the Armenian Genocide in Shushi has been razed by occupying Azeri forces.
According to a recent report by Human Rights Watch, Azerbaijani forces abused Armenian prisoners of war during the conflict by subjecting them to cruel and unusual punishment and both physical and verbal torture. More than 200 Armenians remain in captivity in Azerbaijan today.
President Biden has shown that he has the political courage and strength in standing up to Turkey and being on the right side of history. He should do the same with Azerbaijan.
And not to be outdone, Azerbaijan opened a Military Trophies Park in Baku that glorifies the country’s victory in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War, which basically represents a wanton disrespect for human rights as it pays tribute to its war crimes. Visitors to the park are greeted with a display of hundreds of helmets taken from Armenian soldiers killed during the war and wax mannequins of Armenian soldiers depicted through exaggerated caricatures based on Armenian stereotypes like crooked noses and bushy eyebrows. Many of these mannequins are shown either in their dying moments or chained to jail cells.
Taken together, these recent actions by Azerbaijan do not reflect or represent a country that is committed to human rights, a key pillar of President Biden’s foreign policy. It goes against the grain for a country that is led by an autocrat, Ilham Aliyev, that continues to land on the lists of the top countries who suppress freedom of expression, assembly, and association.
Because Azerbaijan and Turkey are bound by strong ethnic and cultural ties, it should be no surprise then when Aliyev sees Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan as his role model, and who happens to be another authoritarian leader whose actions have troubled the West in recent years. There is a reason why former president of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev once described Azerbaijan’s relationship with Turkey “as one nation with two states.”
That is why it has been so alarming that President Biden would allow the United States to provide both financial and military aid to Azerbaijan by waiving Section 907 of the Freedom of Support Act. By doing so, President Biden is giving the green light to Baku to continue to carry out its ongoing campaign to commit conventional and cultural genocide in Nagorno-Karabakh. Given Biden’s commitment to human rights, it makes one wonder if some type of Faustian bargain was made with Azerbaijan. Did realpolitik play a role in it? Or did Azerbaijan’s rich oil fields have any influence?
Whatever his reasons might be, it is not too late to change course. President Biden has shown that he has the political courage and strength in standing up to Turkey and being on the right side of history. He should do the same with Azerbaijan. He needs to uphold Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act. Thousands of lives depend on it.