The Milli Majlis has expressed its position regarding the bill adopted by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US House of Representatives.
According to the information provided to “Elchi” by the Press and Public Relations Department of the Milli Majlis, the MM has expressed its strong protest regarding the H.R. 9087 bill adopted by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US House of Representatives on July 22:
“We categorically reject the baseless accusations made against our country in that document. This initiative, which is a clear example of gross disregard for international legal norms and principles, is yet another attempt by the US Congress to be used as a tool of political pressure against Azerbaijan for the sake of the Armenian lobby’s interests.
The author of the bill, Congressman Brad Sherman, a successor to the political line of former congressman Robert Menendez, is known as a person connected to Armenian lobby groups and consistently working to implement their political agenda. It is clear that such initiatives, put forward on the eve of the next US Congressional elections, are not intended to serve the national interests of the United States, but rather aim to gain the political and financial support of influential lobby circles. Such practices, which call into question the objectivity of the decisions taken, should be seriously investigated by US law enforcement agencies and receive the necessary legal assessment.
It is obvious that the initiative in question was put forward within the framework of a long-standing campaign by the Armenian lobby to discredit Azerbaijan. A similar dirty mission is being carried out by the former prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo. It is known to the international community that he prepares politically motivated reports with the financial assistance of persons connected to Armenian chauvinist circles, including the Russian-born Armenian oligarch Samvel Karapetyan. The same political line is visible in the activities of a number of European parliamentary institutions, including the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Individual deputies of this body, especially persons like Frank Schwabe, have long been coming forward with non-objective and biased initiatives regarding Azerbaijan. All these actions are parts of a precisely coordinated campaign carried out by the Armenian lobby on various international parliamentary platforms.
What is concerning is that such steps are being taken at a time when the peace agenda between Azerbaijan and Armenia is being consistently advanced. International efforts aimed at establishing a solid and long-term peace, especially the mediation initiative and direct support of the President of the United States Donald Trump, have opened real opportunities for the normalization of relations between the two states. In such a situation, attempts by individual congressmen to force the adoption of politically motivated unilateral decisions not only destroy the atmosphere of trust but also hinder the peace process.
Such actions only serve the interests of the radical chauvinist circles of the Armenian lobby. For decades, these circles have hindered the normalization of Armenia-Azerbaijan-Armenia relations and tried to maintain the confrontation, and now they are using regional tension to achieve their political and financial goals.
It is particularly outrageous that terms such as “prisoners of war” and “political prisoners” are used in the bill regarding persons convicted by the courts of the Republic of Azerbaijan. These individuals are not prisoners of war or political prisoners. They have been held criminally liable for committing military aggression, war crimes, enforced disappearance, torture, terrorism, and other crimes provided for by the legislation of the Republic of Azerbaijan and international legal norms. Attempts to portray them as victims of political persecution are a deliberate distortion of facts and a direct interference in the administration of justice by an independent state.”
The Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan has called on US congressmen to abandon the practice of making decisions under the influence of organized Armenian lobby groups, to show respect for international law and the sovereignty of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and not to become tools in the hands of forces interested in disrupting the peace process and maintaining confrontation in the South Caucasus.