Written Statement for the Record Before the United States House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on
"The Caucasus: Frozen Conflicts and Closed Borders"
Wednesday, June 18, 2008, at 10 am
Room 2712 of the Rayburn House Office Building, U.S. Congress
INTRODUCTION
Honorable Chairman Berman, Assistant Secretary Daniel Fried, members
of the United States House Foreign Affairs Committee,
It is an honor to have the opportunity to provide input as you and
your colleagues take up the important hearings on the situation in
Caucasus, frozen conflicts and closed borders in this volatile region.
The U.S. Azeris Network (USAN) is the first and only not-for-profit,
nonpartisan, nonsectarian volunteer grassroots organization dedicated
to voter education and advocacy for the Azerbaijani-Americans and
their friends, and in light of this, advancement of strategic allied
relations between U.S. and Azerbaijan, with special attention given to
issues related to the entire South Caucasus region, such as ethnic and
religious tolerance, U.S. foreign aid and technical assistance,
compliance with international law and UN resolutions, plight of
refugees and IDPs, and crimes against humanity ensuing from ethnic
cleansing on the Armenia-occupied territories of Azerbaijan.
CONFLICTS IN SOUTH CAUCASUS
The political situation in volatile region of Caucasus which embraces
southern part of Russia, entire states of Georgia, Armenia and
Azerbaijan has worsened in the wake of collapse of USSR in the late
1980's. All of the states in this region have faced the danger of
separatism and irredentism, except for Republic of Armenia: in the
beginning of 1990's, Russia was engaged in the war with Chechen rebels
within its borders; Georgia's regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia
illegally declared independence while Azerbaijan's Armenian minority
of Nagorno Karabakh region, aided by Armenian military, occupied
Azerbaijan after a full scale war in 1992-1994.
CURRENT SITUATION IN SOUTH CAUCASUS
While Russian Federation drawn into war with Chechen rebels, virtually
brought the conflict to an end in the late 1990's, Georgia and
Azerbaijan, became home to frozen conflicts with hundreds of thousands
of refugees forced to have left their homes for safety. Existence of
frozen conflicts in the region has caused underdevelopment of regional
economies and principles international law being ignored.
The so-called Nagorno Karabakh War started when in late 1987,
Armenians demanded unification of Nagorno-Karabakh region of
Azerbaijan with Armenia, thus creating an ethnic turmoil between two
nations. Ethnic clashes resulted in exodus of nearly 800,000 ethnic
Azerbaijanis from their homes both in Armenia and Karabakh region of
Azerbaijan. Since May, 1994, after the ceasefire was accepted by both
sides, Azerbaijan has firmly stood on the path of political and
economic development. Being one of the key allies of the United
States, Azerbaijan has become a member of NATO Partnership on Peace
program, provided Azerbaijani troops to fight with their American
comrades shoulder to shoulder in the war on terror in Afghanistan and
Iraq, was a part of peacekeeping forces in Kosovo. Since 1994,
Azerbaijan was a Number One economic ally to the United States and
Western allies by engaging in multibillion oil and gas exploration and
export projects securing American and Western energy interests in the
region. Azerbaijan Republic is also the only former Soviet state which
refused to keep any Russian troops on its soil after the collapse of
USSR. Azerbaijan sandwiched between Iran and Russia tries hard to
ensure regional and international projects are developing for the
common benefit of all countries in the region. However, the long
lasting aggression from the Republic of Armenia which resulted in
substantial territory remaining in control by Armenian military has
been largely ignored by the international community. Azerbaijani
people in the Republic of Azerbaijan as well as around the world seek
just solution of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, restoration of territorial
integrity of Azerbaijan and return of all refugees to their homes.
When you convene to the hearing by the full House Foreign Affairs
Committee on June 18, to consider "The Caucasus: Frozen Conflicts and
Closed Borders", please take into consideration the following facts:
1) Azerbaijan and Georgia have been victims of illegal occupation
of their lands;
2) In case of Azerbaijan, it has 16% of its entire territory
(incl. Nagorno Karabakh region) occupied by Armenia since 1994;
3) From 1987 till present day, the illegal Armenian occupation
has resulted in some 800,000 Azerbaijanis displaced and refugees,
total ethnic cleansing of the occupied territories and crimes against
humanity, such as the Khojaly massacre of 1992;
4) Armenia has blockaded Azerbaijani region of Naxcivan (pop.
300,000) since 1989;
5) Armenian occupation resulted in enormous destruction to
private and public property, including damage and ruin of all
transportation infrastructures, railroads and highways, airports and
customs border checkpoints.
6) Armenia is yet to comply with four UN Security Council
Resolutions (822, 853, 874 and 884) calling for withdrawal of all
Armenian troops from Azerbaijani territories.
You may see the official U.S. government position on the
Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over NK region of Azerbaijan: "The actions
taken by the government of Armenia in the context of the conflict over
Nagorno-Karabakh are inconsistent with the territorial integrity and
national sovereignty principles of the Helsinki Final Act. Armenia
supports Nagorno-Karabakh separatists in Azerbaijan both militarily
and financially. Nagorno-Karabakh forces, assisted by units of the
Armenian armed forces, currently occupy the Nagorno-Karabakh region
and surrounding areas in Azerbaijan. This violation and the
restoration of peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan have been taken up
by the OSCE." (Presidential Determination (PD) No. 99-8 of December 8,
1998, and PD No. 98-11 of January 26, 1998, Memorandum for the
Secretary of State, Re: "Assistance Program for the New Independent
States of the Former Soviet Union.")
According to the State Department's statement on Armenia's military
occupation of Azerbaijan: "Armenian compliance with CFE has been
uneven. In addition to Armenia's longstanding failure to properly
notify or carry out reductions required by the Treaty, there are
serious concerns about the completeness of Armenia's data on equipment
holdings. Also of concern are: evidence that Armenia may have failed
to notify increases in unit holdings involving CFE Treaty limited
equipment transferred from Russia, the fact that Armenia continues to
station troops and CFE limited equipment on the territory of
Azerbaijan without Azerbaijani permission, and evidence that Armenia
made a late notification of the entry into service of multiple rocket
launchers purchased from China... On May 9, 2002, the U.S. imposed
sanctions on two Armenian entities – Lizin Open Joint Stock Company
and Armenian national Armen Sargasian – pursuant to the Iran
Nonproliferation Act for the transfer of Australia Group-controlled
items to Iran in the second half of 2001." ("U.S. Government
Assistance to and Cooperative Activities with Eurasia -FY 2003",
Released by the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, January 2004,
http://www.state.gov/p/eur/rls/rpt/37969.htm)
The Armenian occupation of Azerbaijan is placing a hard moral and
financial burden on Armenia's own population, to sustain and support
its military machine, as Congress and CRS note: "Armenia's shift away
from a war footing would also further U.S. interests in Armenia's
economic development and improved standards of living (Congressional
Budget Justification for Foreign Operations, FY2007)" (RL30679,
Updated Jan 31, 2008, p. 29).
Dear Representative, the road to resolve the conflicts and open the
borders is through the fair resolution of all conflicts in the
Caucasus based on the United Nations' Security Council and General
Assembly resolutions.
CONCLUSION
The CRS, State Department, White House, UN and OSCE all state that in
the 1990's, through war and ethnic cleansing. Armenia occupied the
Nagorno Karabakh (NK) region of Azerbaijan and seven (7) other regions
(which is 16% of the entire territory of Azerbaijan). During the war,
800,000 Azerbaijanis were forced to flee, becoming refugees and
internally displace persons (IDPs). U.S. should not reward Armenia for
torpedoing the peace process and not complying with UN resolutions and
international law, fueling regional instability.
The situation with Armenia is paradoxical – on one hand it receives
the largest assistance of all other states and is pampered with
generous no-strings-attached money of the U.S. taxpayers, yet on the
other it has ethnically cleansed 800,000 ethnic Azerbaijanis from
their homes in NK and adjacent regions, causing a humanitarian
catastrophe in Azerbaijan and the region, along with deterioration of
the security, military, economic, trade, and geopolitical situation.
This cannot be allowed to go on like this any further, it is grand
time to declare "the buck stops here".
Chairman Berman, members of the United States House Foreign Affairs
Committee, thank you once again for this opportunity to address you on
this important matter.
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