By Paul Vartan Sookiasian
Azerbaijani government officials have rebuked United States Senator Ben Cardin (D-Maryland), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, after he made a string of statements in recent days critical of Azerbaijan. On January 26, Cardin along with fellow senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) called on US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to stop providing assistance for human rights abusers, citing Azerbaijan as a prime example. Days later, Cardin criticized what he called Azerbaijan’s “anti-democratic tactics,” which he said must end “to be part of the international community.”
The statement came in response to a Voice of America report about recent harassment of Azerbaijani journalists and activists in Georgia, at a time when they have been subject to a renewed wave of oppression and arrests at home. While there is no direct proof these new incidents were ordered by the Azerbaijani government, which has denied involvement, there is a precedent for such harassment abroad. In 2017, Azerbaijani journalist and human rights defender Afgan Mukhtarli, who fled to Georgia, was kidnapped in Tbilisi, blindfolded, driven to the border, and handed over to Azerbaijani authorities. Mukhtarli was sentenced to six years in prison. After his release, he stated that, “[the] Azerbaijani government spends millions of dollars to go after its opponents in Georgia and abroad”.
On Thursday Cardin introduced the Human Rights Defenders Protection Act with the aim of “enhancing the United States’ ability to protect individuals abroad who are attacked for peacefully defending human rights and democracy.” While no countries were specifically mentioned, in context of his statements of the previous week, it can be presumed the bill was written with Azerbaijan in mind. Senator Cardin is new to the chairmanship of the Foreign Relations Committee, assuming it in September after Senator Bob Menendez stepped down over allegations of bribery.
In addition, Senator Cardin’s reference to Azerbaijan’s hosting of the UN environmental COP29 conference drew particular ire from Baku. Critics say Azerbaijan uses COP29 to “greenwash” its reputation by manipulating environmental PR and propaganda to obscure its dismal human rights record. Azerbaijani Member of Parliament Samad Seyidov called Cardin’s criticism of Azerbaijan’ “political blackmail”, calling it a “well-established and favored tactic of some US politicians.”
Seyidov’s angry accusations come just a week after he stormed out of a session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) as head of Azerbaijan’s delegation, just before the body voted to reject its credentials for the next year due to its refusal to cooperate with PACE’s human rights monitors and the military operation against Nagorno-Karabakh in September. Seyidov called PACE’s action part of a smear campaign against Azerbaijan, and bombastically declared that “nobody in the world, including those sitting in this hall can speak with Azerbaijan in the language of threat and blackmailing.”
A statement condemning Cardin was also issued by the “Western Azerbaijani Community,” an organization which claims to represent ethnic Azerbaijanis who formerly lived within the borders of Armenia, but that observers say operates as a propaganda arm of the Azerbaijani government through which it can make claims on Armenian territory while maintaining plausible deniability. The Community “strongly condemned the Azerbaijanophobic activities of Senator Ben Cardin”, saying that if he is “so concerned about human rights, then let him focus on ensuring the rights of Native Americans in the U.S. itself, and raise his voice against police brutality and armed violence.”
It also accused the senator of having a “crusader mentality”, which has become a favorite phrase of Azerbaijani officials in recent months. In December, Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to the United States Khazar Ibrahim accused the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) as being based on a “Crusader mentality”, coupled with Islamophobia and political corruption, after its determination to add Azerbaijan to the State Department’s Special Watch List of countries engaging in severe violations of religious freedom. Back in October the Western Azerbaijani Community also used the phrase “crusader mentality” to refer to Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, in response to statements she made on a trip to Armenia that its territorial integrity must be respected and the people of Artsakh must be afforded the right to return. They similarly invoked Canada’s own history of discrimination against Native Americans as a reason to refrain from criticizing Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijani officials’ irritation with the US Senate isn’t likely to change soon. Yesterday Senators Ed Markey (D-MA) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) introduced a bipartisan resolution which if passed would require the State Department to produce a report on human rights abuses in Azerbaijan, to assess whether US security assistance played a role in aggression against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, and to determine whether Azerbaijani officials who abuse human rights will face sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act. Meanwhile, the very personal rhetoric aimed at US officials comes at a time when Azerbaijan already refuses to allow Western platforms mediate between it and Armenia. With fraying ties as Azerbaijan goes closer into Russia’s orbit, these tweet-attacks can be expected to get even worse.
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