By Paul Vartan Sookiasian
U.S. Representative Frank Pallone (D-NJ) revealed on Monday that he was able to avoid physical harm while attending the climate conference COP29 in Baku due to the intervention of the State Department. “If it wasn’t for the fact that the security that the [US] embassy hired protected me, I would have been in the hospital,” Pallone said during a press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington.
This is just the latest distraction from the UN summit’s pressing agenda to save the planet from the effects of climate change. According to CNN, COP29 has “descended into a circus of boycotts, political tirades and fossil fuels celebrations,” with its host, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, acting as “its spectacular ringmaster.”
Pallone, the co-chair of the Congressional Armenian Caucus, was in Azerbaijan as part of a bipartisan congressional delegation to reaffirm the United States’s commitment to fighting climate change. Videos in the Azerbaijani media show Pallone being jostled by hostile protesters who he referred to as “thugs” waiting for him outside his hotel. He was similarly mobbed by antagonistic journalists as he navigated the labyrinthine conference center. Pallone asserted that the spectacles were all orchestrated by the Azerbaijani government, which controls the media and most aspects of life in the country.
Pallone also pointed out that the hotel he was placed at by the organizers, the Baku Marriott, which happens to be located adjacent to the notorious “victory park” that vilifies Armenians, is owned by the Azerbaijani government. He said he was not permitted to enter through the back entrance, and so was instead forced to pass through the hostile crowd.
Pallone was joined at the press conference by Senator Ed Markey (D-MA), another member of the delegation who said he needed a bodyguard throughout his time in Baku as well. Markey and Pallone each sit on congressional committees relevant to COP29, those on the environment and energy, respectively. They said that along with addressing climate issues at COP29, they were there to raise human rights issues, as many observers have accused Azerbaijan of using the conference to “greenwash” and “peacewash” its reputation amid yet another government crackdown against activists and journalists.
While in Baku, Markey was joined at a press conference by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) in calling for the release of all Armenian and Azerbaijani political prisoners and to allow the right of return to the residents of Nagorno-Karabakh. When pressed by Azerbaijani journalists on Armenian issues, Whitehouse responded: “To put it mildly, I’m far from convinced that Armenians are to blame for [last year’s displacement from Nagorno-Karabakh]. And I don’t want to dwell in the home of my hosts on human rights issues. But if that were to be the topic, I would not be very complimentary.”
Back in DC, Pallone noted that it was Armenia’s removal of its veto last December that paved the way for Azerbaijan to host COP29, and said it was done as a means of advancing the normalization process between the two countries. Instead, the Azerbaijani government has increased its demands on Armenia, putting a deal even further out of reach. It has also been arresting members of civil society such as Bahruz Samadov on charges of treason for participating in international peace conferences with Armenians, sending a chill through the entire sector.
Pallone lamented that “instead of becoming an opportunity to actually move towards a peace agreement and release the prisoners, Aliyev and the government were going in the exact opposite direction”, a move he called “incredibly stupid.”
Pallone described his treatment in Azerbaijan as “an exercise in what despots do,” making it clear through force that there is no room for discussing human rights issues. As a form of reprimand, President Ilham Aliyev met with the congressional delegation on the condition that Pallone not attend.
The delegation conveyed his message to Aliyev of the importance of resolving the differences between Armenia and Azerbaijan only through peaceful means, but Aliyev countered by blaming everything on Armenia.
“The idea here was to achieve a positive goal, and unfortunately that was rejected,” Pallone concluded.
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