Your trusted source

Azerbaijan announced on Thursday that its government will not renew a cooperation agreement with the United States Agency for International Development. This does not mean that Baku will not receive American assistance, since the Biden Administration continued to enact its waiver of Section 907 and still provides the regime there with military assistance, Asbarez reported.

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov announced the decision to suspend ties with the USAID. He complained that U.S. posturing following Azerbaijan’s September 2023 attack on Artsakh, that forcibly displaced its entire Armenian population, was “incompatible with international law.”

“Throughout the year, we have repeatedly informed the U.S. that the extension of the agreement should be discussed under new conditions. However, the US attempted to dictate its terms, disregarding Azerbaijan’s interests. As a result, a decision was made not to extend the agreement further,” Bayramov claimed.

Bayramov and other members of the Azerbaijani regime, including President Ilham Aliyev, have criticized the U.S.—and the West in general—for what they call interference in regional issues and said that their actions have hindered the peace talks between Yerevan and Baku.

USAID Administrator Samantha Power last summer traveled to Armenia, where she pledged continued U.S. assistance for the forcibly displaced Artsakh Armenians who fled to Armenia after the September 2023 Azerbaijani attack.