[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 109 (Tuesday, July 29, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H5922-H5923]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      PRESIDENT ALIYEV'S HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES SHOULD NOT BE IGNORED

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 21, 1997, the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Pallone] is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, today the President of the Republic of 
Azerbaijan arrives in Washington, and during his official visit to our 
Nation's capital, the President of this former Soviet republic will be 
honored at the White House and will brief Members on Capitol Hill.
  Madam Speaker, as an article in this Sunday's Washington Post noted, 
``The visiting head of state who will have lunch with President Clinton 
this week and stay at Blair House as an honored guest has an unusual 
background: A former general in the KGB security forces who was 
dismissed from the Politburo for alleged corruption a decade ago.'' As 
the article goes on to point out, Azerbaijan, this former Soviet 
republic on the Caspian Sea has been ``propelled into the forefront of 
U.S. interests by oil and geography.''
  That is what this is really all about, oil interests. While our State 
Department has cited serious abuses of human rights in Mr. Aliyev's 
regime, it is clear that human rights are a secondary interest. His 
country's territory happens to be sitting on some of the world's major 
oil reserves. U.S. oil companies are interested in exploiting this 
resource, so apparently we just look the other way about Mr. Aliyev's 
unsavory regime, wine and dine him in Washington, and let him stay as 
an honored guest at Blair House at the American taxpayers' expense.
  On the eve of Mr. Aliyev's visit, I want to inform our colleagues 
about the type of leader this man is. President Aliyev has a long 
record of human rights violations dating back to his four decades as an 
official of the Soviet KGB. During the 1960's, he orchestrated the 
depopulation of Armenians from their homes in Nakhichevan. As the 
Communist Party leader of Azerbaijan during the 1970's, he violently 
suppressed all nationalists and democratic dissent. His ardent support 
for the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan earned him a seat on the Soviet 
Politburo under Leonid Brezhnev, where he served until removed by 
Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987 for having engaged in widespread corruption. 
Since his return to power through a military coup in 1993, President 
Aliyev has suppressed democracy and committed widespread violations of 
human rights, which have been documented by the State Department.

  Madam Speaker, as I mentioned, I believe that the effort to try to 
sanitize Mr. Aliyev's regime has everything to do with oil interests. I 
have nothing against the extraction of Caspian Sea oil reserves, but 
the question that we must confront this week is, what price do we pay 
to curry favor with the Azerbaijani Government? Must we court this most 
undemocratic leader on his terms? And what price do we pay for being so 
generous to President Aliyev?
  The result of this policy of appeasement, Madam Speaker and my 
colleagues, is the continued oppression of the people of Azerbaijan and 
the continued threats to the people of Mr. Aliyev's neighbors, Armenia 
and Nagorno Karabagh.
  I would hope that this visit would offer an opportunity for our 
President and our administration to express American concerns about the 
lack of democracy and basic rights and freedom in Azerbaijan. I would 
especially hope the message could be sent to President Aliyev in no 
uncertain terms that Azerbaijan should immediately lift its blockades 
of Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh.
  Finally, I would hope that President Clinton would stress to 
President Aliyev American support for a freely negotiated settlement of 
the Nagorno Karabagh conflict that recognizes the self-determination 
within secure borders of the people of Nagorno Karabagh.
  I am circulating a letter along with my colleague, the gentleman from 
Illinois [Mr. Porter] to President Clinton expressing our concerns 
about the visit of President Aliyev, and I hope that we can make 
something positive come out of this visit by President Aliyev.
  Also this evening, Madam Speaker, I will be participating in a 
demonstration across from the Willard Hotel here in Washington to 
protest Mr. Aliyev's visit. The demonstration is being organized by the 
Armenian National Committee of America with the support of the Armenian 
Assembly of America and the entire Armenian community. There will be 
other demonstrations coinciding with President Aliyev's visit. I urge 
Members to support and participate in these demonstrations.
  Although President Aliyev is probably not familiar with the right to 
free assembly and free expression, he should know that this is how we 
do things in a democracy. He must not mistake the red carpet treatment 
he is getting in official Washington as a signal of approval by the 
American people for his policies of aggression toward his neighbors and 
oppression of his own people.
  Unfortunately, Madam Speaker, I am afraid that the direction in which 
United States policy is headed in the Caucasus region does not bode 
well for the outcome that we seek. The United States is in a unique 
position to be able to bring about a fair settlement of the Nagorno 
Karabagh situation and to help promote the long-term security and 
economic development of the region, but that is not the way things are 
going. The United States, along with France and Russia, is the cochair 
of the Minsk Group, and I believe that we should maintain our 
neutrality while exerting strong leadership to bring the parties 
together.
  I am working with my colleagues to bring an official from the 
administration, the State Department, to come up to the Hill to bring 
us up to date on the status of negotiations in Nagorno, and for us to 
impress upon them the importance we attach to protecting the self-
determination of the people of Karabagh.
  Madam Speaker, Azerbaijan has some pretty powerful allies in its 
corner, including former top administration officials from both 
parties. We have to fight to make sure that the concerns of the people 
of Nagorno Karabagh are met here in the Congress and here in 
Washington.
  I am working with my colleagues to bring an official from the 
administration, the State Department, to come up to the Hill to bring 
us up to date on the status of negotiations and for us to impress upon 
them the importance we attach to protecting the self-determination of 
the people of Karabagh.
  You know, Mr. Speaker, Azerbaijan has some pretty powerful allies in 
its corner, including former top administration officials from both 
parties. This was documented in a recent front-page story in the 
Washington Post. This effort, this big-money influence, is being driven 
by oil money--the Caspian Sea basin off Azerbaijan has some of the 
richest oil reserves in the world, and many U.S. oil companies are 
interested in getting into this region.
  But, Mr. Speaker, the big problem that many of us have is that the 
oil companies, and the former top U.S. Government officials working for 
those interests, are essentially lobbying for U.S. foreign policy to 
ignore the unacceptable behavior of Azerbaijan in order to curry favor 
with the regime and gain access to the oil reserves.

[[Page H5923]]

  I'm also concerned that the visit to Washington by President Aliyev, 
at this critical stage in the Karabagh negotiations, threatens to harm 
the peace process by undermining confidence in the role of the United 
States as an impartial mediator. Section 907 is a provision of the 
Freedom Support Act of 1992 which prohibits direct U.S. Government Aid 
to Azerbaijan because of the Azeri blockade of Ameria and Nagorno 
Karabagh. The administration's advocacy against Section 907, further 
reinforces the Azerbaijani perception that the United States, since the 
most recent OSCE summit in Lisbon, has tilted toward Azerbaijan.
  The visit by President Aliyev could serve to encourage Azerbaijan to 
further harden its negotiating stance. This encouragement is 
particularly dangerous given President Aliyev's pattern of unacceptable 
behavior, including his use of oil as a weapon against Armenia and 
Nagorno Karabagh, his blockades of Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh, his 
rapidly expanding military capabilities, his threats of force and 
intimidation tactics, and his refusal to negotiate directly with the 
democratically elected representatives of Nagorno Karabagh.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues in joining Mr. Porter and me in 
letting President Clinton know of our concerns about his upcoming 
meeting with President Aliyev and to push our State Department toward a 
fair solution to the very difficult Nagorno Karabagh conflict.

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