Azerbaijani MPs calls for severing military ties with US
- 4 October, 07:37
Members of the Azerbaijani Parliament have called on the country’s Foreign Ministry to cut relations with the United States, including the military ties.
In a statement signed to Foreign Minister Ceyhun Bayramov, the MPs demanded the termination of the Joint Declaration on Future Military and Defense Cooperation, signed in 1997, and the Agreement on the Acquisition of Equipment and Mutual Services, signed in 2013. Furthermore, the Azerbaijani MPs have demanded the immediate suspension of the work of USAID and other US-based organizations.
The statement was in response to the letter addressed to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in which 60 US lawmakers demanded Washington to "press for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners, hostages, and POWs, including ethnic Armenians, to enable a more conducive environment for successful diplomacy at COP29".
The letter by US lawmakers was slammed by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev who described the allegations leveled against his country as “disgusting”, saying the relevant statement addressed to Blinken “had been drawn up "to threaten and accuse us".
Speaking on Friday from Jabrayil district that was taken back from Armenia in the war in 2020, Aliyev also accused the US lawmakers of undermining the ongoing peace negotiations with neighbouring Armenia following the war.
Aliyev’s aide Hikmat Hajiyev told Reuters that Azerbaijan's hosting of COP29 climate conference in November should not be turned into "a political tool". He accused critics of seeking to deflect attention away from climate action.
