US Lawmakers Urge Blinken to Advocate for Human Rights in Azerbaijan Ahead of COP29 – Reuters

By Valerie Volcovici

WASHINGTON – Nearly 60 US lawmakers on Thursday urged Secretary of State Antony Blinken to push Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev to maintain human rights protections and release political prisoners ahead of the COP29 climate summit scheduled to take place in Baku next month.

The group, which consists of 10 senators and 48 representatives, called on Blinken to demand that Azerbaijan implement “tangible measures” to free political prisoners and to denounce inflammatory remarks directed at Armenia, which they believe could jeopardize ongoing peace negotiations following Azerbaijan’s regain of control over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The Azerbaijani presidency for COP29 did not provide an immediate response to the request for comment.

In their letter, the lawmakers emphasized the need for the “immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners, hostages, and POWs, including ethnic Armenians, to foster a more conducive environment for successful diplomacy at COP29.”

During last year’s COP28 in Dubai, Azerbaijan announced its plans to host the subsequent round of UN negotiations after securing an agreement with Armenia that alleviated concerns about a potential Armenian veto. This decision drew criticism from human rights advocates and families of political dissidents incarcerated by the Azerbaijani government.

Earlier this year, legal representatives for a former high-ranking official in the ethnic Armenian administration of Nagorno-Karabakh claimed in a letter to a UN official that the politician had been subjected to torture while detained in Azerbaijan.