In response to Congressional concerns first raised by House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Democrat Howard Berman, the State Department has removed Azerbaijan from a list of countries eligible to purchase U.S. military hardware which could be used by the Aliyev regime in its ongoing attacks against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, reported the Armenian National Committee of America.

“This decision by Secretary Clinton is in the best interests of the Armenian people and for peace in the region,” said Rep. Berman, upon receiving the modified formal notification from the State Department late on June 27th.

“We would like to thank Rep. Berman for taking immediate action to block this proposed arms sale, particularly given the Aliyev regime’s recent attacks against Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh that coincided with Secretary Clinton’s visit to the Caucasus,” stated ANCA Government Affairs Director Kate Nahapetian.  “Military equipment sales to Azerbaijan only serve to arm and embolden a belligerent Azerbaijani government, whose threats and acts of aggression undermine the Karabakh peace process and stability in the region overall.”

In a May 29th letter to Secretary Clinton, Rep. Berman referenced announcements of a sale of military hardware which would be used in conjunction with Azerbaijan’s military helicopter fleet for “border surveillance and ‘police-type’ activities.”  In addition to possible attacks against Armenia, Rep. Berman expressed concern about the “message that such a sale would send to the regional parties, both in terms of perceived U.S. even-handedness and in terms of our seriousness about persuading Baku to cease its bellicose rhetoric and agree to Minsk Group co-chair demands that it remove its snipers from the ‘line of contact’ in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.”