{"id":2085,"date":"2021-11-04T11:17:59","date_gmt":"2021-11-04T18:17:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.new.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/?p=2085"},"modified":"2021-11-04T14:07:16","modified_gmt":"2021-11-04T21:07:16","slug":"chairman-menendez-announces-ndaa-amendments-to-hold-turkey-and-azerbaijan-accountable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/chairman-menendez-announces-ndaa-amendments-to-hold-turkey-and-azerbaijan-accountable\/","title":{"rendered":"Chairman Menendez Announces NDAA Amendments to Hold Turkey and Azerbaijan Accountable"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\">WASHINGTON \u2013 Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today announced two of the foreign policy amendments he is filing to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). As the primary vehicle for authorizing defense spending for Fiscal Year 2022, Chairman Menendez\u2019s proposed changes to the NDAA seek to significantly improve the U.S. government\u2019s ability to track and assess the national security implications of the proliferation of Turkey\u2019s unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) program, as well as to prevent further exceptions to bypass a 1992 law banning U.S. military assistance to the Government of Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foreign.senate.gov\/download\/mcc21c16_-907-amendment\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.foreign.senate.gov\/download\/mcc21c16_-907-amendment&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1636135632183000&amp;usg=AFQjCNERTWUVYhgMfjA9CkXywcOwATyWkg\">Amendment Ending 907 Waiver<\/a>:\u00a0Prohibits\u00a0the continued use of an exemption waiver of Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act. Section 907, which has been law since 1992, bans most assistance to the Government of Azerbaijan until it takes demonstrable steps to cease all blockades and other offensive uses of force against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. The Government of Azerbaijan has clearly not taken these steps, yet assistance to that government has skyrocketed in recent years.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\">\u201cAs the regime in Baku, with Turkey&#8217;s support, continues choosing a path of violence instead of a peaceful, negotiated process between Armenia and Azerbaijan, it is long past time for this and all future administrations to halt this type of assistance and fully respect Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act,\u201d\u00a0said Menendez.\u00a0\u201cI look forward to working with my colleagues to make sure this year\u2019s NDAA continues to advance U.S. national security and foreign policy interests all while representing a prudent use of U.S. taxpayer dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foreign.senate.gov\/download\/mcc21c33_-turkish-drone-amendment\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.foreign.senate.gov\/download\/mcc21c33_-turkish-drone-amendment&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1636135632183000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFhwoJCNyCh8Fsx0GTBU4Qvxdne7Q\">Amendment on Turkey\u2019s Drone Program:<\/a>\u00a0Mandates the State Department and Pentagon report on Turkish drone exports since 2018 and whether those drones contain parts or technology manufactured by U.S. firms. The amendment also requires State to determine whether Turkey\u2019s exports are a violation of the Arms Export Control Act or any other U.S. law or sanctions. Turkish drones played a decisive role in last year\u2019s war between Armenian and Azerbaijan. Since then, Poland, Morocco, and Ukraine have purchased the Bayraktar TB2 and several other countries have expressed interest, including Angola, Ethiopia, Niger, Nigeria, and Rwanda.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\">\u201cTurkey\u2019s drone sales are dangerous, destabilizing and a threat to peace and human rights,\u201d\u00a0\u00a0added Menendez. \u201cThe U.S. should have no part of it, and this amendment is a recognition that we must prevent U.S. parts from being included in these Turkish weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\">\u201cEliminating the 2001 waiver authority added to Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act is long overdue and reflects the reality on the ground today that Azerbaijan never was and never will be a U.S. partner in the global fight against terrorism, because Azerbaijan is itself a terror sponsoring state. Furthermore, Turkey\u2019s killer drone program has destabilized conflict zones in the South Caucasus, the Middle East, and North Africa, and any American components used must be declared dual use and sanctioned for export to Turkey. We commend Senator Menendez for his leadership and ensuring U.S. national security and American interests come first.\u201d stated Armenian Council of America&#8217;s Washington DC Representative Taniel Koushakjian.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>The Armenian Council of America is committed to promoting the civic and civil rights interests of the Armenian American community. ACA also aims to strengthen U.S. \u2013 Armenia and U.S. \u2013 Artsakh ties, the development of programs promoting sustainable economic growth and good governance in Armenia, while promoting the values and responsibilities of global citizenship.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WASHINGTON \u2013 Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today announced&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1468,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[],"post_badge":[],"class_list":["post-2085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-press-releases"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Bob-Menendez-Senate.jpg",1204,824,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Bob-Menendez-Senate-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Bob-Menendez-Senate-300x205.jpg",250,171,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Bob-Menendez-Senate-768x526.jpg",640,438,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Bob-Menendez-Senate-1024x701.jpg",400,274,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Bob-Menendez-Senate.jpg",1204,824,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Bob-Menendez-Senate.jpg",1204,824,false],"covernews-slider-full":["https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Bob-Menendez-Senate.jpg",1045,715,false],"covernews-slider-center":["https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Bob-Menendez-Senate-936x824.jpg",568,500,true],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Bob-Menendez-Senate-1024x701.jpg",1024,701,true],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Bob-Menendez-Senate-720x380.jpg",540,285,true],"covernews-medium-square":["https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Bob-Menendez-Senate-675x450.jpg",375,250,true],"rpwe-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Bob-Menendez-Senate-45x45.jpg",45,45,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"ArmenianCouncil","author_link":"https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/author\/armeniancouncil\/"},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/category\/news\/\" rel=\"category tag\">News<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/category\/press-releases\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Press Releases<\/a>","tag_info":"Press Releases","comment_count":0,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Bob-Menendez-Senate.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2085"},{"taxonomy":"post_badge","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_badge?post=2085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}