AZE.US
Thirty members of Azerbaijan’s Milli Majlis and 11 representatives of nongovernmental organizations have urged the U.S. Congress to repeal Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act, support humanitarian demining and help determine the fate of people missing from the Armenia–Azerbaijan conflict.
The appeal responded to an Oct. 5 letter from a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. That letter called for military assistance to Azerbaijan to be linked to concerns involving detainees, border security and other Armenia–Azerbaijan issues.
The Azerbaijani signatories said keeping Section 907 in force obstructs a full partnership between Baku and Washington. They asked lawmakers to support its permanent repeal, U.S. assistance for clearing mines in territories restored to Azerbaijani control, and efforts to establish the fate of missing persons.
They also urged Congress to support further normalization between Azerbaijan and Armenia and to build on the political opening created by the 2025 White House summit.
Dispute Over Detainees and the Border
The American lawmakers’ letter raised concerns about Armenian detainees held in Azerbaijan and about possible military assistance to Baku. It said the waiver of Section 907 should not be treated as unconditional while humanitarian and security disputes remain unresolved.
The Azerbaijani MPs and NGO representatives rejected the description of detained former separatist officials as “military-political leaders,” saying the individuals had been charged or convicted over specific criminal offenses.
They also disputed the characterization of approximately 241 square kilometers as Armenian territory under Azerbaijani occupation. The appeal said Azerbaijan recognizes Armenia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, while the precise location of unsettled border segments must be resolved through bilateral delimitation and demarcation.
The appeal and its main arguments were published by Trend and reported by Vesti Baku.
What Section 907 Does
Section 907, adopted in 1992, restricts certain direct U.S. government assistance to Azerbaijan. Congress later authorized presidential waivers, and successive administrations have suspended the restriction when they determined that doing so served U.S. national interests.
Baku has long argued that periodic waivers are insufficient and that the provision should be removed from U.S. law altogether.