Senate Hearing on U.S. Policy in the Caucasus

• •The hearing took place on November 16, 2022, in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.
• •Chairman Menendez criticized the State Department for repeatedly waiving Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act, which restricts security aid to Azerbaijan.
• •The U.S. requested $600,000 in fiscal year 2022 for international military education and training for Azerbaijan.
• •A GAO report found that the Department of State and Department of Defense failed to meet statutory reporting requirements regarding aid to Azerbaijan.
• •The hearing addressed the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh, which resulted in approximately 100,000 displaced Armenians and 6,500 deaths.
• •Allegations were raised regarding war crimes, including the killing of unarmed soldiers and sexual assault by Azerbaijani forces.
• •The committee received testimony and statements from the Armenian National Committee of America and the Armenian Bar Association.

The hearing examines the U.S. government's ongoing provision of military aid to Azerbaijan despite allegations of human rights abuses and regional aggression, which directly impacts U.S. foreign policy and humanitarian funding allocations.

Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.