6 August, 1997
The Chicago Tribune
Editorial

Time to end these sanctions

Five years ago when Azerbaijan and Armenia, two former Soviet republics, were embroiled in bloody ethnic warfare, Congress imposed a ban on U.S. government aid to Azerbaijan, believing this vital to help Armenia avoid catastrophic defeat.

Now, with Armenia's position secure, it is time to repeal the sanctions.

It has long been clear that Armenia prevailed on the battlefield. Its forces occupy about a fifth of Azerbaijan's territory, including the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh enclave where the conflict erupted.

Indeed, Azerbaijan has abandoned hope of a military solution and is relying on international mediators--the United States, Russia and France--to finesse a peace treaty.

The Clinton administration favors ending the sanctions, detailed in the 1992 Freedom Support Act--and not just because they make it more difficult for Washington to serve as an effective peacemaker.

The sanctions also pose a substantial roadblock to efforts to promote democracy and human rights in Azerbaijan and, by extension, to lay a foundation for long-term peace and stability in the volatile Caucasus, where U.S. economic and political interests are rapidly expanding.

Azerbaijan, which is eager for closer ties to Washington, could play a key role in limiting Russian and Iranian meddling in the region.

More concretely, Azerbaijan sits on one of the world's richest oil reserves, which experts predict could be pumping some 700,000 barrels of oil a day within 15 years. Four American oil companies--including Chicago-based Amoco--are playing active roles in developing these Caspian Sea reserves.

During a Chicago visit this week, Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev argued that his willingness to work with U.S. oil firms, over the objections of Russia and other neighboring states, should be rewarded by lifting the ban on American aid. He's right.

Those who support keeping the sanctions, most notably the powerful Armenian lobby, argue that oil profits must not take precedence over Armenia's security. They are being shortsighted.

Promoting democracy, humane values and the rule of law in Azerbaijan would enhance Armenian security. But the sanctions bar Washington from funding programs to achieve these goals--or, for that matter, from supplying such basic humanitarian aid as clothing and beds for children in orphanages. They even forbid the sending of medicine.

Azerbaijan is the only former Soviet state subjected to this treatment, even though others have distinctly worse records on personal freedom and economic reform. It's time to end these sanctions.

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