On March 3, 2025, at the 58th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called for the immediate release of “all those arbitrarily detained in Azerbaijan, including ethnic Armenians.” Türk preceded the comment by also offering an assurance: “We stand ready to support.” Full stop. It is a phrase with no context, meaning, or plan.
It’s no wonder, then, that Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry quickly picked up on Türk’s demand that only those detained “arbitrarily” should be released, with spokesman Aykhan Hajizada replying that a “fair trial in compliance with international legal standards is essential to establish the truth, bring justice to the victims, and ensure the rule of law”— a cynical statement, as it has been well-established in international circles that the trials of Armenian hostages in Baku since January 27, 2025, are being held in contravention of their rights under international law. Essentially, Türk’s “support” offered nothing practical for those unlawfully detained, and left an out for the Azerbaijani government to ignore the United Nations’ plea.
The United States has several tools at its disposal to compel Azerbaijani dictator Ilham Aliyev to end his hostage-taking and show trials.
Amnesty International’s advocacy was also hollow. It expressed support in January 2025 for the Armenian hostages, but forfeited any momentum it might have had if the statement had been released in September 2023, when Azerbaijani forces took Nagorno-Karabakh’s representatives hostage, including Ruben Vardanyan, billionaire, philanthropist, and former state minister. In saying that Azerbaijan’s “denying [Vardanyan] his fair trial rights, they are doing the exact opposite of justice,” the statement is better late than never, but Amnesty has no real power. The International Committee for the Red Cross also has been ineffectual by refusing to demand fulfillment of its mandate to help the hostages held in Azerbaijan’s prisons.
Human rights entities like Amnesty International, the Red Cross, and the United Nations Human Rights Council can do better to draw attention to the atrocities committed against the Armenians in immediate, clear, and unequivocal language and advocacy, but they have no real instruments to force Azerbaijan’s hand. The United States, however, does.
The United States has several tools at its disposal to compel Azerbaijani dictator Ilham Aliyev to end his hostage-taking and show trials.
First, the U.S. Export-Import bank (EXIM) has been reviewing since February 2025 a $100 million long-term loan application to fund the sale of Boeing cargo jets to Azerbaijan’s Silk Way Airlines. Approval delays are due to concern about facilitating an illegal flow of arms into Azerbaijan, threatening Armenia’s security and sovereignty, in contravention of U.S. Export Administration Regulations and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations pertaining to dual-use aircraft, which have both military and civilian use. Baku’s release of all Armenian hostages—those acknowledged and unacknowledged—would signal to Washington that the Aliyev regime intends to use the aircraft only for peaceful means.
Second, as President Donald Trump entered office, he demanded the traditional resignation of not only President Joe Biden’s political appointees, but also many career ambassadors as well. While Armenia’s U.S. ambassador was kept in place, Azerbaijan’s is out. The State Department should not send a new ambassador to Baku until the Aliyev regime is willing to engage seriously. There is no reason to reward Aliyev with the prestige a full ambassador grants.
The State Department should not send a new ambassador to Baku until the Aliyev regime is willing to engage seriously.
And third, U.S. government foreign assistance to Azerbaijan has declined since 2023, from roughly $22 million to $17.8 million in 2024, and thus far stands at a mere $3.3 million in 2025. This reflects the Biden administration’s de facto implementation of the Armenian Protection Act, still under review by Congress, that seeks to repeal fully the “Freedom Support Act section 907 waiver authority with respect to assistance to Azerbaijan.” But, while the Aliyev government hopes Trump will normalize relations and restore funding, Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s record as senator suggests he will not sympathize with Azerbaijan’s position absent serious reforms in Baku.
Indeed, Rubio previously expressed willingness to sanction human rights abusers, including Azerbaijan, under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, whose implementation would authorize the president to deny admission and revoke visas to those deemed responsible for torture and corruption and other “gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.” Under Global Magnitsky, Azerbaijanis would have their assets frozen and no longer would be able to enter the United States and engage in business.
Aliyev may feel comfortable ignoring the statements and virtue signaling of the human rights community, but he may not be so willing to believe gratuitous humiliation and torture of Armenian leaders is worth the missing aircraft, ambassadors, access, money, and recognition by the United States that he so craves.
