On Day One, Rubio Should Reverse Blinken and Power’s Azerbaijan Cowardice

There Is Absolutely No Dispute That Azerbaijan’s Actions in Nagorno-Karabakh Amount to Ethnic Cleansing

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has long advocated the infusion of moral clarity into U.S. foreign policy.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has long advocated the infusion of moral clarity into U.S. foreign policy.

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Just five days before Azerbaijani forces invaded Nagorno-Karabakh and drove away its population of 120,000 indigenous Armenians, acting Assistant Secretary of State Yuri Kim told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, “We will not tolerate any attack on the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.”

That Azerbaijan has paid no real price for its ethnic cleansing is directly due to Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s spinelessness and U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power’s ambition.

That Azerbaijan has paid no real price for its ethnic cleansing is directly due to Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s spinelessness and U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power’s ambition. Neither will label Azerbaijan’s actions as ethnic cleansing, preferring instead weasel words such as “depopulation,” often used in the passive voice to avoid any mention of responsibility. Blinken even refuses to modify “depopulation” with the adjective “forcible.” Power, who has spent the last month of her tenure on a speaking tour and giving revisionist exit interviews to burnish her image, likewise will not acknowledge the ethnic cleansing that marked her term; to do so would undermine her brand and undercut her lifelong desire to be secretary of state.

Make no mistake: There is absolutely no dispute that Azerbaijan’s actions in Nagorno-Karabakh amount to ethnic cleansing. Freedom House provided perhaps the most authoritative documentation about how Azerbaijan forced out the region’s 1,700-year-old Christian community and concluded, “The Azerbaijani state’s actions constitute ethnic cleansing.” So, too, did the International Association of Genocide Scholars, alongside many Christian groups.

Writing on Truth Social on Oct. 24, President-elect Donald Trump condemned Vice President Kamala Harris for what happened to Armenians on her watch. “Kamala Harris did NOTHING as 120,000 Armenian Christians were horrifically persecuted and forcibly displaced in Artsakh,” he declared.

Blinken’s motivations may not be pure, but his refusal to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic cleansing has real ramifications beyond simply reflecting ego and cowardice.

In 2017, Trump issued Executive Order 13818 to block the property of those “responsible for or complicit in … serious human rights abuse”; President Joe Biden extended the order. The purpose of the order was to address arbitrary gaps in the definition of human rights abuses and plug loopholes in the Global Magnitsky Act. The U.S. also adopted the Genocide Convention into law (18 U.S. Code §1091). While Azerbaijanis may quibble about Section 1091’s applicability to them, the incitement clauses extend to those in the United States — many of whom have no diplomatic immunity — who were cheerleaders for violence and ethnic cleansing.

Blinken’s denial of ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh for the sake of diplomatic ease is akin to praising Attila the Hun, after he slaughtered millions, for his efforts to alleviate prison overcrowding.

Blinken’s denial of ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh for the sake of diplomatic ease is akin to praising Attila the Hun, after he slaughtered millions, for his efforts to alleviate prison overcrowding.

Fortunately for the Armenian victims of Azerbaijan’s aggression, the secretary of state alone has the authority to determine foreign officials complicit in such human rights abuses. The law also requires the secretary of state to release a report detailing the foreign officials’ corruption and complicity in human rights abuses.

Secretary of State-designate Marco Rubio has long advocated the infusion of moral clarity into U.S. foreign policy. Certainly, he realizes two truisms that always evaded Blinken: First, U.S. foreign policy is strongest when the State Department calibrates it to reality, and, second, dictators interpret failure to hold them to account as weakness to exploit.

On Day One of his tenure, Rubio should demonstrate this to the Foreign Service when he refers to what happened in Nagorno-Karabakh as “ethnic cleansing,” not “depopulation” or a spontaneous permanent vacation or whatever wordplay Blinken and Power prefer. Members of Congress should then look forward to the true report by May 2025 on what occurred and the consequences the Aliyevs face.

Michael Rubin is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he specializes in Middle Eastern countries, particularly Iran and Turkey. His career includes time as a Pentagon official, with field experiences in Iran, Yemen, and Iraq, as well as engagements with the Taliban prior to 9/11. Mr. Rubin has also contributed to military education, teaching U.S. Navy and Marine units about regional conflicts and terrorism. His scholarly work includes several key publications, such as “Dancing with the Devil” and “Eternal Iran.” Rubin earned his Ph.D. and M.A. in history and a B.S. in biology from Yale University.
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