Azernews.Az

Akbar Novruz

Read more

Washington has finally begun to confront a truth it spent three decades avoiding. The legislative scaffolding built by the Armenian lobby to constrain Azerbaijan is cracking, not because of sudden goodwill, but because geopolitical reality has caught up with old political games. Today, as Amendment 907 once again returns to the center of debate, the United States is being forced to acknowledge that the amendment has long served as an instrument of bias, not a tool of strategy. And the façade is coming down at a moment when peace in the South Caucasus depends on clarity, not fiction.

For more than thirty years, Article 907 functioned as a political weapon disguised as legislation. Introduced in 1992 at the height of the Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani territories, it was marketed as moral pressure while conveniently ignoring the much darker context of occupation, forced displacement, and ethnic cleansing carried out against Azerbaijanis. The amendment did not emerge from principled foreign policy. It emerged from the overwhelming influence of a pro-Armenian political elite in Congress that used legislative power to shield Armenia from accountability.

In the 2000s, Washington quietly waived Article 907 in exchange for Azerbaijan’s cooperation in the energy sector and regional security. Yet under the Biden administration, which adopted a distinctly cold attitude toward Baku, the old mechanism was revived and transformed into a punitive instrument once more. Instead of recalibrating relations based on geopolitical realities, the administration allowed dated lobby-driven narratives to re-enter the policy arena. The result was a return to imbalance at a moment when balance mattered most.

But today, as Armenia and Azerbaijan engage in an increasingly concrete peace process, even Washington has had to admit that Article 907 is an obstacle, not a solution. This shift is not accidental. It coincides with changes within the broader US political landscape.

Before the latest developments on Amendment 907, Washington witnessed an aggressive lobbying effort aimed at reshaping US policy in the South Caucasus. On September 30, three House committees introduced Bill 5632, the so-called "PEACE Act," sponsored by Congressman Darrell Issa and co-sponsored by Gus Bilirakis. Publicly, the bill claims to promote stability. In reality, it aims to codify punitive measures against Azerbaijan while presenting the Armenian side as inherently threatened and politically untouchable.

Strikingly, the bill outlines consequences for Azerbaijan should peace agreements be violated, yet completely avoids addressing the possibility of Armenia breaching any commitments. This structural asymmetry reveals its purpose: to legislate a predetermined narrative where Armenia is permanently framed as the victim and Azerbaijan as the aggressor, regardless of facts on the ground.

This push did not emerge from a vacuum. Several factors triggered the Armenian lobby’s shift to more desperate legislative tactics:

• The lobby failed to pressure the executive branch, especially during periods of positive dynamics between President Ilham Aliyev and Donald Trump.
• The post-Washington agreement environment undermined older anti-Azerbaijan narratives, forcing lobby groups to repackage their agenda into the language of “peace”, “protection”, and “stability”.
• Congress became the only arena where the lobby still held disproportionate influence, prompting it to institutionalize its preferred policies through mandatory sanctions mechanisms.

By naming the bill the “PEACE Act”, its authors sought to weaponize the very terminology Trump himself has historically favored, attempting to frame any opposition to the bill as opposition to peace. Such political branding is designed to corner policymakers: supporting Azerbaijan becomes politically costly, even irrationally so.

Moreover, the bill aims to transform Congress into a co-equal architect of US foreign policy in the region, restricting the executive branch’s ability to maintain balanced diplomatic relations. Its sanctions clauses would automatically activate upon broad and ambiguous definitions of “aggression”, effectively tying the hands of future administrations.

Amid this environment, the introduction of a new bill by Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna to fully repeal Amendment 907 marks a critical shift in Washington’s internal dynamics. For the first time in years, a legislative effort acknowledges that the amendment is incompatible with the South Caucasus’ current reality and detrimental to US strategic interests.

This move also aligns with the temporary suspension of Article 907 in August 2025, another sign that Washington can no longer sustain a policy framework built on obsolete assumptions. Official Baku had repeatedly expressed hope that the US, recognizing Azerbaijan’s regional importance and its increasing relevance to European energy security, would take steps toward complete repeal. That moment appears to be approaching.

Azerbaijan has always favored pragmatic, mutually respectful relations with the United States. The recent shift suggests that pragmatism is finally gaining traction in Washington as well. The geopolitical landscape has changed, and the United States can no longer afford the luxury of one-sided policies inherited from a bygone era.

The mythologies once used to justify Article 907 are exhausted. The Armenian lobby’s attempts to legislate its narratives into permanence may win headlines but have lost strategic relevance. Washington is waking up to a simple truth: the South Caucasus is entering a new era, one driven not by lobby-driven fantasy but by on-the-ground reality, regional power balance, and actual diplomacy.

The repeal effort now unfolding is more than a legislative correction. It signals that the United States may finally be ready to abandon outdated biases and realign its policy with the region’s emerging political landscape. And if Washington indeed chooses pragmatism over old pressure politics, it will not only correct a historic wrong but also help reinforce the fragile but growing architecture of peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Azerbaijan has long been ready. The question now is whether Washington will complete the shift it has finally begun.