Baku and Washington have passed a verdict on the 907th Amendment

After the signing of the Charter on Strategic Cooperation between Azerbaijan and the United States in Baku, some had questions about the scope of this document in comparison with a similar agreement with Armenia concluded in Washington in August. Those who have questions should review both agreements, and the conclusions will not be long in coming.

The Charter with Armenia was signed in January last year, a week before the inauguration of Donald Trump. The outgoing Biden Democrat team was in a hurry to benefit Yerevan, which it had faithfully supported throughout its term. The document is large and verbose. It's full of water and has few specifics. At that time, Armenia, let's say, lived only in the "hearts" of the American administration, but not in the plans. She wasn't present in the plans at all, which is why the Charter turned out to be so watery and actually about nothing. A hastily drafted document that has become a kind of belated fulfillment by Washington of some obligations assumed, most likely, to the diaspora.

Western countries and organizations usually signed such agreements with newly independent countries. As a rule, there was a lot of democracy, civil society, rule of law, reforms and the like. In January 2025, the United States could not yet talk about specific issues because they were not on the bilateral agenda. The Biden administration did its best to slow down the resolution of the issue of the Zangezur corridor and did everything possible to maintain tension between Baku and Yerevan. And all she could promise Yerevan was to keep something under control in vague terms, not to weaken attention to something, to help provide something, and that's it. Washington promised the Armenians to integrate them into the international logistics network, but could not imagine how to do this if Azerbaijan's demand for unhindered passage through Meghri was not met. And the former administration did not want to satisfy this requirement.

The Charter on Strategic Cooperation between the United States and Azerbaijan does not contain any water. A concise, clear and specific document, which, meanwhile, has everything. This is an agreement between two parties who clearly know what they want from each other. Baku and Washington are well aware of the partner's interests, and the Charter is a consequence of the reconciliation of hours between them. These interests largely coincided, and, what is important to emphasize, Azerbaijan does not appear in the document as a country in need of benevolence or instruction from a world power. Azerbaijan is a partner capable of making American interests in the South Caucasus come true. 

The Charter with Azerbaijan defines joint activities in specific projects that simply could not have been before August 8, 2025. Today, the parties have something to talk about, without wasting pointless time on unnecessary constructions that have nothing behind them.

As J.D. Vance said at a meeting with President Ilham Aliyev, the previous administration made many mistakes, and one of them was a very short-sighted policy towards Azerbaijan. Now, under the leadership of Donald Trump, this error has been fixed.

The Charter attracts attention in many ways. The third section of the document, dedicated to security cooperation, is particularly significant. This specificity is important because it brings the relations between the two countries to a new level, not burdened by the notorious 907th Amendment, which has been hanging like a stone around the neck of American-Azerbaijani relations since 1992. As you know, this amendment prohibits the US administration from carrying out military cooperation with Azerbaijan. According to the Charter signed in Baku, the parties intend to expand the scope of their defense and security cooperation, including the sale of defense products.

This moment caused a nervous reaction in certain circles of Armenia and in the Diaspora. The latter felt especially bad because the 907th Amendment was the brainchild of the diaspora.  

The Armenian revanchists were annoyed not only by the death of the 907th Amendment in absentia, but also by Vance, who expressed admiration for the Azerbaijani soldier. He spoke about the times of the peacekeeping operation in Afghanistan, but his words can be safely attributed to the Azerbaijani army as a whole. The US Vice President said in Baku that the servicemen were among the last to leave Afghanistan. They have provided great support in the global war on terrorism. They fought alongside the United States Marines in Afghanistan and earned a reputation as one of the most resilient and combat-ready units, said J. D. Vance. The last words particularly hurt some in the neighboring country. They were outraged by the fact that the Vice President of the United States noted the courage and combat capability of the Azerbaijani soldiers. In this way, the hysterics believe, Vance "indirectly ranked the Armenian liberation warriors who fought and fell for the Christian "Artsakh" among the ranks of terrorist forces."

Of course, Mr. Vice President of the United States did not mean anything like that, but the Armenian radicals very accurately identified the place of their "liberators."

It is noteworthy that, despite the existence of the notorious 907th amendment, cooperation with Baku in the defense sector continued anyway to one degree or another. Although the United States has never had special interests in the South Caucasus, which was considered Russia's patrimony, Washington has always been aware of the strategic importance of partnership with Azerbaijan in a broader space. Therefore, the insane amendment was periodically suspended so that the States could solve their problems in the region. However, American officials always had to justify themselves to the local Armenians for their "violations." During the administration of Biden, or rather, his team, the issue of the amendment turned into a tool of blackmail. However, this blackmail was not effective.

On August 8, 2025, President Donald Trump, with his characteristic categoricality and disinclination to make excuses to anyone, put an end to this issue. "The United States is lifting restrictions on military cooperation with Azerbaijan," he said at a trilateral ceremony at the White House with the participation of the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Of course, this caused an explosion of resentment among the diaspora, but Trump is not one of those politicians who are interested in this. It is significant that such a statement was made not at a bilateral meeting with the President of Azerbaijan, but at a trilateral ceremony, in the presence of the Prime Minister of Armenia, loudly and for the whole world.

The US President himself called this decision a "big step."

Today, everyone understands that the complete repeal of the 907th Amendment is just a matter of time. The Charter signed in Baku became a kind of verdict of this historical injustice.

In Baku, Vance said that the United States plans to send new boats to Azerbaijan to protect territorial waters. Earlier, in January, Trump posted on social media, announced his intention to strengthen the strategic partnership with Baku and begin supplying American defense equipment to Azerbaijan, including bulletproof vests and boats.

According to Azerbaijani experts, now that the malicious amendment has been reliably neutralized, defense cooperation will expand. There are also opinions that Azerbaijan may prefer technology transfer and the organization of joint ventures with the Americans. In any case, horror stories like "The United States will arm Azerbaijan", which are heard in the Armenian and Russian media, are untenable and do not correspond to the spirit of the Azerbaijani-American partnership.

The Azerbaijani army is equipped with the most modern weapons. The country buys weapons from the most advanced manufacturers in the world. If American companies appear among them, it will be another contribution to Azerbaijan's security. Azerbaijan has never been friends with anyone against anyone and has never served as a tool against third parties. Partnership with the United States will also not be a threat to anyone. Baku does not change its principles.