Samantha Power, a prominent human rights advocate and USAID administrator under President Joe Biden, drew sharp criticism for the administration's response to Azerbaijan's blockade and ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh. In late 2022 and 2023, Azerbaijan blocked the Lachin Corridor, cut off aid, and forced around 120,000 ethnic Armenians to flee the region. Critics argue that despite Power's background in genocide prevention, the U.S. failed to impose consequences on Azerbaijan.
In December 2022, amid global attention on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, another crisis unfolded 200 miles south: Azerbaijan staged environmental protests to block the Lachin Corridor, the sole road linking Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory within Azerbaijan inhabited by ethnic Armenians since the 7th century B.C. Over the following months, Azerbaijani forces intensified attacks, killing Armenian soldiers and civilians, while severing electricity and blocking food and aid. This led to the exodus of approximately 120,000 ethnic Armenians by September 2023.
Samantha Power, Biden's USAID Administrator, seemed well-positioned to intervene. A former journalist, Power authored "A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide," which addressed the Armenian genocide among others. She served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations under Obama, praising his commitment to genocide prevention. Democratic strategist Eric Hacopian noted, "She was not your average Biden administration official. Because she has this halo over her head about human rights."
Yet, Azerbaijan's actions under President Ilham Aliyev were anticipated. Professor Nerses Kopalyan described the Biden administration's inaction as "shocking," saying, "When it came time to walk the walk, Samantha Power and that branch of the Biden administration basically disappeared. So we realized that it was all talk and no action, and the blockade continued until the ethnic cleansing."
From November 2022 to September 2023, Secretary of State Antony Blinken conducted three rounds of peace talks, which the administration said "yielded results." Officials warned against ethnic cleansing, but Azerbaijan faced no repercussions. An anonymous former official revealed internal pushes for a firmer stance: "We were certainly pushing for more fortitude... in making it clear to Aliyev that there would be consequences... But that messaging was not married up with real consequences."
Power made no major statements or visits to Armenia before the blockade. Hacopian criticized her as "entirely insincere," adding, "They were never working to get aid into that region during the illegal Azerbaijani blockade. She, essentially, cynically went along for the ride, not saying a word. And the moment the ethnic cleansing started, she showed up. She’s wildly reviled here because of that."
In September 2023, during a press conference near the Azerbaijan border, Power was heckled: "Sanction Azerbaijan or go back to your country. You don’t care. Stop the lies." Post-crisis, focus shifted to aiding Armenia rather than punishing Azerbaijan, with the former official lamenting, "We could’ve walked and chewed gum at the same time, but we didn’t."
