Two pro-Armenian U.S. Congress members have claimed they faced intimidation and physical threats while attending the COP29 climate summit in Baku.

"It was no question that if it wasn't for the fact that security that the embassy hired protected me, I would have been in the hospital," NBC Right Now news quotes Representative Frank Pallone telling reporters on his return to Washington on Monday.

Senator Ed Markey told reporters he also encountered harassment and needed a bodyguard even inside his hotel.

Both publicly criticized the Azerbaijani government’s poor human rights record and dealings in the conflict with Armenia.

"You know this was orchestrated by the government. That's what this was all about, to make a point that we don't want you here and we don't want you articulating concerns that you have," Pallone said. 

Pallone said some 50 "thugs" then waited for him outside his hotel, with the local police refusing to take him through a back entrance but the US embassy-provided security shielding him.

On October 3, sixty members of the U.S. Congress signed a bipartisan, bicameral letter led by Representative Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) calling for U.S. leadership to hold Azerbaijan accountable for committing war crimes, taking hostages, and illegally occupying Armenian territory – before the COP29 United Nations climate summit in Baku.

Photo: U.S. Senator Ed Markey (left) and Representative Frank Pallone speak during a news conference in Washington, November 18, 2024. (Photo by the Armenian National Committee of America)