WASHINGTON, DC – A powerful bipartisan letter by twenty-five members of the Congressional Armenian Caucus called on Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Michael Waltz to secure the release of Armenian prisoners illegally held in Azerbaijan and strengthen U.S. policy safeguarding Armenia’s sovereignty and security as part of expanded engagement in the South Caucasus.
The letter, led by Congressional Armenian Caucus leaders Frank Pallone (D-NJ), David Valadao (R-CA), Brad Sherman (D-CA), and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), comes in the wake of recent Armenia-Azerbaijan peace announcements, which have largely stalled due to subsequent Azerbaijani add-ons and preconditions demanding changes in the Armenian Constitution and the dismantling of the OSCE Minsk Group. The letter urges decisive American leadership in deterring Azerbaijani aggression and addressing obstacles to a just and lasting peace in the South Caucasus.
“The ANCA welcomes the sustained bipartisan Congressional pushback against Azerbaijani attempts to force unilateral concessions, a deeply flawed and patently false peace, on Armenia at the point of a gun,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian.
“Shoulder to shoulder with our Congressional allies and coalition partners, we hold that any dialogue toward a durable and just peace must provide for the collective and protected return of Armenians to Artsakh, ensure the removal of all Azerbaijani forces from Armenian territory, maintain international monitoring on Armenia’s borders, secure Azerbaijan’s release of Armenian hostages, protect Artsakh’s Armenian Christian heritage, resist Azerbaijani attempts to force Armenian constitutional changes, and defend Syunik as an integral part of sovereign Armenia.”
