— Grassroots Campaign Urges Vance to Support Artsakh Refugees’ Right to Return, Press for Azerbaijan’s Withdrawal from Armenian Territory
WASHINGTON, DC – The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) is mobilizing nationwide ahead of Vice President J.D. Vance’s February 9th visit to Armenia and planned trip to Azerbaijan later this month, calling on him to meet with Armenian hostages illegally held in Baku and to demand their immediate release – in addition to backing the right of ethnically cleansed Armenian refugees to return to their indigenous Artsakh homeland, calling on Azerbaijan to withdraw its military forces from sovereign Armenian territory, and pressing Baku to stop destroying millennia-old Armenian Christian heritage sites.
Armenian Americans can visit anca.org/vance to send messages to Vice President Vance, urging him to address these urgent humanitarian issues during his visits to Armenia and Azerbaijan.
“Vice President Vance’s visit – the highest level U.S. visit to Armenia – comes with equally high expectations for strong U.S. leadership,” stated ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “Real peace cannot be built on ethnic cleansing, the detention of hostages, or the destruction of Christian heritage. The Vice President must hold Azerbaijan to account – making it crystal clear that that America stands with the Armenian people.”
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The ANCA campaign comes as Azerbaijan handed down life sentences to five former Artsakh leaders and 20-year terms to two others in what human rights activists have condemned as sham trials. The verdicts were issued just one day after Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev received a UAE peace prize in Abu Dhabi.
“I’m disgusted by Azerbaijan’s unjust and callous sentencing of Armenian captives from Artsakh to life imprisonment—they must be released, immediately,” stated Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chair Frank Pallone (D-NJ). “Aliyev claims he’s committed to peace and reconciliation, but he’s continuing to trample on human rights and due process. I’m calling on Vice President Vance to advocate for the release of these prisoners during his upcoming visit to the region.”
Calling Azerbaijan’s life imprisonment of Armenian hostages a “deep injustice,” Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) stated, “Following the ethnic cleansing of Armenians from Artsakh, President Aliyev continues to show a blatant disregard for human rights. He must uphold due process and release these hostages now.”
Among those sentenced to life imprisonment are former Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan, former Artsakh Army Commander Levon Mnatsakanyan, former Artsakh Army First Deputy Commander Davit Manukyan, former parliament speaker Davit Ishkhanyan, and former foreign minister Davit Babayan. Former Artsakh presidents Bako Sahakyan and Arkadi Ghukasyan received 20-year sentences due to being aged above 65. Eight other Armenians were also sentenced to shorter prison terms. Philanthropist and former Artsakh State Minister Ruben Vardanyan, who is standing a separate trial, is expected to be sentenced to life in prison later this month.
“These verdicts cannot practically hinder or prevent the repatriation of the Armenians held in Azerbaijan because this process has never been legal,” stated Armenian Legal Center Executive Director Siranush Sahakyan, who is representing Armenian prisoners in the European Court of Human Rights. “The Azerbaijani courts have shown that this issue is highly political and they are incapable of ensuring a fair trial,” Sahakyan told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
In September 2023, Azerbaijan launched a military offensive that forcibly displaced Artsakh’s entire 120,000- Armenian population. Since then, Baku continues to detain and torture at least 19 known Armenian hostages, systematically demolishing millennia-old churches and cemeteries, and maintaining military occupation of sovereign Armenian territory in violation of international law.
The ANCA is urging Vice President Vance to request meetings with Armenian hostages held in Azerbaijan’s unlawful detention and publicly call for their immediate and unconditional release. While in Armenia, the organization is asking Vance to meet with recently released hostages, their legal representatives, and families of those who remain detained. The ANCA is also calling on the Vice President to meet with members of Artsakh’s displaced population and publicly support their fundamental right to return in safety to their ancestral homes.
The ANCA is working with Congressional champions to advance H.R.6840 – the ARMENIA Security Partnership Act – bipartisan legislation that would require the President to certify that Azerbaijan has taken steps to ensure the unconditional release of all remaining Armenian prisoners, the protection of Armenian heritage and property, and the withdrawal of Azerbaijani military forces from Armenian territory before the President can waive Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act. The organization is also supporting H.R.5369 – the Azerbaijan Sanctions Review Act – bipartisan legislation that would require the Departments of State and Treasury to review the applicability of targeted Global Magnitsky Act sanctions against Azerbaijani officials responsible for grave human rights abuses and war crimes, including the deliberate destruction of Armenian heritage and the torture and abuse of Armenian detainees.
Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act, adopted in 1992, prohibits U.S. military assistance to Azerbaijan until it ceases its blockade and aggressive actions against Armenia and Artsakh. President Trump reauthorized the waiver of Section 907 in 2025, paving the way for renewed U.S. military assistance to Azerbaijan despite its ongoing detention and abuse of Armenian prisoners, destruction of Armenian Christian heritage sites, and occupation of sovereign Armenian territory.
Photo Caption: In the run up to Vice President JD Vance’s trips to Armenia and Azerbaijan this month, the ANCA has issued a nationwide call to action urging him to secure the release of Armenian hostages.