U.S. urged to end all military aid to Azerbaijan

PanARMENIAN.Net - Government Affairs Director Tereza Yerimyan outlined the Armenian National Committee of America’s (ANCA) policy priorities in testimony submitted on April 26 to the U.S. House panel drafting the FY23 foreign aid bill – with a sharp focus on ending all U.S. military aid to Azerbaijan and delivering an urgently needed $50 million aid package to Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).

Yerimyan made the case that, in the wake of Azerbaijan’s ethnic-cleansing of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) and amid Baku’s ongoing occupation of sovereign Armenian territory, the Congress should hold the Aliyev regime accountable by cutting off all U.S. military aid to its armed forces. She also pressed for a long-term developmental investment in Artsakh, to help its families “rebuild their lives and resettle in safety upon their indigenous Armenian homeland.”

Speaking to the need for increased aid to Armenia, Yerimyan prioritized U.S. aid programs aimed at materially strengthening Armenia’s security and sovereignty in the face of escalating Turkish and Azerbaijani threats.

In March, the House and Senate agreed to send $45 million in U.S. aid to Armenia and $2 million in demining assistance for Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) as part of the Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22) Foreign Aid Bill adopted this week by the U.S. House.