Congress members demand end to U.S. aid for Azerbaijan

PanARMENIAN.Net - Sixty members of the U.S. House of Representatives have appealed to Secretary of State Marco Rubio to halt military aid to Azerbaijan, citing the ethnic cleansing of 120,000 indigenous Armenian Christians from Nagorno-Karabakh, continued occupation of sovereign Armenian territory, and the illegal detention of Armenian prisoners of war, the Armenian National Committee of America reports.

The lawmakers issued a bipartisan letter to Secretary Rubio.

Referring to the ethnic cleansing of the Armenian population of Artsakh, the legislators stressed that Baku, facing no consequences for its actions, continues to undermine efforts to achieve a just, lasting, and dignified peace in the South Caucasus through its ongoing aggression against Armenia.

The authors of the letter urged Secretary Rubio not to invoke the waiver that past U.S. administrations have used to bypass Section 907 and instead to fully enforce the law to hold Azerbaijan accountable for its crimes.

"In the context of Azerbaijan’s continued aggression, abuses against Armenian POWs, destruction of Armenian Christian cultural heritage, and denial of the right of displaced Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh to safely return to their homes, the absence of accountability will not only normalize its behavior but also embolden America’s adversaries seeking to exploit Washington’s inaction," the lawmakers warned.

Since 2001, every U.S. president has invoked this waiver—until 2024, when President Joe Biden reinstated Section 907.