Congressional leaders demand to hold Ankara and Baku accountable for Armenian Genocide

Congressional leaders joined with Armenian Americans and allies from across the country on April 2nd for the annual Capitol Hill observance of the Armenian Genocide, issuing bipartisan calls for Azerbaijan’s immediate release of Armenian prisoners, the right of return for displaced Artsakh Armenians, and US sanctions on both the Aliyev and Erdogan regimes for war crimes and genocidal ethnic cleansing, the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) reports.

“The crime did not end in 1915 — it continues today,” stated ANCA Chairman George Aghjayan, who offered a poignant personal reflection on genocide survival, sharing the story of his great-aunt, who witnessed the beheading of her father and spent six years enslaved before being rescued.

Recalling his 2020 trip to Artsakh just days after the war, he described seeing the same fear and devastation on the faces of displaced children that his grandmother had once carried. “These are not separate events. They are tied together. What Armenians have always wanted is to live in peace — but that peace must be just, and it must be durable. As Armenian Americans, we demand action,” he said.