US Representatives urge Marco Rubio to end military aid to Azerbaijan

Sixty US Representatives have called on Secretary of State Marco Rubio to fully enforce Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act—demanding an immediate end to US military assistance to Azerbaijan, citing Baku’s ethnic cleansing of Artsakh’s 120,000 indigenous Armenian Christian population, continued occupation of sovereign Armenian territory, and illegal detention and abuse of Armenian prisoners, the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) reports.

Representatives Mike Lawler (R-NY), Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), and Gabe Amo (D-RI) spearheaded the bipartisan Congressional letter sent to Secretary of State Rubio.

The signatories urged Rubio not to invoke the waiver authority that has allowed successive administrations to circumvent Section 907, and instead enforce the law to hold Azerbaijan accountable for its crimes.

“Amid Azerbaijan’s ongoing aggression against Armenia, its continued abuse of Armenian POWs, its destruction of Armenian Christian cultural heritage, and its denial of the right of Nagorno Karabakh’s Armenians to safely return to their homes, the continued failure to hold Azerbaijan accountable would not only risk normalizing Azerbaijan’s actions – but embolden U.S. rivals seeking to take advantage of Washington’s inaction,” the lawmakers noted in their letter.