WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013\u00a0Congressman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Vice-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues joined Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.), Gus M. Bilirakis (R-Fla.), and Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) and 60 Members of Congress in requesting robust humanitarian and economic assistance for Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh \u2013 also known as Artsakh \u2013 through the FY2023 State and Foreign Relations funding legislation.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeginning on September 27, 2020, and over the course of 44 days, Azerbaijani forces targeted and killed thousands of innocent Armenians in Artsakh and Armenia. Thousands more were forced to flee their ancestral homelands, and others have been illegally detained and subject to torture \u2013 while those who remain live in fear of another attack and invasion. As defenders of democracy and peace around the world, the United States must offer more than just words of solidarity with our Armenian brothers and sisters abroad. Our actions must be just as powerful,\u201d said\u00a0Schiff. \u201cThese investments will deliver much-needed humanitarian relief to the people of Artsakh, and support a number of priorities including economic development in Armenia.\u201d<\/p>\n
Specifically, the letter calls for:<\/p>\n
A full prohibition of U.S. security assistance to Azerbaijan,\u00a0and restricting the State Department\u2019s ability to waive Section 907.<\/p>\n
No less than $50 million in humanitarian assistance for Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Artsakh, including for demining and UXO clearance and for rebuilding and resettlement support for Armenians who still reside in Artsakh or were displaced.<\/p>\n
No less than $100 million in democratic, economic, and diplomatic assistance for Armenia, to support its democratic reforms, sustain its economic development, and aid its ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
The Secretary of State to engage at all levels with Azerbaijan, including through the OSCE Minsk Group, to call for\u00a0the immediate release of all Armenian prisoners of war and captured civilians. This provision is based on Schiff\u2019s\u00a0resolution<\/a>\u00a0introduced last March. WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013\u00a0Congressman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Vice-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues joined…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2560,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/adam-schiff-house-floor.jpg",750,422,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/adam-schiff-house-floor-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/adam-schiff-house-floor-250x141.jpg",250,141,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/adam-schiff-house-floor.jpg",640,360,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/adam-schiff-house-floor-400x225.jpg",400,225,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/adam-schiff-house-floor.jpg",750,422,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/adam-schiff-house-floor.jpg",750,422,false],"covernews-slider-full":["https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/adam-schiff-house-floor.jpg",750,422,false],"covernews-slider-center":["https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/adam-schiff-house-floor.jpg",750,422,false],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/adam-schiff-house-floor.jpg",750,422,false],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/adam-schiff-house-floor-540x340.jpg",540,340,true],"covernews-medium-square":["https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/adam-schiff-house-floor-400x250.jpg",400,250,true],"rpwe-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/adam-schiff-house-floor-45x45.jpg",45,45,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"ArmenianCouncil","author_link":"https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/author\/armeniancouncil\/"},"category_info":"News<\/a>","tag_info":"News","comment_count":0,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/adam-schiff-house-floor.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2559"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2559\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2561,"href":"https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2559\/revisions\/2561"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.armeniancouncil.org\/ACA\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nTo read the full letter, click\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"