Senator Peters Leads Bipartisan Resolution Condemning Azerbaijan for Human Rights Violations Against Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Gary Peters (MI) introduced a bipartisan resolution condemning the government of Azerbaijan for committing human rights violations, including ethnic cleansing, torture, restrictions on freedom of movement, and the illegal detention of political prisoners, against ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“Azerbaijan cannot go without consequences for the atrocities it has inflicted on the Armenian people,” said Senator Peters. “This resolution demonstrates our continued commitment to standing with the Armenian people in the face of Azerbaijan’s unprovoked aggression on Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. I'll also keep working to pass my bipartisan legislation to end U.S. assistance to the Azerbaijani government and to hold the Azeri officials who have been involved in these attacks accountable.”
Within two weeks after Azerbaijan’s large-scale military offensive on September 19, 2023 against the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians – nearly the entire population of Nagorno-Karabakh – fled to Armenia in fear of further persecution. The attack also took the lives of hundreds of soldiers and dozens of civilians. Before the attack, Azerbaijani forces blockaded the Lachin corridor, the sole road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia and the outside world, to prevent imports of essential goods, humanitarian convoys, and all passages of food, fuel, and medicine from the Red Cross to the ethnic Armenians that lived in the territory. Since the 2023 attack, dozens of Armenian prisoners of war, civilian captives, and political leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh continue to be unjustly imprisoned in Azerbaijan on politically motivated charges or no charges at all. Azerbaijani forces also systemically destroyed Armenian cultural heritage sites in Nagorno-Karabakh, including churches, monasteries, cemeteries, and other cultural monuments.
Senator Peters has been a strong and continued advocate for Michigan’s vibrant Armenian community. Peters recently met with President-elect Trump’s intended nominee for U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Elise Stefanik, where he raised the dire need to support ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. Peters visited the Armenia-Azerbaijan border last year and viewed firsthand the 10-month long blockade of the Lachin corridor. In response to his visit, he introduced the Armenian Protection Act, which passed in the Senate in November 2023. The Armenian Protection Act would end U.S. assistance to the Azerbaijani government that is currently allowed under a waiver to Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act. Peters also joined a bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers in calling for the U.S. Treasury Department and U.S. State Department to impose sanctions on certain Azerbaijani government officials associated with the military attacks against and brutal blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Peters also joined his colleagues in sending a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging the Department of State to prioritize the release of Armenian political leaders currently being held illegally by Azerbaijan as prisoners, including as a condition of any peace deal reached by Armenia and Azerbaijan, which the United States is helping to facilitate. The letter also calls on Secretary Blinken to advocate for the right of Nagorno-Karabakh's Armenians to return to their homes under international guarantees, as well as to impose sanctions against Azerbaijani officials responsible for the human rights violations perpetrated by Azerbaijan during its attack on the region in September 2023.
As a member of the Armed Services Committee, Peters also led and secured a provision in the annual national defense bill that would encourage the Department of Defense to strengthen engagement with Armenia, including through bilateral training opportunities and other security cooperation activities.
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