US House of Representatives urges Azerbaijan to immediately return  all Armenian prisoners of war and civilians

ArmInfo.U.S. House adopts ANCA-backed amendment spearheaded by Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA), calling on the government of Azerbaijan to immediately return all  Armenian POWs and captured civilians. This was reported on the  Facebook page of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

  A week earlier, it was reported that U.S. Congressman Adam Schiff has  introduced a bi-partisan amendment to the FY2023 National Defense  Authorization Act (NDAA) calling for Azerbaijan's immediate release  of Chairperson of the Washington Office of the Armenian National  Committee of America (ANCA) Elizabeth Chuljian, said that only if the  amendment is passed by the House of Representatives Procedural  Committee next week will it be put to a vote in the House of  Representatives.

"This resolution must become law, it cannot remain half-hearted.  Congress often passes resolutions that do not agree with the Senate  and do not reach the President's desk. This resolution must  definitely reach the president's table, before signing, so the more  we work with the House of Representatives and the Senate to introduce  positive sections in favor of Armenia and Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh -  ed. note], the more likely it is to be signed by the President. If  the House of Representatives, for example, votes positively, this  will at least send a signal to the Azerbaijani government that the  House of Representatives has expressed a clear position on this  issue, that the Armenian prisoners of war should be released  immediately," Chuljian said.

In addition to this amendment, there are other requirements. In  particular,  Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues Co-Chairs  Congresswoman Jackie Speier , demands from the State Department to  present the reasons for providing military assistance to Azerbaijan.  "There are four initiatives that are trying in different ways to  reduce US military assistance to Azerbaijan. Some of them simply say  that the US government should not send any military aid to  Azerbaijan, others say that "we should look at how the amounts  allocated for military aid have affected Artsakh so far and the fair  resolution of the Artsakh issue." There are several other initiatives  that we support that are related to Turkey, as the current US  government is considering selling F16 aircraft to Turkey, and the  subcommittee on Armenian issues has formed a common faction with  various Turkish, Christian and Middle Eastern organizations to oppose  the sale of F16 aircraft to Turkey.  There are two initiatives that  are related to this," said the representative of the NNCA.