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.