ANCA: US Congressional Caucus on Armenian Affairs urges US action  to  secure release of Armenian captives 

ArmInfo. The US Congressional Caucus on Armenian Affairs, consisting of 25 lawmakers,  has sent a powerful bipartisan letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Michael Walz, urging to secure the release of Armenian prisoners illegally held in Azerbaijan. Additionally, the  congressmen call for strengthening US policy safeguarding Armenia's  sovereignty and security  as part of expanded engagement  in the  South Caucasus.  The letter, led by Congressional Armenian Caucus  leaders Frank Pallone, David Valadao, Brad Sherman and Gus Bilirakis,  comes in the wake of recent  Armenia-Azerbaijan announcements about  the completion of negotiations on a draft peace agreement and the  Azerbaijani side's demands to amend the Armenian Constitution and  dismantle the OSCE Minsk Group, the Armenian National Committee of  America (ANCA) reported.

It is noted that the letter calls for the immediate and concrete U.S.  engagement to prevent Azerbaijani aggression and overcome obstacles  to achieving a just and lasting peace in the South Caucasus. "The  Armenian National Committee of America welcomes the sustained  bipartisan  Congressional pushback against Azerbaijani attempts to  force unilateral concessions, a deeply flawed and patently false  peace, on Armenia at the point of a gun. Shoulder to shoulder with  our Congressional allies  and coalition partners, we hold that any  dialogue toward a durable and just peace must provide for the  collective and protected return of Armenians to Artsakh, ensure the  removal of all Azerbaijani forces from Armenian territories, maintain  international monitoring on Armenia's borders, secure  release of  Armenian hostages,  protect Artsakh's Armenian Christian heritage,  resist Azerbaijan's attempts to force  Armenian Constitutional  changes and  defend Syunik  as an integral part of  sovereign part of  Armenia," said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the Armenian  National Committee of America.