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101 Members of Congress Urge Rubio to Cut U.S. Military Aid to Azerbaijan Until It Frees the Armenian Hostages in Baku
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101 members of the U.S. Congress, from more than 25 states, have urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio to enforce Section 907 and withhold U.S. military assistance to Azerbaijan unless Baku takes meaningful steps to release the Armenian hostages it unlawfully holds, protect Armenian cultural heritage from further destruction and withdraw its forces from sovereign Armenian territory.

The October 5 letter cites Azerbaijan’s sentencing of 16 Armenians to terms of 15 years to life, the demolition of Armenian churches, and its occupation of an estimated 241.4 square kilometers of Armenian territory.

It is signed by 26 senators and 75 representatives from both parties. Senators Gary Peters and Adam Schiff and Representatives Gus Bilirakis and Frank Pallone led the letter, which drew support from Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and a number of Senate and House committee and subcommittee leaders.

The man receiving it once pushed for the same thing. Rubio co-led the Armenian Protection Act of 2023 with Peters, a bill to repeal the president’s authority to waive Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act. The Senate passed it by voice vote on November 15, 2023, after discharging the Foreign Relations Committee by unanimous consent. The House received it 2 days later and held it at the desk, and it never became law.

Peters is now writing to Rubio to ask him to enforce the restriction the two of them championed together.

“Despite the issuance of the waiver, we urge your administration to withhold U.S. military assistance to Azerbaijan if they continue to jeopardize the success of negotiations,” the lawmakers wrote.

Section 907 bars U.S. assistance to Azerbaijan until it takes demonstrable steps to end blockades and other offensive uses of force against Armenia and Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). Congress gave the president annual waiver authority in 2002, and every administration used it until Biden enforced the restriction in 2024, following the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh and sustained bipartisan pressure that included the Senate’s passage of the Armenian Protection Act. Trump waived it again in August 2025 after a White House summit with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, and notified Congress in July 2026 that he intended to extend the waiver.

“It is clear that the decision to waive Section 907 has not induced Azerbaijan’s engagement on ensuring the release of POWs,” the lawmakers wrote. “As a result, we are concerned that Azerbaijan’s inconsistent behavior jeopardizes the prospect of a just and long-lasting peace in the region, and that the continued waiver of Section 907 without a commitment to addressing these concerns will only further encourage destabilizing actions.”

The 16 Armenians were sentenced in February 2026, following trials that international human rights organizations, legal experts and the European Parliament condemned as a miscarriage of justice. They are the political and military leadership of Artsakh, held since Azerbaijan’s 2023 military assault. They have been subjected to torture and abuse in custody and denied fundamental legal rights. June 23, 2026 marked the 1,000th day of their unlawful detention.

Azerbaijan expelled the International Committee of the Red Cross in September 2025. It was the only independent organization authorized to visit the prisoners.

The lawmakers write that the sentencing is consistent with Azerbaijan’s practice of denying fundamental due process and rule of law, and note that Baku also imprisons scores of its own journalists, opposition leaders and activists on politically motivated charges.

They cite the continued destruction of Armenian churches in Artsakh, including the reported demolition in April 2026 of two cathedrals in the Artsakh capital, Stepanakert.

The 241.4 square kilometers follow Azerbaijani military incursions into Armenia in 2021 and 2022. That presence inside Armenia’s internationally recognized borders creates asymmetry in the border delimitation talks, the lawmakers write, and they note that Armenia returned 4 Azerbaijani enclave villages in May 2024 while Baku has not matched it.

“We call on the administration to engage with Azerbaijan to secure the release of detainees and encourage the removal of Azerbaijani military forces from sovereign Armenian land,” the letter states. “If meaningful steps are not taken, we urge your administration to withhold U.S. military assistance in order to demonstrate the United States’ commitment to ensuring all parties take the peace process seriously.”

ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian said the waiver has made things worse. “President Trump’s waiver of the Section 907 statutory restrictions on U.S. arms and aid to Baku sets back the cause of peace, emboldening Ilham Aliyev to double down on his abuse of Armenian hostages, destruction of Christian churches, occupation of Armenian territory, and refusal to allow the safe, collective, and protected return of refugees to their indigenous Artsakh homeland.”

He also pointed to the vote that preceded the letter. “In the wake of the overwhelming 44-7 House Foreign Affairs Committee vote demanding Azerbaijan release Armenian hostages, over 100 legislators from more than 25 states today called on the Trump Administration to enforce Section 907 and stop U.S. arms and aid to oil-rich Azerbaijan,” Hamparian said.

“Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act has stood for more than three decades as a principled provision of law, ensuring that U.S. assistance to Azerbaijan reflects its conduct toward Armenia and the Armenian people,” said Armenian Assembly Congressional Relations Director Mariam Khaloyan.

“We thank Senator Peters and Representative Bilirakis for their leadership and the 101 Members of Congress, from both parties and both chambers, who have reaffirmed the principles behind Section 907, as the Armenian hostages held in Baku mark more than 1,000 days in captivity,” Khaloyan said.

Azerbaijan’s September 2023 military assault on Artsakh forcibly displaced 120,000 Armenians in an act of ethnic cleansing.

— @ZartonkMedia Oct 7, 2026