One year ago today, an autocrat facing domestic discontent chose to provoke war with a peaceful neighbor. Over 44 days, Azerbaijani forces targeted and murdered many innocent civilians in Artsakh, and displaced tens of thousands more. The war created a mass humanitarian disaster and robbed countless ethnic Armenian families at home and abroad of their fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters.
Despite a ceasefire agreement, Azerbaijani aggression against the people of Artsakh and Armenia continues. Dozens of Armenian soldiers remain illegally detained and subject to torture, while thousands of innocent civilians still live in danger due to the continued and unprovoked threats in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Now more than ever, we must recommit ourselves to doing everything possible to bring liberation and peace to the region. We must continue to demand Azerbaijan immediately and unconditionally return all prisoners of war and captured civilians. We must continue to urge the Biden administration to withhold U.S. assistance from the Aliyev regime and to reinvigorate the peace process. And we must further strengthen and support democracy in Armenia and a free, independent Artsakh.
I will always stand with the people of Armenia and Artsakh.