ANCA welcomes Trump’s commitment to returning Artsakh refugees, releasing Armenian hostages, protecting Christian holy sites
Administration responds constructively to bipartisan letter advancing Armenian Caucus priorities; ANCA pivots to turning newly announced policy into actual practice
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In response to months of sustained Armenian Caucus pressure and relentless Armenian American advocacy, the Trump-Vance Administration, this past week — in an unprecedented move — announced that the United States is actively encouraging both Yerevan and Baku to ensure “the return of ethnic Armenians to Nagorno-Karabakh,” reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).
The September 25, 2025 letter articulating this newly announced Trump-Vance policy — signed by Paul D. Guaglianone of the State Department’s Bureau of Legislative Affairs — also explained that the United States is “closely monitoring the trials of detained ethnic Armenians in Azerbaijan, and — in a previously undisclosed move — confirmed that “officials at U.S. Embassy Baku attend legal proceedings whenever possible.” Guaglianone closed by affirming that the State Department continues “to call on the Azerbaijani government to protect Armenian heritage sites in Nagorno-Karabakh.”
“We welcome the commitments undertaken by the Trump-Vance Administration in its response to a bipartisan letter signed by 87 members of the Armenian Caucus, and are already working with our Congressional allies, coalition partners and community activists to translate these commitments into concrete action,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “Our hard-fought progress on each of these fronts — Artsakh refugees, Armenian hostages and Christian churches — is a tribute to our collective resilience, our enduring resolve in the face of Yerevan’s indifference and Azerbaijan’s intense opposition.”
The Congressional Armenian Caucus letter, spearheaded by co-chairs Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), Brad Sherman (D-CA) and David Valadao (R-CA), emphasized: “We urge you to engage all parties in this unresolved conflict to ensure the collective, protected and dignified return of forcibly displaced Armenians to their indigenous homeland of Nagorno Karabakh. Taking this action is in direct accordance with international law and in pursuit of a just and lasting peace in the region.” The letter documents the consequences of Azerbaijan’s 2023 blockade and military assault on Artsakh, which “forcibly displaced the region’s entire Christian Armenian population of 120,000 people.” It further details how, following the assault, Azerbaijan “engaged in the systematic destruction of Christian Armenian cultural heritage sites,” and conducted “the widespread ransacking and demolition of civilian property and public infrastructure, in an attempt to deny the possibility of return.” Citing international precedents, the letter states: “The right of populations displaced by war to return to their homes is a fundamental principle of international law.” It also references a December 2023 International Court of Justice order compelling Azerbaijan to ensure the safe and secure return of Artsakh’s Armenian population.
Over the past several months, Armenian American advocates and supporters sent more than 100,000 emails and calls through ANCA national, regional and local platforms, urging legislators to co-sign the letter. Additionally, ANCA’s Leo Sarkisian and Maral Melkonian Avetisyan summer interns visited over 400 Congressional offices on a weekly basis, providing fact sheets and making the case for a U.S.-backed right of return policy for Artsakh genocide survivors. These priorities were also advanced during the ANCA’s September 2025 fly-in Advocacy Days.
The Armenian Caucus letter specifically urged the Administration to support the Swiss Peace Initiative for Nagorno-Karabakh, a diplomatic measure adopted by the Swiss Parliament to “establish an international negotiation platform to mediate a safe, secure and internationally guaranteed return of Armenians.” The Swiss initiative was prominently discussed during a standing-room-only Congressional briefing on July 10, which brought together over 200 Capitol Hill staffers, human rights advocates and policy experts. The event featured remarks from Swiss Parliamentarians Erich Vontobel and Lukas Reimann, Christian Solidarity International President Dr. John Eibner and former Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian. Mark Milosch, Republican Staff Director for Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ), the co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission opened the event and ANCA policy director Alex Galitsky moderated a robust question and answer session.
Joining Congressional Armenian Caucus co-chairs Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), Brad Sherman (D-CA) and David Valadao (R-CA) in cosigning the letter were Representatives: Gabe Amo (D-RI), Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), Nanette Diaz Barragan (D-CA), Wesley Bell (D-MO), Ami Bera (D-CA), Don Beyer (D-VA), Nikki Budzinski (D-IL), Andre Carson (D-IN), Greg Casar (D-TX), Sean Casten (D-IL), Joaquín Castro (D-TX), Judy Chu (D-CA), Gil Cisneros (D-CA), Jim Costa (D-CA), Danny Davis (D-IL), Debbie Dingell (D-MI), Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), Dwight Evans (D-PA), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Charles Fleischmann (R-TN), Lizzie Fletcher (D-TX), Vince Fong (R-CA), Valerie Foushee (D-NC), Lois Frankel (D-FL), Laura Friedman (D-CA), Dan Goldman (D-NY), Jimmy Gomez (D-CA), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Steven Horsford (D-NV), Jared Huffman (D-CA), Jonathan Jackson (D-IL), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA), Ro Khanna (D-CA), Young Kim (R-CA), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), Nick LaLota (R-NY), Doug LaMalfa (R-CA), John Larson (D-CT), George Latimer (D-NY), Mike Lawler (R-NY), Susie Lee (D-NV), Mike Levin (D-CA), Ted Lieu (D-CA), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Stephen Lynch (D-MA), Seth Magaziner (D-RI), Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), Sarah McBride (D-DE), Tom McClintock (R-CA), Betty McCollum (D-MN), James McGovern (D-MA), Rob Menendez (D-NJ), Grace Meng (D-NY), Dave Min (D-CA), Seth Moulton (D-MA), Kevin Mullin (D-CA), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), Chris Pappas (D-NH), Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Scott Peters (D-CA), Chellie Pingree (D-ME), Mike Quigley (D-IL), Delia Ramirez (D-IL), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Luz Rivas (D-CA), Linda Sanchez (D-CA), Janice Schakowsky (D-IL), Brad Schneider (D-IL), Lateefah Simon (D-CA), Haley Stevens (D-MI), Tom Suozzi (D-NY), Eric Swalwell (D-CA), David Taylor (R-OH), Shri Thanedar (D-MI), Mike Thompson (D-CA), Dina Titus (D-NV), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Paul Tonko (D-NY), Lori Trahan (D-MA), Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), George Whitesides (D-CA) and Nikema Williams (D-GA).
Will ANCA please tell everybody how it intends to ensure that every Armenian who returns to Artsakh, can live in peace, honour and dignity?
We all know what the Turks do to Armenian women. Do I even have to say? So will ANCA please tell everybody how it plans to ensure that Armenian women won’t be dishonoured?
Will all the members of ANCA please declare if they are willing to entrust the Turks with their lives?
If not, then ANCA needs to keep quiet for ever.
The truth, of course, is that no Armenians are ever going to go back to Artsakh until and unless the safety of their lives can be guaranteed.
As for ANCA, it can look at a map, realise where Armenia actually is, and become the greatest Russophile organisation in America – then it might actually do some good instead of chasing senseless dreams.
@ Robert Whig. If Russia had followed through on their commitments as outlined in the November 9, 2020 tripartate agreement to keep the Lachin Corridor open and act as true peacekeepers Armenians would still be living in Artsakh. If Russia had kept their CSTO commitment in 2022, Azerbaijan would not be occupying 200 sq km of Armenian territory.
You are correct that the Turks, left to their own devices, would murder, rape, and steal anything Armenian. However the Turks are part of NATO and as such the United States has significant leverage over them. And in turn the Turks have leverage over the Azeris.
And I agree that Russia is not Armenia’s enemy, but their overt betrayal of Armenians trying to survive in their ancestral homeland can’t be ignored. Putin’s agreement with Aliyev 2 days before the start of the Ukraine War was the prelude to the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh. The Russians (Putin) just let the Azeris take Artsakh despite the fact that they they were bound by the November 9, 2020 tripartate agreement to prevent it.
@Garo
1) The Russian commitment to defend Armenia extends to mainland Armenia only. It is the Russian garrison in Gyumri that keeps the Turks out.
2) Russia is not liable for Armenian incompetence. In the 2020 war, Armenia had better and more modern weapons than the Turks, (Iskander missiles and Sukhoi jets), they weren’t even used!
3) Russia is not liable for Armenian corruption. In the 2020 war, Azerbaijan rained death on Armenian troops using Turkish and Israeli drones. Where were the Armenian drones? The money for them was siphoned off by government ministers and civil servants, you can see the results of that corruption in the lavish homes they live in, in and around Yervan. Those few Armenian drones that had survived corruption, were simply inadequate.
4) What, exactly, was Russia to do about the blockade of Artsakh when Pashinyan declared that Artsakh was part of Azerbaijan.? That made Artsakh an internal Azerbaijani matter and made it impossible for Russia to do anything.
5) Artsakh was lost in 2023 when Pashinyan declared that the Armenian Army would not fight for Artsakh.
In the end, it is the honour and duty of Armenians to die for Artsakh and when, as in 2023, Armenians refuse to do so then Russians cannot possibly be expected to do so.
When it comes to the return of Armenians to the destroyed and unrecognizable Artsakh to live under Azerbaijani rule(!), ANCA is living in a strange dream world and behaves like an amnesiac, as if all the horrors the Artsakhis suffered by the genocidal fascist regime of Azerbaijan, never happened. It would be the equivalent of Zionist organizations clamoring for the return of Jewish refugees to Nazi Germany. Living with Azeris and Turks is not only impossible, it is a death wish. No sane Armenian will move and live under Azerbaijani jurisdiction, subjected to that murderous regime’s arbitrary whims, which includes eliminating its own citizens, who dissent – not that this regime allows Armenians to live in or even visit Azerbaijan anyway.
Does the horrific torture, rape, murder and mutilation of the Armenian soldier, Anush Apetyan, a mother of three small children, in September 2022, by savage Azeri soldiers when they seized Armenian territory(!), or the horrific murder and beheading of the Armenian soldier, Kyaram Sloyan, in April 2016, by subhuman Azeri soldiers during the Four-Day War in Artsakh, who took a “group photo” with his severed head and which was posted on social media sites(!), ring a bell to the out-of-touch ANCA? As usual, the despicable Azeri murderers got away with their horrendous crimes and are celebrated as “heroes”(!) in Azerbaijan! Those fools who think that peace is possible with that Armenophobic genocidal dictatorship called Azerbaijan and with the brainwashed fascist Azeri masses, need to be regularly reminded of these two horrific examples, along with the fate of Artsakh.