Washington (November 21, 2025) - Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) led 26 colleagues in writing to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, urging the United States take immediate action to halt the human rights abuses and war crimes being committed by the Republic of Azerbaijan against the Armenian Population of Nagorno-Karabakh. For the past two years, Azerbaijan has committed what international legal experts characterize as ethnic cleansing. The United States can no longer adopt a path of inaction in the face of these war crimes and instead must demand that Azerbaijan release unjustly detained Armenian prisoners and usher in an era of regional peace.
In the letter, the lawmakers write, “It is now two years since Azerbaijan’s blockade and military assault on Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) forcibly displaced the region’s 120,000 Christian Armenians in what international legal experts have characterized as ethnic cleansing. Azerbaijan’s September 2023 assault on the region marked the culmination of a pattern of aggression following the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War, during which Azerbaijan perpetrated egregious war crimes. These included the summary execution of civilians; the destruction of schools, homes, and hospitals; the deliberate targeting of churches and other Armenian Christian heritage sites; and the arbitrary detention of dozens of Armenian prisoners of war.”
The lawmakers continue, “To this day, Azerbaijan continues to illegally detain at least 23 known Armenian prisoners of war captured during and after the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh. Rather than face consequences, Azerbaijan has begun politically motivated sham trials under false pretenses, targeting captives solely based on their Armenian identity. Among those detained are former presidents, foreign ministers, and parliamentary leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh.”
The lawmakers urge the following actions:
This letter was cosigned by Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Jack Reed (D-R.I), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), and John Fetterman (D-Pa.).
Senator Markey has long been a supporter of the Armenian diaspora in the United States. In April 2024, Senator Markey joined his colleagues in sending a letter to then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging the Department of State to prioritize the release of Armenian political leaders currently being held illegally by Azerbaijan as prisoners, including as a condition of any peace deal reached by Armenia and Azerbaijan in the aftermath of Azerbaijan’s military assault on Nagorno Karabakh in September 2023.
In February 2024, Senators Markey and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) introduced a bipartisan resolution to require the Secretary of State to provide a report on Azerbaijan’s human rights practices, including concerning allegations of human rights violations committed against ethnic Armenians, such as unlawful killings, torture, restrictions on freedom of movement, the illegal detention of political prisoners, and ethnic cleansing.
In September 2022, Senator Markey led a letter calling for the U.S. to cease any security assistance to Azerbaijan until Armenia and Azerbaijan reach a permanent resolution that would ensure peace and stability in Nagorno-Karabakh. In November 2020, Senator Markey, then a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, expressed his concern about the Russian-brokered agreement signed between Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia to end the fighting in Nagorno- Karabakh and surrounding areas. In October 2020, he urgedthen-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to seek an immediate ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan while pushing for a negotiated resolution to the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.
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