The recent wave of lobbying by Armenian diaspora groups in the United States represents a concerted attempt to undermine Washington’s decision to waive Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act in favor of Azerbaijan. Section 907, enacted in 1992, restricts direct U.S. aid to Azerbaijan, and its waiver by former President Trump was part of a broader effort to stabilise the South Caucasus, encourage post-conflict reconstruction, and promote reconciliation between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Despite these intentions, Armenian revanchist groups continue to frame Azerbaijan as the "aggressor in the Nagorno-Karabakh" conflict, perpetuating narratives of “ethnic cleansing” and human rights violations.

The Armenian diaspora, particularly organizations such as the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Hay Dat Committee, has mobilized its well-established networks in Washington to apply political pressure against Azerbaijan. The U.S. State Department’s 2024 Human Rights Report on Azerbaijan has been seized upon by these groups to argue that the Trump administration’s waiver of Section 907 rewards human rights violations and emboldens "Azerbaijani aggression". The diaspora’s reports highlight allegations of arbitrary killings, torture, unlawful imprisonment, and the destruction of cultural heritage in Garabagh. References to the UN Committee against Torture’s 2024 findings, Freedom House reports, and media investigations such as those by Bellingcat are repeatedly cited to construct a narrative of Azerbaijan as systematically committing "ethnic cleansing" and "erasing" the "Armenian presence" in Garabagh.

However, this narrative omits critical context and undermines efforts to achieve a sustainable peace between Baku and Yerevan. Before the 2020 war and the subsequent territorial reintegration, Azerbaijan repeatedly extended offers for ethnic Armenians who had lived........

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