; Whereas the Armenians of Artsakh voted with near-unanimous consent to declare their independence from Azerbaijan by referendum on December 10, 1991; Whereas Azerbaijan in response launched a full-scale war that saw the widespread perpetration of war crimes and human rights abuses, including the bombing and blockade of cities, the targeting of civilian populations, and the recruitment of foreign terrorists from Chechnya and Afghanistan; Whereas the First Karabakh War ended in 1994 with a cease-fire brokered by the Russian Federation that ensured Artsakh’s de facto independence from Azerbaijan and initiated a multilateral conflict resolution process under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group cochaired by Russia, the United States, and France; Whereas the OSCE Minsk Group process determined to ensure a final resolution to the conflict based on the Helsinki Final Act (1975) principles of non-use of force, territorial integrity, and self-determination; Whereas despite these efforts Azerbaijan’s aggression against Artsakh continued unabated and culminated in its full-scale assault on the territory in September 2020 with the support of Turkey that resulted in thousands of deaths, the capture of territory by force, the displacement of tens of thousands of civilians, the systematic perpetration of war crimes and human rights abuses, and the ongoing detention of hundreds of prisoners of war; Whereas Azerbaijan continues to demonstrate its inability and unwillingness to ensure the fundamental rights of the region’s Armenian population, seen in remarks by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on January 11, 2023, regarding ethnic Armenians in Artsakh stating, Whoever does not want to become our citizen, the road is not closed , just one of his recent comments that raise concerns about ethnic cleansing and a new genocide in Artsakh