HOWARD BERMAN: "TURKEY’S BLOCKADE OF ARMENIA CONTRADICTS INTERESTS OF ANKARA"

NOYAN TAPAN.

JUNE 19
WASHINGTON

ARMENIANS TODAY

"It’s baffling why Ankara would want to pursue the blockade of Armenia,
which also harms the economy of eastern Turkey, and is therefore
clearly contrary to its own interests." This statement was made by
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman, opening the
hearings on Armenia in the Committee on June 18. He mentioned that
the blockade of Armenia by Turkey holds the Armenian economy and
Armenia’s trade with other nations back.

During the hearing, which lasted two hours, the Chairman’s statement
and questions were followed by powerful remarks and in-depth inquiries
by Congressmen Adam Schiff, Frank Pallone and Joe Knollenberg, as
well as Committee members Brad Sherman, Diane Watson, Ed Royce, and
Jim Costa, among others, who questioned U.S. Assistant Secretary of
State for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried on
the U.S. position on the Armenian Genocide, the blockade of Armenia
by Turkey, as well as the escalating threats of war by Azerbaijan.