FRESNO COUNTY SUPERVISOR ANDREAS BORGEAS TO OBSERVE UPCOMING NAGORNO KARABAKH ELECTIONS
09:26, 01 Apr 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan
Fresno County Supervisor Andreas Borgeas will serve as a political
observer of upcoming national elections in the Nagorno Karabakh
Republic, The Fresno Bee reports.
Borgeas will be gone from April 25 to May 5. He and two others from the
United States were among those invited to assess Nagorno Karabakh’s
election process by international election standards. They, along
with representatives from other countries including Mexico, Argentina
and Canada, will observe the ballot distribution and calculation,
examine the election site and make sure the election is free and fair.
“It’s a process that we take for granted in America because it’s part
of who we are, but in other areas of the world they have to fight
and persevere to make that process a reality,” he said.
The Nagorno Karabakh ambassador in Washington D.C. nominated Borgeas
as an elected official specialized in international law, which he
teaches at the San Joaquin College of Law.
In a formal invitation letter, Ashot Ghulyan, chairman of the
national assembly, said the parliamentary elections May 3 represent
the sixth time since Nagorno Karabakh’s declaration of independence
that residents will exercise their right to vote.
“We see the upcoming elections as yet another opportunity to reaffirm
the adherence of Nagorno Karabakh people to universal freedoms and
liberties and therefore attach great importance to international
election observation mission,” Ghulyan wrote. “Thus, on behalf of
the National Assembly, I extend to you an invitation to observe the
upcoming elections in the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, guaranteeing
unimpeded access to all stages of the election process.”
The Turkish Foreign Ministry called the parliamentary elections
“illegal” and “an apparent violation of international law.”
Borgeas said his visit is a matter of pride for local Armenians. His
wife is Armenian and her grandmother survived the Armenian genocide.
“On a personal level, I think the Armenians in Fresno will be proud to
know they are represented as observers in this very important election
that promotes the free and sovereign state of Nagorno Karabakh,”
he said.
The election comes on the heels of the 100th anniversary of the
genocide. Borgeas said the existential threat to Armenians is not over.
“On a genocide-related level, this means a lot,” he said of the
election. “Between the Turks in the west and Azeris in the east,
Armenians are still precariously situated.”
The Fresno County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution in April
2013, which maintains that residents of Nagorno Karabakh have elected
to govern themselves and that their wishes should be respected. The
supervisors weighed in out of respect for the views of many in the
Valley’s large Armenian community.
Fresno was the first county in the United States to take a position on
the matter, although some states had passed similar resolutions. In
May, the California Assembly passed a resolution recognizing the
region’s independence.
The Nagorno Karabakh president visited Fresno in November.