ANCA calls on Congress to investigate Biden Administration`s aid blockade on Artsakh

ARMINFO
Aug 23 2022
Alexandr Avanesov

ArmInfo.In letters sent this week to Congressional leadership and rank and file members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Chairman Raffi Hamparian called for Congressional inquiries  into the Biden Administration's effective blockade on humanitarian  aid to Armenian families of Artsakh – an at-risk population facing  aggression, ethnic-cleansing, the obstruction of access to food,  water, fuel, and other vitally needed resources.

 Citing the "Azerbaijani government's ambition to see Artsakh's Armenians starved  out of existence," Hamparian underscored that "the Administration has  sent almost no humanitarian assistance at all to help Armenian  families living in Artsakh." "America must not be complicit in the  ethnic-cleansing of Artsakh by Azerbaijan," he stressed.  The ANCA  letter called on legislators to demand answers from the Biden  Administration – via Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S.  Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Samantha  Power – to the following four questions:

What specific actions has the Biden Administration taken to help  at-risk Armenians living within Nagorno- Karabakh? (Please provide  programs, partners, budgets, deliverables and other relevant  information.)

What specific plans does the Biden Administration have to help  at-risk Armenians living within Nagorno- Karabakh? (Please provide  programs, partners, budgets, deliverables and other relevant  information.)

Has the Biden Administration conducted a needs assessment of the  humanitarian crisis facing the Armenian population of Artsakh?

What budget range does the Biden Administration consider sufficient  and appropriate to address the humanitarian crisis facing the  Armenian population of Artsakh?  The full text of the ANCA letter is  provided below.  

ANCA Chairman Raffi Hamparian's Letter to U.S. Senate and House   Members 

Dear Senator/Representative:  

I am writing to request that you investigate the Biden  Administration's refusal to provide meaningful levels of U.S.  humanitarian aid to the vulnerable Armenian population living in   Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh).  

As you know, the indigenous Armenians of Artsakh – victims of  ethnic-cleansing and an ongoing genocidal drive by Azerbaijan and  Turkey to drive them from their ancestral homeland – remain at-risk,  isolated and effectively blockaded, seeking to survive without  sufficient food, fuel, energy or other resources.  

The Biden Administration has provided some token aid to Armenians  driven from Artsakh into Armenia, and – as a result of Congressional  leadership -provided modest funding for de-mining and UXO clearance.   Consistent, however, with the Azerbaijani government's ambition to  see Artsakh's Armenians starved out of existence, the Administration  has sent almost no humanitarian assistance at all to help Armenian  families living in Artsakh.  

The Administration's aid blockade stands in sharp contrast to  established U.S. policy, which, since Federal Fiscal Year 1998, has  provided tens of millions of dollars of direct aid to Artsakh,  helping its peaceful inhabitants with maternal health care, clean  drinking water, and life-saving demining.  

In light of the escalating existential crisis facing the Armenian of  Artsakh, I call upon you to ask the Biden Administration – via  Secretary of State Antony Blinken and USAID Administrator Samantha  Power – the following four questions.

What specific actions has the Biden Administration taken to help  at-risk Armenians living within Nagorno- Karabakh? (Please provide  programs, partners, budgets, deliverables and other relevant  information.)

What specific plans does the Biden Administration have to help  at-risk Armenians living within Nagorno- Karabakh? (Please provide  programs, partners, budgets, deliverables and other relevant  information.)

Has the Biden Administration conducted a needs assessment of the  humanitarian crisis facing the Armenian population of Artsakh?

What budget range does the Biden Administration consider sufficient  and appropriate to address the humanitarian crisis facing the  Armenian population of Artsakh?

The survival of an ancient Christian nation on its indigenous  homeland is at stake. Congress needs to act now  - demanding answers  and delivering aid.

By all accounts, the Administration – under pressure from Azerbaijan  – has effectively cut off desperately needed U.S. humanitarian aid to  Artsakh. Without this aid, Azerbaijan will starve Artsakh's at-risk  Armenian population of food, water, and other life-sustaining  resources. America must not be complicit in the ethnic-cleansing of  Artsakh by Azerbaijan, an oil-rich regime that has received over  $164,000,000 in U.S. military aid. Very simply, this dictatorship  does not deserve a veto over U.S. humanitarian aid policy.

Please accept my thanks for your prompt attention to this ANCA  request. I look forward to hearing from you regarding the  Administration's response to your inquiries and would welcome the  opportunity to speak directly with you on this matter.  

Sincerely 

Raffi Hamparian Chairman Armenian National Committee of America