Category: 2023

ANCA-Backed Bipartisan Measure Seeks $10 Million to Fund Armenian Genocide Education

WASHINGTON—The Armenian National Committee of America welcomed news that Representatives Anna Eshoo (D-CA), David Valadao (R-CA), Ted Lieu (D-CA), and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) are re-introducing the Armenian Genocide Education Act, a bipartisan measure – building upon official U.S. Congressional and Presidential recognition of this crime – to fund Library of Congress educational programs about the history, lessons, consequences, and ongoing costs of the Armenian Genocide.

This landmark legislation – strongly supported by the ANCA – seeks to provide $10 million in funding over five years for the Library of Congress to educate Americans about Ottoman Turkey’s systematic and deliberate state-sponsored mass murder, national dispossession, cultural erasure, and exile of millions of Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Syriacs, Arameans, Maronites, and other Christians, between 1915 and 1923.

“With Azerbaijan, backed by Turkey, openly seeking to complete the Armenian Genocide, it’s more urgent than ever for American school children to learn the lessons of this still unpunished – still ongoing – crime against all humanity,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “Chief among these lessons is that we – as Americans – must never, for reasons of political convenience or practical expediency, turn a blind eye to state-driven genocidal campaigns to eradicate indigenous populations or other at-risk groups, anywhere in the world.”

Building upon the 2019 passage of H.Res.296 and S.Res.150 – which specifically rejected any official U.S. association with Armenian Genocide denial – the Armenian Genocide Education Act seeks to counter discourse and propaganda that claims that Ottoman Turkey’s systematic and deliberate state-sponsored mass murder, national dispossession, cultural erasure, and exile of millions of Christians between 1915 and 1923 did not take place. A similar measure was introduced in the last session of Congress.

Members of Congress can join as original cosponsors of the measure in the days leading up to its introduction, timed around April 24th, the international day of justice for the Armenian Genocide.

Launches Congressional Letter to Commerce Sec. Raimondo Citing Azerbaijan’s ongoing Anti-Armenian Aggression and 125+ Day Blockade

WASHINGTON—Rep. Adam Schiff is calling on his Congressional colleagues to join him in demanding that the Commerce Department explain why it is considering licensing the sale of high-powered U.S. rifles to Azerbaijan, in the face of Azerbaijan’s 125-plus day blockade of Artsakh and ongoing attacks on Armenia, which left four Armenians dead and six injured just last week, reported the Armenian National Committee of America.

“The same Biden Administration that continues shipping military aid to oil-rich Azerbaijan and has yet to investigate the discovery of U.S. parts in the Turkish drones deployed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh is now considering the direct sale of U.S. rifles to Azerbaijan, a dictatorship whose military openly executes unarmed Armenian POWs with rifles, then posts, trophy, videos of these killings on social media,” stated ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian.  “We join with Congressman Schiff, Senator Menendez, and all those – Democrats and Republicans – in the House and Senate who stand against this reckless arms sale,” concluded Hamparian.

In a “Dear Colleague” letter to U.S. House members, Rep. Schiff is urging his colleagues to co-sign a letter to Secretary Raimondo seeking “additional information from the Commerce Department about the status of any requests for export licenses to send lethal weapons to Azerbaijan and safeguards to prevent U.S. weapons from being used in the commission of human rights violations.”

Rep. Schiff stated, “approving the export of more lethal weapons to be pointed at Armenia would only fuel conflict, especially in the hands of security forces with a history of human rights violations. The State Department’s 2022 Human Rights Report documents ‘credible reports of unlawful killings involving summary executions of Armenian soldiers in Azerbaijani custody,’ torture, and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment with high levels of impunity.”

Members of Congress have until Friday, April 21st to co-sign the letter to Secretary Raimondo. The ANCA is working with regional and local affiliates to encourage broad bi-partisan support for the letter.

News of a possible sale of U.S. rifles – including assault-style and semi-automatic sniper models – to Azerbaijan broke on February 1st when Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Robert Menendez (D-NJ) announced his “deep concern and strong opposition” to the proposed sale.

“The export of weapons to an authoritarian country that wages war against a neighbor, blockades a vulnerable population, and commits rampant human rights violations at home is not consistent with the Administration’s commitment to democracy and human rights,” Sen. Menendez stated in a letter to Secretary Raimondo. “Further, the consideration of this export license further compounds my dismay that the Administration continues to allow the export of assault-style and sniper rifles abroad – even while supporting an assault-style rifle ban domestically – and deepens my reservations about the Department of Commerce having jurisdiction over such exports,” concluded Senator Menendez.

ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian and the local ANC chair from Secretary Raimondo’s home state of Rhode Island, Steve Elmasian, expressed similar concerns in a February 13th letter to Secretary Raimondo. “As you know, from your long friendship with Americans of Armenian heritage in Rhode Island and across the United States, our community is deeply troubled by the U.S. military aid program to Baku, and even more shocked by the possibility that American offensive weaponry may be deployed against Armenians in Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) and Armenia. The victims of Azerbaijan’s attacks are, very often, the relatives and friends of Armenian American citizens,” stated Hamparian and Elmasian.

President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan

In his latest unhinged statements, President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan demanded that Armenia publicly announce that “Karabakh is Azerbaijan.”

Recalling Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s now infamous announcement in Stepanakert that “Artsakh is Armenia,” the Azerbaijani leader said in an interview published on the president’s website on Tuesday that the time has come for Armenia to acknowledge Karabakh as Azerbaijan.

“Armenia, which used to say that ‘Karabakh is Armenia. Period’ must now repeat our words that “Karabakh is Azerbaijan and exclamation point,’” Aliyev told Azerbaijani State Television during an interview.

“Having shown its readiness for a peace treaty based on the Alma-Ata Declaration, Armenia should now officially declare that Karabakh is Azerbaijan,” reiterated Aliyev, referring to an agreement between the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan reached last year in Prague, where they pledged to recognize each other’s territorial integrity based on a 1991 declaration that defined the borders of the Commonwealth of Independent States after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

“We have repeatedly stated that we will not discuss our domestic affairs with any country and Karabakh is our domestic affair. Armenians living in Karabakh should either accept Azerbaijani citizenship or find another place to live,” threatened Aliyev.

He went on to assert that Azerbaijan “owns” the territory of Artsakh and continues to emphasize this point by using derogatory terms against Artsakh Armenian, whom he called “separatists,” including the former leaders of Armenia.

“The separatists should also understand that they have two options: either they will live under the Azerbaijani flag or they will leave. We have chased Serzhik Sarkisian, Robert Kocharian and Seyran Ohanyan, the main figures of the separatists, out of Karabakh like dogs and brought them to their knees. They came to Karabakh during the Second Karabakh War supposedly to fight against us. All three ran away from our lands like rabbits. None of them can poke their nose into Khankendi [Stepanakert] or any other place now,” said Aliyev.

He also called the current leadership in Artsakh “clowns.”

“The separatists, who are currently inventing some fictitious names for themselves – one calls himself a president, another calls himself a minister, another one calls himself a speaker of some parliament – this group of clowns must finally understand that they cannot test our patience,” Aliyev added. “We have tried to explain to them many times in different ways that they will either follow our word or they will be ejected from there.”

He called the residents of Artsakh “hostages” to the Artsakh and Armenian leadership, whom he called “leeches.”

“I am sure that the majority of the Armenian population currently living in Karabakh is ready to accept Azerbaijani citizenship. Simply put, these leeches, these predatory animals won’t let them do that. They won’t let these people live comfortably, having kept them as hostages for 30 years,” declared Aliyev.

“Everyone should hear this – both the Armenian leaders and the forces standing behind them today. No-one can influence our will. We have proven it – both during and after the war. If necessary, we will prove it again in any way or form,” said Aliyev.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan addresses Parliament on Apr. 18

In remarks made in Parliament on Tuesday, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, in his usual combative tone, further distanced himself and his government from Artsakh, saying that when Armenia agreed to negotiate with Azerbaijan based on the Madrid Principles in 2007 it recognized Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan.

Pashinyan was in parliament to present a progress report on his government’s so-called 2021-2026 Action Plan, with an emphasis on achievements in 2022.

The remarks about Artsakh were made in response to an opposition Armenia faction lawmaker’s question regarding the absence of advancing self-determination for the people of Artsakh from the 2022 report.

Pashinyan, in his usual tone of blaming the current situation on his predecessors, claimed that “negotiations legacy” that he inherited in 2018, when he came to power, already stipulated that Armenia had recognized Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan.

The Armenian prime minister’s remarks came on the same day that President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan demanded that Armenia announce that “Karabakh is Azerbaijan,” recalling Pashinyan’s infamous statement in Stepanakert that “Artsakh is Armenia.”

Pashinyan also said that Armenia has fully recognized Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and anticipated that Azerbaijan does the same by “recognizing the entire territory of the Armenian SSR as the Republic of Armenia.”

“The peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan would become realistic if the two countries recognize each other’s territorial integrity without ambiguities and traps and assume obligation to not make territorial claims against each other, now or ever,” Pashinyan told lawmakers.
Pashinyan reminded that such an agreement was reached with the Azerbaijani president during their meetings in Prague and Sochi on October 6 and October 31 in 2022 respectively.

Pashinyan said that Azerbaijan’s accusations that Armenia is refusing to fully recognize Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity during the peace treaty talks are untrue. He said that Armenia itself offered to attach the maps of the Armenian and Azerbaijani SSRs – approved by the USSR – to the treaty as the basis of territorial integrity of the two countries.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said that peace is possible if Armenia itself will clearly acknowledge that it recognizes the 29,800 square kilometers area, more specifically the territory of the former Armenian SSR, as constituting the Republic of Armenia.  

“Peace is possible if we, in all our international relations, clearly record not just for today but also for the future, that we recognize the Republic of Armenia as 29,800 square kilometers territory, more specifically the territory of the Armenian SSR, where we gained independence in 1991. And not only don’t we have any territorial claims towards any other country, but we will never have any,” Pashinyan said in parliament during debates of the 2022 report of the government action plan.

Pashinyan added that if this idea isn’t recorded and transformed into a social psychology of the society, no one will allow Armenia to develop, because no one will deal with the idea that Armenia is developing and getting stronger.

The prime minister’s message was advancing his so-called peace agenda, saying that regional stability and peace will contribute to a “consensus between the East and the West,” seemingly alluding that his agenda may bridge the current divide between the West and Russia.

Pashinyan said that he believed that a great opportunity exists to normalize relations between Armenia and Turkey, saying Yerevan’s response to the devastating earthquake in Turkey greatly increased those chances.