Author: Emil Lazarian

Republic of Artsakh Foreign Minister David Babayan offering the keynote address at the Capitol Hill Salute to Artsakh’s Independence.

Headlines Standing-Room-Only Capitol Hill Gathering of Congressional, Community, and Coalition Leaders

WASHINGTON—Artsakh Foreign Minister David Babayan affirmed the resiliency and resolve of the Artsakh Republic’s indigenous Armenian population – defending their right to liberty and security – in powerful remarks offered to a capacity crowd of Congressional leaders and community members gathered at the U.S. Capitol, reported the Armenian National Committee of America.

“We face existential threats.  Any minute, the enemy can launch large-scale attacks – a genocide.  Every minute,” stated Babayan, who characterized President Aliyev’s aggression as “an attack on civilization – on international norms and laws.”  Babayan reaffirmed Artsakh’s commitment to self-determination and freedom.  “Artsakh will never be part of Azerbaijan – I would like to restate that,” remarked Babayan, to thunderous applause. “We are going to continue our struggle because we are struggling not only for our future – we are struggling for our past; we are struggling for our present and future.  We are struggling for humanity.”

Rep. Adam Schiff Rep. Frank Pallone Rep. Jim Costa Rep. David Cicilline Rep. Judy Chu Aram Hamparian

ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian, who served as master of ceremonies for the evening welcomed attendees on a “momentous occasion – a pivotal moment of our history.” Juxtaposing U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s historic trip to Armenia and Foreign Minister Babayan’s trip to Washington, DC, Hamparian stated, “These two visits bookend a very important moment, and they demonstrate that the Armenian American community has the back of Artsakh, has the back of Armenia – that the people of Armenia are not alone.”

Hamparian went on to stress that, “we would like to see [Babayan’s] visit and Speaker Pelosi’s visit translated into policy – not a penny of U.S. military aid to Azerbaijan; robust U.S. assistance to Artsakh; the return of our prisoners; and investigations of Azerbaijani war crimes.”

The evening featured remarks by Members of Congress condemning Azerbaijan’s most recent attack on Armenia and the 2020 Artsakh war, each echoing Hamparian’s calls for concrete action.

Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA), who traveled to Artsakh in 2019, explained that prior to the 2020 war, Armenians were thriving in Artsakh.  That trip and sentiment have gotten Rep. Chu banned from Azerbaijan – a fact she holds as a “badge of honor.”  “It makes me want to speak out even more for the peaceful people of Artsakh and Armenia,” stated Rep. Chu, who described these latest attacks on Armenia as “yet another attack on the ideas of self-determination, democracy and freedom – and we must fight back. There must be no more American assistance to Azerbaijan, and further violence must result in sanctions.”

Central Valley Congressman Jim Costa (D-CA) who spoke eloquently about Speaker Pelosi’s trip to Armenia, noted that Azerbaijan has clearly no interest in complying with international norms and “we must hold them accountable.”

House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-CA) stated that “it is absolutely essential that the US speaks unequivocally about this naked war of aggression by Azerbaijan, by Aliyev, directed against the Armenian people.  It is pre-meditated, it is just plain bloody murder – and it has to be stopped.”  Chairman Schiff introduced legislation (H.Res.1351) which condemns the latest Azerbaijani attacks, and calls for zeroing out military aid to Azerbaijan.  Chairman Schiff is also looking into Azerbaijan sanctions for war crimes committed against the Armenian people.

Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chair Frank Pallone (D-NJ), who accompanied Speaker Pelosi and Armenian American Representatives Jackie Speier (D-CA) and Anna Eshoo (D-CA) to Armenia, explained that an overarching goal of the trip was to ensure “Armenia continues to be independent, and Artsakh is part of that.” Rep. Pallone went on, “we basically had three or four goals for the trip – one was to say this was aggression by Azerbaijan and that they have to pull back – they need to remove themselves from Armenian soil.”  Rep. Pallone continued, “we have to be involved their [Armenia’s] security – we need to be sure they can defend themselves. The Armenian Caucus founding Co-Chair stated, “we were quite clear that the self-determination of Artsakh is a priority.  The trip was very valuable and we made it clear to the Armenians, that we have their backs.”

Rhode Island Congressman David Cicilline (D-RI) explained “From a very young age in politics, I learned about the struggle of the Armenian people and particularly Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh).  I will continue to be a strong advocate for Armenia, a strong advocate for this [Armenian] community.”

The Congressional program was opened with a prayer by Soorp Khatch Armenian Church pastor, Fr. Sarkis Aktavoukian, who noted, “in this momentous turning point in the continued survival of this tiny landlocked nation, we pray for justice and your protection and guidance and for your abundant grace so that the Republic of Armenia and Artsakh with continue to stand side by side with the other free, democratic and progressive nations of the world.  We also pray for a just resolution for the people of Artsakh, as well as pray for the prisoners of war captured by Azerbaijan during the 44-day war of 2020 and have yet to be released.”  The program closed with a benediction by St. Mary’s Armenian Church pastor, Fr. Hovsep Karapetian.

Babayan is visiting the United States at the invitation of the ANCA-Western Western Region to participate in its Grassroots Conference on Saturday, September 24. He will receive the organization’s “Freedom Award” during the ANCA-WR Banquet on Sunday, September 25.

The Capitol Hill Salute to Artsakh’s Independence coincided with the third day of the ANCA Federal Policy Seminar.  Earlier in the day, ANCA advocates from across the U.S. were on Capitol Hill sharing pro-Artsakh/Armenia legislative priorities, participating in over 200 Congressional meetings.  The four-day fly-in to Washington, DC included a series of presentations, roundtable discussions and Capitol Hill visits for ANCA leaders, with a sharp focus on advancing ANCA strategic priorities: saving Artsakh, strengthening Armenia, holding Azerbaijan and Turkey accountable for their crimes.

The evening program, organized in cooperation with the Congressional Armenian Caucus by the ANCA and the Armenian Assembly of America, included remarks by Assembly board member Herman Purutyan and the participation of Executive Director Bryan Ardouny.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during a press conference in Yerevan on Sept. 18

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi strongly condemned the “illegal attacks” by Azerbaijan on Armenia’s sovereign territory, saying that Armenia’s security was of great importance to the United States.

“Our meeting a particular focus on security following Azerbaijan’s illegal attack on Armenia’s territory,” Pelosi said. “We strongly condemn those attacks.”

Pelosi was referring to the recent aggression launched last week by Azerbaijan, when shortly after midnight on September 13 Azerbaijan forces launched an attack on Armenia’s Gegharkunik, Syunik and Vayots Dzor provinces. As a result of these military actions, 135 soldiers have been killed, dozens injured and more than 7,000 people have been displaced from their homes, according to official estimates.

Pelosi explained that while the trip to Armenia was planned in advance of last week’s attack by Azerbaijan, the delegation she is leading with representatives Frank Pallone, Jackie Speier and Anna Eshoo, has been closely monitoring the events.

“The United States, which is an OSCE Minsk Group co-chair, has made it clear that there can no military solution to the conflict. We continue to watch the situation closely and we continue to support a negotiated and sustainable settlement to all issues related to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” added Pelosi.

The House Speaker said that during her meeting with Simonyan she explained that, in Members of Congress, for decades through a bi-partisan efforts, have tried to “hold Turkey, as well as Azerbaijan, responsible for the conflict.”

Speire, a co-chair of the Armenian Congressional Caucus, said that the House of Representatives has already introduced a resolution condemning the actions of Azerbaijan.

“The House of Representatives has already introduced a resolution, the co-authors of which are all of us, where we say that we condemn the actions by Azerbaijan. I am hopeful we will take that resolution up soon. As to our commitment to Armenia, we will continue to support the integrity, the democracy of Armenia, and the borders, and we will resist any effort to those borders changed,” Speier said during the press conference.

Pelosi added that the immediate response from the United States was to stop the violence and establish a ceasefire.

“Our delegation had been very outspoken saying that this was initiated by the Azeris, and that there has to be recognition of that,” Pelosi said.

Pelosi’s remarks focused mainly on the importance of democracy and security. She said that the strides Armenia has made in advancing democracy is a “value” for the U.S.

“The territorial security, sovereignty and democracy of Armenia are a value to us in America,” Pelosi said.

A question was posed about whether the United States expects Armenia to leave the CSTO, and whether the American government is to guarantee the security of Armenia’s sovereign territory and borders

“We understand that Armenia is part of this security arrangement with Russia. We are not suggesting anything about that. What we are saying is that the United States is very concerned about Armenia’s security. We want to do whatever we can to be more supportive of Armenia’s security,” Pallone told the press conference.

Praising Armenia’s Democracy as “a joy to the world,” Pelosi said Armenia is a “good example to the transition to democracy. And we support that.”

“As Mr. Pallone said, your inter-relations with other entities is up to Armenia to decide. But from my standpoint, territorial security and sovereignty of Armenia, democracy of Armenia is a value to us in America. And in our relationships with other countries, we should be using our influence, our leverage showing that Armenian democracy and sovereignty is a priority,” she said.

“It is important to note that they got fact finders and not protection,” Pelosi added, referring to a CSTO fact-finding mission, whose leader unequivocally rejected peacekeeping initiative in Armenia after Azerbaijan’s attack, creating doubts among Armenian government officials about the viability of the security organization, of which Armenia is a member.

When asked what kind of support Armenia could expect from the United States, in particular whether it can expect a military support, the House Speaker said, “The value of our visit and the value of our discussions is to hear from Armenia’s perspective how we can be helpful. That has been a good part of our discussions thus far.”

“One particular thing that is more related to economy than to security, except that they’re all related, is that the Speaker [Simonyan] asked us to support Armenia’s steps that it has been taking to be part of the Millennium Challenge, and that is a very big initiative for economic growth and fairness. We did commit that we would work to help with that,” Pelosi said.

“On the defense side, we are listening to, rather than coming here and saying this is what we are prepared to do we are listening to what the needs are,” she added.

In opening the press conference, Simonyan, Armenia’s Parliament Speaker said, urged U.S. sanctions against Azerbaijan as a way to contain “Azerbaijan’s expansionist ambitions.”

Pelosi evaded an answer, simply saying that her delegation is there to listen.

A major snafu at the press conference was that the Armenian Parliament’s simultaneous translation mechanisms stopped working after opening remarks were made by Simonyan and Pelosi. This created for awkward moments, when the translator assigned the task was unable to fully provide the gist of the response and comments from the visiting delegation.