Letter: Why Would NH Endorse a Foreign Dictator?

Below is an open letter by New Hampshire resident Aram Jeknavorian addressed to his state’s legislature, regarding an anti-Armenian bill, H.R.6, which may be brought before the New Hampshire House of Representatives on Feb. 11.

***

Dear New Hampshire State Representative,

As a proud citizen of the Granite State, I am writing to alert you that Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan (an oil-rich and corrupt one-family dictatorship), is seeking to secure the endorsement of our citizens for his anti-democratic domestic abuses and increasingly violent attacks upon his Christian Armenian neighbors.

It is my understanding that H.R.6—a misguided and angry anti-Armenian measure—may be brought before the House of Representatives as early as Wed., Feb. 11.  New Hampshire, whose proud motto is “Live Free or Die” and which was the first American state to have its own constitution, should not allow itself to be manipulated in this manner by a foreign autocrat.  We should be at the forefront of efforts to defend human dignity, and never align ourselves with the enemies of freedom.

Aliyev, the man trying to get New Hampshire’s public backing for his private hatreds inherited his post from his father.  The entire country has run by this family for the better part of the past half century.  The son of a KGB general, he has become a billionaire on a civil service salary and is often listed as the single most undemocratic leader in the world. His personal wealth and his government’s corruption were both highlighted in this CNBC program: “The Aliyev Family of Azerbaijan.”

Aliyev is perhaps best known around the world for the scandal surrounding his pardon and promotion of a convicted axe-murderer, after this confessed killer happily admitted to hacking to death an Armenian student (while he slept) during a NATO peace program in Hungary. This shameful act was sharply condemned by President Barack Obama. Azerbaijan’s human rights record, among the worst in the world, is documented annually in our State Department’s human rights reports.

It is truly a tribute to New Hampshire’s democratic tradition that even a regime as flagrantly corrupt as Aliyev’s is allowed to operate freely within our open society. But that does not mean that the citizens of our state need to remain silent in the face of meddling by foreign leaders who neither respect our rights nor share our values—especially when they try to export their intolerance to our shores.

It would risk public embarrassment for any state legislature to be perceived, in any manner, as somehow serving the foreign interests of a corrupt dictator. The Washington Post and Politico, among other media outlets, have reported extensively about scandalous charges of Azerbaijani influence over U.S. policymakers—past and present.

Please stop H.R.6 and ensure that a foreign dictator is never allowed to hijack our state legislature.

 

Sincerely,

Aram Jeknavorian

Guest Contributor

Guest Contributor

Guest contributions to the Armenian Weekly are informative articles or press releases written and submitted by members of the community.

6 Comments

  1. I can’t believe that the New Hampshire House of Representatives have been brainwashed on a make up story of Azeri’s being killed by Armenian’s in Azerbaijan when all Armenian’s were either massacred or deported. The House should be told the truth of the corrupt Government of Azerbaijan and all the abuses they have committed on their own people. We hope the ANCA in Washington is following up on this issue.

  2. Many thanks to Aram for caring enough and for taking the time to write this accurate and well written memo. Armenians can not be silent or complacent in these matters.

  3. I only hope you got the word out to the public in N.H. so they could write their representatives this was a great article but don’t be shocked governments globally have gone insane and are coming closer by the day to lack compassion for humanity period the power of evil is everywhere please don’t forget to pray this earth is going through a period of spiritual warfare

  4. New Hampshire State Legislature has lost its credibility. They have proved again that they are neither a part of the U.S. nor an abandoned child of Canada.

  5. Why should the Armenian Holocaust be forgotten, if the Jewish Holocaust in not forgotten? The people of Armenian are as entitled to reparations as the Israelis were. Thus, if justice must be done, let the people of Armenia get their fair share. The Turkish State must be forced to pay Armenia reparations as War Criminals.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*