Artsakh Parliamentarian Briefs U.S. Legislators on Azerbaijani Aggression

MP Lernik Hovhannisyan Conducts Meetings across Capitol Hill WASHINGTON—Nagorno-Karabagh Republic (Artsakh/NKR) parliamentarian Lernik Hovhannisyan briefed members of Congress and their senior aides regarding Azerbaijan's recent escalation of violence against Artsakh and Armenia, during a full day of meetings on Capitol Hill on June 7. During meetings with Foreign Affairs Committee member Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), Energy and Commerce Committee member Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), and Armenian Caucus Co-Chairman Robert Dold (R-Ill.), Hovhannisyan shared information and insights about Azerbaijan's April 2 offensive, and the dangers that Baku's belligerence represents to the security of Karabagh and the region's stability. Among the specific issues discussed during his consultations were the implementation of the Royce-Engel peace proposals; the dangers of continued U.S. military aid to Azerbaijan; the value of Leahy Law investigations of Baku's war crimes during the April 2 offensive; and the importance of U.S. aid programs for NKR. Hovhannisyan also held detailed consultations with senior foreign policy aides to Senator Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), who serves on the Appropriations Committee; Armenian Caucus Co-Chairman Frank Pallone (D-N.J.); Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), who serves on the Armed Services and Intelligence Committees; Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), who chairs the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe and serves on the Foreign Affairs Committee; Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who serves as Ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee; and Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), a senior member of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Hovhannisyan was joined by the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Eastern Region's Armen Sahakyan and Raffi Karakashian, the ANCA's legislative affairs director. Hovhannisyan traveled to Washington as part of an educational tour of Eastern U.S. cities organized by the Artsakh Fund of the Eastern U.S. and the Hairenik Association to share timely information with American stakeholders regarding regional developments. He was born in the Karintak village in Shushi in 1973. After studying at the local secondary school, Hovhannisyan continued his studies at the Khrimian Hayrik School and graduated from the Yerevan State University’s history department in 1996. He served in the 52nd battalion of the NKR Defense Army. In 2000, he completed his postgraduate studies at the Artsakh State University, and worked at the university’s Department of History as senior lecturer on ethnography and Armenian history from 1999 to 2003. In 2013, Hovhannisyan was appointed Nagorno-Karabagh's deputy minister of culture and youth affairs and was elected to parliament in 2015 as a member of the parliamentary faction of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF). Since being elected, he has served as deputy chair of the parliament’s Standing Committee on Defense, National Security, and Law Enforcement Affairs. Hovhannisyan, the author of 10 scientific papers and illustrator of 8 maps, currently runs Artsakh Public Television’s “Mer Yerkir” series. He is married and has three children.

Artsakh Parliamentarian Briefs U.S. Legislators on Azerbaijani Aggression

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