State Legislators Defeat Bill that Undermines the Right to Self-Determination of the People of Nagorno Karabakh
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—A key committee of the Tennessee House of Representatives rejected, today, an anti-Armenian resolution initiated by pro-Azerbaijan forces, once again dealing a serious setback to Baku’s efforts to undermine the independence of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh, reported Armenian National Committee of America – Eastern Region (ANCA-ER).
HR 145 lead sponsor Representative Joe Towns (D) introduced a motion to move the resolution forward, but none of his committee colleagues offered a second in support. Committee Chairman Ryan Haynes declared the motion failed. Tennessee becomes the fourth state in less than two months to reject deeply flawed pro-Azerbaijan measures, joining Hawaii, South Dakota, and Wyoming.
“We welcome today’s decision by the Tennessee House of Representatives State Government Committee to stand strong against the Azerbaijani Government’s efforts to mislead state legislators about the good people of Nagorno Karabakh and their commitment to peace,” said Steve Mesrobian, ANCA Eastern Region Board member. “We are particularly proud of ANC Tennessee and Armenian American activists throughout the state, who spoke forcefully in support the rights of our brothers and sisters in Artsakh. We look forward to broadening our relationship with Tennessee legislators and find areas of cooperation on a broad range of Armenian American concerns. ”
In the weeks leading up to committee consideration of the measure, ANC Tennessee leader Bearj Barsoumian rallied Armenian Americans throughout the state to oppose the resolution, with activists meeting with over a dozen state legislators, educating them about the Republics of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan’s ongoing blockade and aggression against the historically Christian states. In many cases, Tennessee Armenians traveled for over two hours from around the state to share their concerns with Tennessee House leaders, including Majority Leader Gerald McCormick (R), Minority Leader Craig FitzHugh (D-TN), State Government Committee Chairman Ryan A. Haynes (R) and Vice-Chairwoman Sheila Butt (R), Committee members Johnny Shaw (D), Deborah Moody (R), Bob Ramsey (R), Billy Spivey (R), Richard Floyd (R), Mike Carter (R), and other legislators including Rep. Rick Womack (R). Several of the activists attending the meetings, including Erik Grigoryan, fled the 1990 Baku pogroms, and have found safe-haven in the state of Tennessee.
Tennessee ANC and community members also met with the lead sponsor of HR 145, Rep. Joe Towns (D), shared stories of the horrors of the Baku pogroms and urged him to reconsider his support for the bill. Rep. Towns refused, paving the way for a Committee defeat of the measure.
“Today’s vote was proof-positive that our democracy is not for sale, as our legislators joined with those in Hawaii, South Dakota, and Wyoming in standing up for truth and against Azerbaijani dictator Ilham Aliyev’s campaign to export anti-Armenian hatred to our shores,” said ANC Tennessee leader Bearj Barsoumian. “It was particularly inspiring to work with the broad range of Armenian American grassroots advocates here in The Volunteer State and across the country–all bound by a deep commitment to Artsakh freedom.”
Upon the January introduction of the measure, the ANCA-ER issued an action alert urging Tennessee advocates to speak out against HR 145. In the days leading up to the Committee vote, the ANCA-ER reached out to all members of the Tennessee House of Representatives cautioning them about any affiliation with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s brutal dictatorship.
The ANCA-ER noted a disturbing pattern of activity, where “to win over U.S. legislators and clean up its image, last year alone, Azerbaijan spent huge sums of money flying former Obama Administration officials like David Plouffe, Jim Messina and Robert Gibbs and over 150 U.S. legislators–including some from Tennessee–on expensive junkets to its capital, Baku.”
Tennessee news outlets, including Knoxnews.com and News Channel 5, reported extensively about these free trips to Azerbaijan, questioning the reasoning behind them.
The ANCA also shared research done by the ANCA Western Region Near East Relief Committee, which showed the important role Tennessee played in assisting survivors of the Armenian Genocide as part of a United States-wide humanitarian campaign. A fact sheet regarding Tennessee’s generosity of spirit is available here.
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Great respect and admiration for the incredible work done by ANCA-ER and ANCA-WR. The rejection of four states of pro-Azerbaijan measures is a remarkable accomplishment by the ANCA , when we take into consideration that:
a- The four states have a small number of Armenians, and the activists who were involved overcame huge hurdles.
b- The pro Azeri lobbies and forces spent huge sums of money to have the measures pass.
Undoubtedly, the Azeri government and its agents will try to pass the same measure in other states. I am hopeful that the ANCA, with the support of all Armenian-Americans, and the moral integrity of the members of the house of representatives in those states, will be able to defeat the measures.
Vart Adjemian
“Today’s vote was proof-positive that our democracy is not for sale, as our legislators joined with those in Hawaii, South Dakota, and Wyoming in standing up for truth and against Azerbaijani dictator Ilham Aliyev’s campaign”…
I wonder what would be “Vahagn” comments about US democracy VS Axeri dictatorial corrupted regime!
Every legislator in the US ought to get the various reports on how Azerbaijan brought terrorist mercenaries into the Artsakh war, how the bombings of the US embassies was planned through phone calls via Baku, and how Azeris have joined up with terrorist organizations in Syria. That is the minimum that should be done.
I am not sure that southern US states care very much about human rights in Azerbaijan, and they probably like the fact that Azerbaijan has gas and oil. But I am sure that conservatives care when they learn about Azeri support of anti-US terror organizations.
We Armenians may be too “nice” to do this sort of campaign, however. Some of us don’t want to hurt the feelings of Azeris because they’re human.
What role did Cong member Cohen play?
{“ Great respect and admiration for the incredible work done by ANCA-ER and ANCA-WR.”}
(vart adjemian // March 26, 2014 at 8:28 am // )
Very well said, Vart: indeed ANCA deserves huge kudos.
Most people do not realize how small ANCA’s paid staff is: including execs and part-time paid staff, it’s less than a dozen people or so, nationwide.
And the leadership works their tails off: it is not a 9-5 job.
ANCA is effective, because it is a grass-roots organization.
A lot of its grunt work is done by young volunteers and interns.
And of course the participation of Armenian-American voters, as Vart noted.
Having myself corresponded our concerns on many an occasion to our Congressional reps (email, snailmail, phone call), one thing is for sure: they do not like angering their voter base.
Politicians fear one thing worse than death, and that is being voted out.
It is very important to let them know we are out here: their behaviour may not change immediately, but they register the voter discontent and remember it: it will have an effect.
It may not appear as such, but these efforts by ANCA are part of the concentric layers of defense of RoA and NKR.
These Turkophile Anti-RoA and Anti-NKR legislations are like cancer: if they are not treated and eradicated, they will cause serious damage to RoA and NKR down the line.
ANCA certainly recognizes what Turkbaijanis are up to and what their long term purpose is with these types of legislations. But many ordinary Armenian-Americans may not realize how dangerous these things are: they may look innocuous in their present form, but if allowed to remain and grow roots, they establish a precedent for far worse Anti-Armenian legislation to build on: thus, they represent an unacceptable risk to RoA and NKR.
As ANCA already recognizes, there should be a zero-tolerance policy from all Armenian-Americans vis-à-vis these types of legislations.
btw: Tennessee is the home state of Rep Steven Cohen, a rabid, Turkophile Anti-Armenian AG denialist.