PROVIDENCE, RI—On August 15th, the Armenian National Committee of Rhode Island (ANC-RI) met with Congressman Jim Langevin for dinner on Federal Hill.
Present at the dinner were ANC-RI members Ani Haroian, George Mangalo, Steve Mesrobian and Steve Elmasian. Also joining were Mike DeAngelis and Ryan Toohey from Congressman Langevin’s staff.
Rep. Langevin has served his constituents in the past as a state representative and as the RI Secretary of State. He has been a US Congressman for close to two decades. He has announced that he is retiring once his current congressional term is finished, so the ANC-RI members wanted to thank him for his consistent support for our issues and concerns during his tenure in Congress and wish him well in his future endeavors.
Congressman Langevin has been a consistent advocate for Armenian causes and issues, earning an A/A+ grade from the ANCA annually. He saw to it that the Armenian flag flew at the RI State House 28 years ago while serving as Secretary of State, setting the precedent for it to continue flying every April 24th in memory of our holy martyrs.
Mesrobian reviewed the current ANCA national legislative agenda with the Congressman. They discussed what the United States can do to deescalate Azerbaijan’s continued attacks against civilians in Artsakh and Armenia, starting with removing presidential waiver authority of Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act so that the US cannot provide military and security aid to the corrupt and warmongering Aliyev regime, pressing for the release of all Armenian POWs and captured civilians being held illegally in Azerbaijan and providing $50 million in aid to Artsakh as part of the FY2023 Foreign Aid Bill.
Congressman Langevin was candid with his replies and referred back to the Gulf War when Turkey, a NATO ally, refused to allow US jets to fly over their territory thus endangering the lives of US and NATO personnel.
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Let the record show that RI Secretary of State, James R. Langevin, was responsible for seeing to it that the Armenian flag was to be flown at the RI State House 28 years ago and it continues to be flown to this day on every April 24th. That’s a nice legacy.
Good luck whatever you choose to do from this point on. You have served our Armenian community well.