ANCA calls on Senate to block all Biden nominations to the State Department

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) chairman Raffi Hamparian has called upon U.S. Senators to place a hold on all nominations to the State Department, blocking any new confirmations until President Biden takes decisive action to break Azerbaijan’s 260+ day blockade of Artsakh’s 120,000 indigenous Christian Armenians.

The ANCA’s call is backed up by a nationwide advocacy campaign, empowering Armenians and allied Americans from all fifty states to send letters urging their Senators to take this principled stand – in accord with U.S. interests and American values. The action portal is www.anca.org/hold.

The ANCA is asking that a hold on U.S. diplomatic nominees remain in place until the Biden administration has undertaken demonstrable steps to:

− Lead a United Nations Security Council Resolution condemning Azerbaijan’s blockade of Artsakh, sanctioning the Aliyev regime and putting in place mechanisms to open land transit via the Lachin (Berdzor) Corridor and to airlift supplies to Artsakh.

− Stop any new, current or pending U.S. military or security assistance to Azerbaijan and fully enforce Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act.

− Deliver emergency U.S. humanitarian assistance and longer-term development aid to the Armenian victims of Azerbaijani aggression in Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), including by means of a humanitarian airlift.

− Enforce statutory sanctions against Azerbaijani officials responsible for the genocidal blockade of Nagorno Karabakh.

The full text of the ANCA letter to senators is provided below.

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ANCA Letter to U.S. Senators Urging them to Hold Biden’s State Department Nominees

August 30, 2023

Dear Senator:

On behalf of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) and our activists and coalition allies, I am writing to ask you to immediately place a hold on all State Department nominees until the Biden Administration takes decisive action to break Azerbaijan’s 260+ day genocidal blockade of Nagorno Karabakh’s (Artsakh) indigenous Christian population. To date, the State Department has manifestly failed to meaningfully confront Azerbaijan, and our Department of Defense continues aiding and abetting the military of a country starving Armenians to death. This is immoral and inconsistent with both U.S. interests and American values.

Absent urgent and immediate American leadership, Azerbaijan will complete its genocide of Nagorno Karabakh, a crime already underway according to a landmark report issued recently by Luis Moreno Ocampo, the first prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. As you know, Azerbaijan has failed to abide by the binding provisional order issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that requires Azerbaijan to open the Lachin Corridor.

A hold on U.S. diplomatic nominees should remain in place until the Biden Administration has undertaken demonstrable steps to:

− Lead a United Nations Security Council Resolution condemning Azerbaijan’s blockade of Artsakh, sanctioning the Aliyev regime, and putting in place mechanisms to open land transit via the Lachin Corridor and to airlift supplies to Artsakh.

− Stop any new, current, or pending U.S. military or security assistance to Azerbaijan and fully enforce Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act.

− Deliver emergency U.S. humanitarian assistance and longer term development aid to the Armenian victims of Azerbaijani aggression in Nagorno Karabakh, including by means of a humanitarian airlift.

− Enforce statutory sanctions against Azerbaijani officials responsible for the genocidal blockade of Nagorno Karabakh.

Thank you, in advance, for your thoughtful consideration of the ANCA’s request that you immediately place a hold on all State Department nominees up and until that time when the Biden Administration has taken definitive and demonstrable steps to have Azerbaijan open the Lachin Corridor and avert a second Armenian Genocide.

For additional information regarding this urgent humanitarian crisis – please have your professional staff contact the ANCA’s Government Affairs Director Tereza Yerimyan at tereza@anca.org or by phone at 323-807-4960.

Sincerely,

[signed]

Raffi Haig Hamparian
Chairman
Armenian National Committee of America

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The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) is the largest and most influential Armenian-American grassroots organization. Working in coordination with a network of offices, chapters and supporters throughout the United States and affiliated organizations around the world, the ANCA actively advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of issues.