DEARBORN, Mich.—A new community canvass of Michigan residents of Armenian heritage reveals persistent anger and outrage over President Biden’s decision to arm and abet Azerbaijan’s genocide of indigenous Armenians in their Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) homeland — adding to serious concerns held by the Biden-Harris campaign about the president’s ability to carry this pivotal swing state in November, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).
“I supported President Biden in 2020, but just cannot see myself doing that again in 2024,” stated Michigan voter Abraham Keyvanian. “The Biden administration’s support for Azerbaijan is a deal breaker for me. Why the president maintained U.S. military aid to the dictatorship in Baku while they ethnically cleansed Armenians from Artsakh is hard — if not impossible — to understand. Speaking frankly, Biden has lost my support.”
Shant Jamgotchian concurred, noting, “Joe Biden has given me no reason to vote for him. I care deeply about Armenia, and the fact is the Biden administration has been a total disaster in supporting Armenia and the Christians of Nagorno-Karabakh. Joe Biden made his decision to keep funding military assistance for Azerbaijan. That is, I suppose, his prerogative as president. As an American, I will be exercising my prerogative and will not be voting to keep him in office. We simply cannot reward genocide.”
This past February, Armenian Americans were well represented among the more than 100,000 (13%) Michiganders who cast “uncommitted” votes in the Michigan Democratic presidential primary to protest President Biden’s complicity in Azerbaijan’s 2023 genocide of Artsakh’s indigenous Armenians. This ANC-Michigan driven electoral activism garnered international news coverage, including reports in POLITICO, The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, BBC, and Reason Magazine. Links are available in this ANCA press release.
“Joe Biden has been AWOL on protecting Armenia from Turkey and Azerbaijan. Even worse, he’s armed Azerbaijan’s anti-Armenian aggression,” explained Sebouh Hamakorzian. “This is something that I do not respect. As someone who votes regularly, it bothers me that President Biden and his foreign policy team are advancing policies that seek to force Armenia under the control of two dictatorships — Turkey and Azerbaijan — that want to destroy Armenia.”
Lori Pilibosian concurred, noting, “The 2024 presidential race is, for many Americans, a big disappointment. I support the freedom and liberty of the Armenian people in their ancient homeland. I was deeply disappointed that President Biden, after recognizing the Armenian Genocide, turned around and provided a green light for more American military aid to Azerbaijan, to commit a second genocide against the Armenians of Karabakh. That is the type of hypocrisy that makes me question how I will vote this November.”
In the days leading up to the Michigan primary, the chair of the ANC-Michigan published an essay in The Armenian Weekly explaining that she was casting her “uncommitted” vote to “send a message that crimes come with costs, and enabling ethnic cleansing is not ‘business-as-usual.’ To cast a vote for Biden is to endorse his actions. To support him as the lesser of two evils is to accept evil. I will not do that.”
In the 2020 presidential election, the winning margin of victory in Michigan was approximately 150,000 votes, out of over 5.5 million votes cast in the state. In the 2016 presidential election, the winning margin of victory in Michigan was approximately 11,000 votes, of which over 4.7 million votes were cast in the state. Likewise, the 2024 presidential race in the state of Michigan is expected to be razor close — with both presidential campaigns spending large amounts of money in the state to sway voters.
“I know that the presidential race in my home state of Michigan will be close this year — just like it was in 2020 and in 2016,” stated Murad Tossounian. “I care a lot about policy issues — including matters related to Armenia. As an Armenian American and active member of the Armenian Youth Federation, my view of the presidential race this year is defined by Joe Biden’s callous disregard for human rights as it relates to my brothers and sisters in Artsakh. Instead of sanctioning Azerbaijan, which used violence and starvation against the people of Artsakh, Joe Biden just kept dealing with that petro-dictatorship with a business-as-usual approach. That type of foreign policy will not win my vote.”
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Whilst nominally more sympathetic to Armenia and certainly less enthusiastic about Turkey and beholden to Israel than previous President Donald Trump, Joe Biden like any US rarely finds Armenia a priority issue. Indifference without prejudice .
The United States is drifting over the precipice of precipitous decline. It’s quite clear that things are only going to get worse. When the Trump administration takes power we will see so called “Christian” nationalists attempt to purge not only the government but the society itself. Demographically the far right outnumbers the left by around 10 to 1 in the United States. 2/3 of the population can not read on a 5th grade level. Half of adults believe that the planet is a few thousand years old. This story doesn’t end well. Armenia meanwhile is utterly irrelevant other than as an additional wedge against Russia, with the additional bonus of further isolating Iran. Even if somehow Turkey was to extricate itself from the extensive tentacles of the US’s state within the state, which emerged on the basis of the military coup of 1980, which to be clear is highly improbable, Armenia will still find it’s fate unchanged. Armenia is screwed unless this regime is deposed and purged with the same velocity with which it came to take power.