ANCA congratulates Tulsi Gabbard on confirmation as Director of National Intelligence, calls for investigation into U.S. complicity in Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing of Artsakh
WASHINGTON—The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) congratulated former U.S. Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard on her confirmation today as Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and called upon her to launch a comprehensive investigation into U.S. intelligence, policy and foreign aid failures that contributed to Azerbaijan’s genocidal ethnic cleansing of Artsakh’s indigenous Armenian population.
“The ANCA welcomes Director Gabbard’s confirmation today and urges her to ensure that the United States fully reckons with our role—whether through acts of omission or commission—in aiding, abetting and emboldening Azerbaijan’s genocidal campaign against Artsakh’s Armenian population,” stated ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian.
In its congratulatory letter to Gabbard, ANCA emphasized the importance of an official intelligence review into how U.S. policies—such as military assistance to Azerbaijan—facilitated its war crimes. “As you know, Americans of Armenian heritage in Hawai’i and across the United States have long supported your leadership on atrocities prevention, human rights and other issues of special concern to our community and coalition partners. We remain deeply grateful for your support on U.S. remembrance of the Armenian Genocide and, of course, the democratic aspirations of the indigenous Armenian Christians of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh),” stated Hamparian.
Additionally, Hamparian’s letter noted, “We stand ready to assist with an investigation into U.S. failings of omission and commission that aided, abetted or emboldened Azerbaijan to pursue its genocidal designs against the peaceful Armenian civilian population of Artsakh.”
Gabbard’s advocacy on Armenian issues has been unwavering. As a U.S. Representative, she co-sponsored the Armenian Genocide Resolution and traveled to Artsakh in 2017, where she witnessed firsthand the resilience of its citizens in the face of Azerbaijani aggression. In 2020, she condemned Turkey’s role in inciting the war against Artsakh, stating that “Turkey [was] sending Al-Qaeda-associated proxies to wipe out Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenian population.”
The ANCA continues to call upon the Trump administration to enforce Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act, which prohibits U.S. military aid to Azerbaijan, and to impose Magnitsky sanctions on Azerbaijani leaders responsible for war crimes. Additionally, ANCA is urging the U.S. government to press Azerbaijan for the immediate release of Armenian prisoners of war and to carve out an exception in the current freeze on foreign aid funding to provide targeted assistance for Artsakh’s genocide survivors.
The text of the ANCA letter to DNI Gabbard is provided below, and the pdf is available here:
https://anca.org/assets/pdf/
February 12, 2025
The Honorable Tulsi Gabbard
Director of National Intelligence
Washington, DC 20511
Dear Director Gabbard:
I am writing on behalf of the Armenian National Committee of America to congratulate you on your confirmation as our nation’s Director of National Intelligence (DNI), to wish you a successful tenure in this vital position, and to urgently call upon you to lead an DNI community-wide investigation into U.S. intelligence, policy and foreign aid failures that contributed—either directly or indirectly—to Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing of indigenous Armenians from their ancient Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) homeland.
As you know, Americans of Armenian heritage in Hawaiʻi and across the United States have long supported your leadership on atrocities prevention, human rights and other issues of special concern to our community and coalition partners. We remain deeply grateful for your support on U.S. remembrance of the Armenian Genocide and, of course, the democratic aspirations of the indigenous Armenian Christians of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). We attach particular importance to your landmark 2017 trip to Artsakh, where you witnessed firsthand the human cost of Azerbaijan’s aggression and the remarkable resilience of Artsakh’s citizens. For all these reasons and more, we have been proud to support your nomination and are extremely pleased by your confirmation.
We stand ready to assist with an investigation into U.S. failings of omission and commission that aided, abetted or emboldened Azerbaijan to pursue its genocidal designs against the peaceful Armenian civilian population of Artsakh. Unless our government’s reckless policies, flawed decisions and destructive actions are properly understood and acknowledged, then condemned and corrected, we run the risk that these same errors will be repeated, at the cost of U.S. interests and yet more Armenian lives and land.
Congratulations, once again, on your confirmation.
Sincerely,
Aram Suren Hamparian
Executive Director
