GRASONVILLE, Md. – Over 20 Armenians in Maryland’s 1st Congressional District were recently supposed to meet with Representative Andy Harris (R) to discuss important legislative initiatives regarding the Artsakh War. Instead, the Congressman sent one of his top aides—Tim Daniels—to participate in the virtual meeting. “The Armenian National Committee (ANC) of Maryland wanted to meet with Representative Harris despite his F- grade because it was important for a United States Congressman to hear from his constituents, particularly constituents who are Republican and who voted for him,” said ANCA activist Tsoghig Hekimian.
Community members from all around the 1st district voiced their strong desire for the Congressman to stand up for human rights and co-sponsor H.Res.1165 and H.Res.1203. The Armenian delegation also asked Congressman Harris’ staff to encourage the State Department to push for continued negotiation of the OSCE Minsk group. Longtime ANCA activist Diane Hekimian said, “I am beseeching your boss to co-sponsor these bills. We know his heart is in the right place since he has spoken at the In Defense of Christian seminars with Aram Hamparian, our Chairman, and your staff has listened to my many calls and responded kindly, yet he refuses to support any of our legislative efforts even going so far as to being one of 11 members of Congress who voted against the Armenian Genocide recognition bill which enjoyed wide bipartisan support.”
Vic Piltoyan of Ocean City noted, “Recognizing Artsakh is important to prevent yet another ethnic cleansing/genocide of Armenians, who have lived there for several centuries and voted for independence about 30 years ago. Artsakh was never a part of independent Azerbaijan and was given away by Joseph Stalin in 1921.” Anahit Hakobyan of Ellicott City gave Mr. Daniels a brief history of the conflict and spoke of her father who defended Artsakh during the war in the 1990s. “In 1988, when Artsakh declared independence after a referendum, Azerbaijan said ‘over my,’ excuse me, over Armenian dead bodies will Artsakh be independent,” said Hakobyan.
Anush Sahakyan of Ocean City expressed deep concern for the Armenians who have to live side by side with repatriated Azeris and called out Aliyev’s claims that Armenians will be safe citing many articles and videos showing Azeris committing war crimes and barbaric acts against Armenians. “Armenians cannot live safely under Azeri rule, and there has to be recognition of Artsakh so there is a final resolution of the conflict.” Sahakyan also informed the staffer there is ample evidence that Turkey employed thousands of ISIS jihadists from Syria to fight on the Azeri side of the conflict, a fact Mr. Daniels was unaware of.
Congressman Harris’ staff responded by stating this is a complicated situation and asked what Genocide recognition has to do with the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. In his response, Mr. Piltoyan said if we do not recognize the Genocide, then Turkey and Azerbaijan will operate with impunity. Mr. Daniels said the US must strike a balance between the interests of our NATO ally Turkey. He sympathized with our position, but he insisted there is more than one perspective that needs to be considered. He stated that the Congressman has not co-sponsored or supported any of our initiatives because these issues require a different set of expertise than the Congressman can offer. Harris’ staffer also called the Genocide bill a “Democratic ploy” to undermine President Trump, citing this as the primary reason why he was one of 11 members to vote against it. Daniels was taken aback by the news of Turkey’s employment of ISIS mercenaries and appreciated learning that detail. He continued to say this is not a conflict about religious persecution, but one of territorial integrity.
Lastly Nelson Stepanyan of Ocean City explained the critical importance of supporting the two bills in the House; he said that without recognition of Artsakh nothing will be settled and that condemning Turkey and Azerbaijan will tell every dictator in the world that they will not get away with these types of atrocities. Stepanyan also discussed the weaponry used by Turkey including American-made F-16 fighter jets used to intimidate Artsakh and Armenia. Also, the delegation stated that we are not asking Congressman Harris to solve this complicated conflict; we are simply asking him to represent his constituents by supporting important legislative actions.
Diane Hekimian ended the call with a quotation by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
The ANCA of Maryland continues to call on Congressman Harris as well as Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and the rest of the Maryland delegation in the House of Representatives (Messrs. Harris, Ruppersberger, Brown, Trone, Mfume, and Raskin) to co-sponsor Congressman Frank Pallone’s H. Res.1203. We would like to thank Congressman John Sarbanes and Senator Chris Van Hollen for co-sponsoring legislation supporting Armenian American interests, and we would also like to thank our Maryland Congressmen who co-sponsored H.Res.1165: Congressman Jamie Raskin, John Sarbanes and Dutch Ruppersberger. We also ask that Senator Ben Cardin co-sponsor Senator Bob Menendez’s bills (S.Res.754 and S.Res.755) asking the State Department to produce a report on human rights violations conducted by Azerbaijan and Turkey.
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The ANCA needs to accept its share of responsibility for the maximalism it has been pushing all these years. It opposed the Madrid Principles, which wasthe only deal in the history of the conflict that ever mentioned Artsakh’s future status (and, needless to say, would have been much better than what we ended up with now). It opposed the Turkey-Armenia protocols, which, if implemented, would have significantly strengthened Armenia’s position vis-a-vis Azerbaijan and would have likely prevented this war.
The more the West pushes Turkey, the closer Turkey gets to Russia. Turkey being closer to Russia is what determined the horrible outcome of this war. We need to think very carefully about how we as a Diaspora can help Armenia’s fragile geopolitical position rather than weakening it further.
The most strategic thing Armenia can do right now to salvage what’s left of Artsakh and its own sovereignty (vis-a-vis Russia) is to develop full and normal relations with Turkey. If in 20 years Azerbaijan is weak because of the end of oil, while Armenia has normal to good relations with Turkey and Russia, Turkey and Russia will have less incentive to resolve the Artsakh conflict completely in favor of Azerbaijan.