The Pan Armenian Council of the Western United States of America has sent a letter to President Joe Biden calling on his administration to ensure the inviolability of Armenia’s borders and shepherd the international community’s recognition of Artsakh’s independence.
Below is the text of the letter.
September 9, 2022
On behalf of the Pan-Armenian Council of the Western United States of America, a coalition of the largest Armenian American organizations operating in the United States, we write to urge you to heighten the engagement of the United States and its democratic allies in safeguarding the rights and safety of the people of the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh (formerly known as the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic). Specifically, we urge the United States Government to ensure the inviolability of the Republic of Armenia’s sovereign borders, and to galvanize the international community to recognize the independence of the democratic Republic of Artsakh. The people of Artsakh continue to face existential threats due to the aggressive use of force exhibited by the government of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
In September 2020, the dynastic Aliyev dictatorship in the Republic of Azerbaijan, in contravention to mediation efforts by the U.S., French, and Russian Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, unleashed a unilateral war against the Armenian population of the Republic of Artsakh. As a result of the brutal 44-day war, a significant concentration of the indigenous Armenian population of Artsakh was ethnically cleansed from its historic homeland, while Artsakh’s civilian-populated centers and infrastructure were left devastated.
Since the signing of the November 9, 2020 trilateral ceasefire statement, the Aliyev regime has systematically violated the terms of the fragile ceasefire by refusing to return Armenian POWs, hostages and other detained persons, has advanced its troops beyond the ceasefire line in violation of point 1 of the November 2020 declaration, has encroached on the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia, and time and again threatened to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with the use of force. Further, Azerbaijan’s bellicose actions have resulted in the desecration and erasure of numerous historic Armenian cultural and religious sites in Artsakh.
Since the signing of the ceasefire, incessant Azerbaijani sniping and gunfire near new lines of contact adjacent to border villages of Armenia and Artsakh have taken the lives of scores of innocent Armenians.
Over the past 10 months, both the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the United Nations’ Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) have issued provisional measures and findings that call out the government of Azerbaijan for its “grave human rights violations” vis-à-vis Armenian POWs and captured civilians, and for its “destruction of Armenian cultural heritage.” The United States should undertake action consistent with the ICJ decision and the CERD committee, and likewise condemn Azerbaijan for its conduct, which is in clear violation of international law. Furthermore, the U.S. ought to seriously consider sanctioning authorities of the government of Azerbaijan under the terms of the Global Magnitsky Act.
The friendship between the American and Armenian people has deep and strong roots, dating back well over a century when nearly two million Americans of Armenian heritage called the United States home in the wake of the Armenian Genocide. The Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh have been reliable partners of the United States in the global war on terror. Most importantly, both the Republics of Armenia and Artsakh have held free, fair, and transparent elections since the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Armenian Americans are grateful to you for recognizing the Armenian Genocide. We now call upon you, President Biden, to work with allies in preempting a potential second genocide of the Armenian people, and holding Azerbaijan accountable for its aggressive behavior driven by genocidal intent and territorial expansion. Armenian Americans as well as Armenians in Artsakh and Armenia are counting on your statesmanship and greater support in preventing the recurrence of mass atrocities in the South Caucasus region.
Sincerely,
Pan-Armenian Council of the Western USA