Wednesday, December 2 2020 10:52

ArmInfo.The United States should provide assistance to Nagorno-Karabakh, which has suffered from a humanitarian crisis. This opinion was expressed by Senior  Democrat of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Robert Menendez  (of New Jersey) and Senator Rob Portman (Republican of Ohio) in a  joint statement released on December 2 by the Democrat's press  office.

 According to TASS, the senators called on the Appropriations  Committee of the Upper House of the US Legislature "to allocate funds  as part of the final Appropriation Bill for FY2021 (started on  October 1) to resolve the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the South  Caucasus."

Menendez and Portman "highlighted the gravity of the crisis and the  critical importance of American aid." "The humanitarian situation in  the South Caucasus is terrible, and with the approach of winter it  will only get worse," the senators believe. They cite the spread of  the coronavirus as an example, as well as "the recent  Turkish-supported conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which  caused long-term damage to the infrastructure of the region and led  to the displacement of more than half of the ethnic Armenian  population of Nagorno-Karabakh, including 90% of women and children  in the region," press service. "The fighting may have stopped, but  the damage they inflicted will continue to lead to deaths in the  absence of decisive action from the international community," the  senators said.

EN In addition to asking for reliable funding for rehabilitation  measures in Nagorno-Karabakh, Menendez and Portman also asked the  Senate to provide specific funds for the clearance of mines and  unexploded ordnance [in the region]. The need [for this  neutralization] has grown significantly after the recent outbreak of  violence, "the press service said.

"The United States must continue our long tradition of providing  humanitarian assistance to those who need it most, such as thousands  of ethnic Armenians who have been forced to flee their homes or  otherwise suffered from violence," the senators said.