Saturday, September 30 2023 12:06

ArmInfo.Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Government Affairs Director Tereza  Yerimyan issued a powerful call for the Biden Administration to be held accountable for their continued support and arming of genocidal Azerbaijan, and urging immediate U.S. action to cut all military aid  and sanctions on Azerbaijan for the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh's 120,000 indigenous Armenian Christian population.  

Yerimyan's remarks, shared in full below, were offered at today's Capitol Hill  press conference on Artsakh and other persecuted Christian  communities, hosted by Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) and organized by In  Defense of Christians, For the Martyrs, and the 120,000 Reasons  Coalition, including the ANCA.  ANCA Government Affairs Director  Tereza Yerimyan in particular, stated:  "I want to thank our host,  Congressman Brad Sherman, and our organizer and coalition partner, In  Defense of Christians, for bringing all of us together for a day of  advocacy on human rights issues affecting all of our persecuted  brothers and sisters.  Today, as Americans, we are rightfully,  righteously angered that our government - the Biden Administration -  has armed and abetted - aided and emboldened - Azerbaijan's oil-rich  Aliyev regime, which is today committing real-time genocide against  Artsakh's 120,000 indigenous Armenian Christians.  As you all know,  Azerbaijan's aggression, with the solid backing of Turkey, has caused  immense suffering and has violated international law - including  Articles II(b) and II(c) of the Genocide Convention.  We gather here  today to hold our government accountable.  To save all that can be  saved.  And to rededicate ourselves to the proposition that this must  never happen again - to those remaining on the ground in Artsakh,  those living in fear today in Armenia, or any people anywhere around  the world.  President Joe Biden's recent words at the United Nations  General Assembly ring all too hollow:  "If we abandon the core       principles of the United Nations to appease an aggressor, can        any member state of this body feel confident that they will be   protected?" There is truth in his words, but no action to follow  them up.  Our State Department recently vowed before Congress that it  would not "tolerate" any Azerbaijani attacks on Artsakh - and then  did just that.  We have seen no American leadership at all against  Ilham Aliyev - this generation's Saddam Hussein.  Only empty promises       for Armenians.  Arms for Azerbaijan's military.  Flowers for       Artsakh's funeral A betrayal of the very principles we claim to  champion.  As the granddaughter of a Genocide survivor - with family  and friends driven from Artsakh this very week - it is hard to hear  the U.S. proclaim "never again." While we ship arms to the side doing       it - again and again.  While blocking U.S. aid to Artsakh,       during nine long months under blockade.  The record shows that  the Administration did not lift a finger to break Azerbaijan's  blockade.  No airlift.  No cut-off of military aid to Baku.  No       sanctions on Aliyev.  A shameful abandonment of our moral duty.        A dangerous signal to the authoritarians of this world.  A green       light for the next genocide.  Even at this late date, after more  than half of Artsakh has been forcibly ethnically cleansed, President  Biden refuses to enforce the U.S. law restricting aid to Azerbaijan -  refuses to enforce Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act.  This is a  message of weakness, not strength.  Of surrender to the forces of  intolerance.  Of a betrayal not only of our values but our interests.   Because Azerbaijan is not our ally.  They bust our sanctions and  blockade starving children.  The Aliyev family runs an oil-rich  dictatorship.  Their children own hundreds of millions of dollars of  property across Europe and the Middle East.  They do not need - and  surely do not deserve - our American tax dollars.  We can stop that  aid today. President Biden can enforce Section 907, or our Congress  can roll back the President's authority to waive this law.  It's that  simple. If the political will exists.  We are blessed to stand today  in solidarity with our partners - in support of persecuted Christians  in Artsakh, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Nigeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, and  around the world.  We must, for all these at-risk faith communities,  demand American leadership - American action.  For Artsakh, that  begins with calling out Azerbaijan's genocide against Artsakh - then  cutting off military aid to Azerbaijan, enforcing sanctions against  its dictator, and sending robust U.S. humanitarian aid to more than a  hundred thousand homeless refugees.  Here in Washington, that means  holding the Biden Administration accountable for its complicity.  For  absent such accountability - for as long as genocide remains good for  business - we create the conditions for more genocide.  And that we  cannot - and will never accept," she concluded.