Tuesday, August 13 2024 10:20

ArmInfo. With the November  5th presidential election less than three months away, the Armenian  National Committee of America (ANCA) has reaffirmed the Trump- Pence  Administration's failing grade for aiding, abetting, and emboldening  Azerbaijan's 2020 assault on the indigenous Armenians of Artsakh, for  refusing to recognize the Armenian Genocide and then actively  blocking Congressional remembrance of this crime, and for taking no  meaningful steps to hold Azerbaijan accountable for war crimes  perpetrated during the course of its 44-day Artsakh War - including  the illegal detention and torture of Armenian prisoners of war, the  deliberate targeting of civilian populations, and the destruction of  Armenian cultural heritage. The ANCA statement is below.

 ANCA Statement on the Trump-Pence Administration's Failure to Address  Azerbaijan's Genocidal Assault on Artsakh, Emboldenment of Erdogan's  Authoritarian Regime, and Refusal to Recognize the Armenian Genocide

 Following Donald J. Trump's nomination as the Republican Party's  presidential nominee, the ANCA reiterates its profound disappointment  with the Trump-Pence Administration's reckless appeasement of  Azerbaijan - which enabled the Aliyev regime's genocidal assault on  Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) in 2020, and established a precedent of  impunity in the face of Azerbaijan's widely documented war crimes.

 Following the example of successive administrations, the Trump-Pence  Administration waived Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act in all  four years of its term - lifting restrictions on U.S. assistance to  Azerbaijan due to its blockades of Armenia and Artsakh, as  established by the 1992 law.  Then, in the face of Azerbaijan's  escalating aggression against the indigenous Armenian population of  Artsakh since the 4- day-war in 2016, the Trump-Pence Administration  broke with the established precedent of parity in U.S.  military aid  to Armenia and Azerbaijan and dramatically ramped up U.S. military  assistance to Baku - allocating over $120 million - in the absence of  Congressional oversight, emboldening the Aliyev regime's aggression,  which culminated in the September 2020 assault on Artsakh.

During the course of the 44-day war, the Trump-Pence Administration  failed to take meaningful action to halt Azerbaijan's unprovoked  aggression, even amid widely documented war crimes including the  summary execution of civilians, the use of prohibited weapons  including cluster munitions against civilian populations, the  arbitrary detention and torture of Armenian prisoners of war, and the  destruction of Artsakh's ancient Christian heritage. While the  Trump-Pence Administration eventually sought to broker a ceasefire,  absent any material consequences for its aggression, Azerbaijan  violated the agreement within hours - which was met with silence by  the Administration.

In the wake of Azerbaijan's genocidal assault on Artsakh - which  resulted in forced displacement of over 50,000 civilians and the  ethnic cleansing of 70% of the region's territory - the Trump-Pence  Administration took no action to hold Azerbaijan accountable for war  crimes and human rights abuses. The impunity Azerbaijan was granted  for its brazen assault on Artsakh's Armenians only further encouraged  the regime's aggression - including its military incursions into  Armenia in May 2021 and September 2022, culminating in the blockade  and ethnic cleansing of Artsakh in September 2023.

Furthermore, the Trump-Pence Administration took the unconscionable  position of opposing USAID's longstanding support for humanitarian  de-mining and unexploded ordinance (UXO) safety programs operated by  the HALO Trust in Artsakh - endangering the lives and livelihood of  tens of thousands of civilians impacted by Azerbaijan's deployment of  landmines during and since the first Artsakh war in the 1990s.

In addition to the failure to hold Azerbaijan accountable for its  genocidal aggression - the Trump-Pence Administration's public  embrace of Turkish President Recep Erdogan provided the unreliable  NATO ally with a blank check amid its destabilizing actions across  the region. During the 2020 Artsakh War, Turkey provided military and  intelligence support for Azerbaijan's genocidal campaign - including  the deployment of NATO F-16s in Azerbaijan, in violation of end-use  agreements. Furthermore, Turkey violated U.S. arms export law by  deploying dual-use U.S. technology in drones transferred to  Azerbaijan to target Armenian civilian populations and  infrastructure. The Trump-Pence Administration also turned a blind  eye to Turkey's recruitment of foreign mercenaries - including those  with links to ISIS and other known terrorist organizations in Syria  and Libya - that were deployed in Azerbaijan during the 44-day war.

Additionally, the Trump-Pence Administration greenlit Turkey's  invasion of northern Syria in 2019 - enabling Turkey's ethnic  cleansing of Kurdish populations, undermining efforts undertaken by  Washington's Kurdish allies to combat ISIS, and gravely endangering  the vulnerable Armenian community in Syria. Amid the further  destabilization of Syria, the Trump-Pence Administration opposed  Armenia's humanitarian deployment of medical personnel and de-miners  to Aleppo, where they saved the lives of Armenians and other Syrian  civilians endangered as a result of the Administration's reckless  foreign policy. 

Just as it turned a blind eye to Turkey's aggression in the region,  the Trump-Pence Administration similarly granted the Erdogan regime  impunity for directing an attack on peaceful U.S. protesters in  Washington, DC by the Turkish president's bodyguards during a 2017  state visit. Despite broad, bipartisan condemnation of this brazen  assault on free speech and the rule of law by a foreign dictatorship,  the Trump-Pence Administration not only failed to criticize this  assault but went on to drop charges against the perpetrators.  The  impunity Turkey was afforded for its crimes at Sheridan Circle was  part of a pattern of Trump-Pence Administration failures to crack  down on Turkey's malign foreign influence in the United States. The  Administration's first National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn,  failed to register as a foreign agent for Turkey's government, for  which he received lucrative compensation while serving as the  Trump-Pence campaign's national security advisor. Flynn published an  op/ed praising President Erdogan on Election Day in 2016 - suggesting  the incoming Administration was well aware of Flynn's relationship  with Erdogan's authoritarian regime.

  The Trump-Pence Administration's tolerance of Turkey's undue  influence in the U.S. political system was clearly demonstrated in  its refusal to properly commemorate the Armenian Genocide in all four  of its annual April 24th messages - enforcing Ankara's gag-rule  against honest American remembrance of the Armenian Genocide, even  after the U.S. House (405-11) and Senate (100-0) officially  recognized this crime. President Trump enlisted Senators Lindsay  Graham (R-SC), David Perdue (R-GA), and Kevin Cramer (R-ND) in its  ultimately unsuccessful attempts to block the passage of the Armenian  Genocide Resolution by the U.S. Senate. 

The Trump-Pence Administration's decision to aid Azerbaijan's  genocidal assault on Artsakh in 2020, and its inaction in the face of  Azerbaijan's war crimes, will weigh heavily on the minds of Armenian  American voters this November - including in the key swing states of  Nevada, Michigan and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, each home to  significant Armenian American communities. In light of Donald J.  Trump's nomination, and the ascension of Senator JD Vance as the vice  presidential nominee, Armenian American voters expect the Trump-Vance  campaign to condemn Azerbaijan's ethnic cleansing of Artsakh, and  endorse Congressional efforts to hold Azerbaijan accountable for its  crimes against humanity. This must begin with the Trump-Vance  campaign endorsing H.R.7288 to enforce Section 907 of the FREEDOM  Support Act, supporting the imposition of targeted Global Magnitsky  Act sanctions against Azerbaijani war criminals, and advocating for  the right of return of indigenous Armenians of Artsakh to their homes  under international protections. Additionally, as a sitting U.S.  Senator, the ANCA urges JD Vance to demonstrate his commitment to  holding Azerbaijan accountable for human rights abuses by  co-sponsoring S.Res.540 - which would require the Department of State  to conduct a formal investigation into Azerbaijan's human rights  abuses pursuant to Section 502B(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act.

A just, durable, and dignified peace in the South Caucasus is only  possible through accountability. The failure to redress Azerbaijan's  ethnic cleansing of Artsakh, secure the release of illegally detained  Armenian prisoners, and ensure an internationally guaranteed right of  return for Artsakh's Armenians will not only encourage Azerbaijan's  genocidal aspirations - but send a dangerous signal to other abusive  regimes that the United States is only prepared to defend the  principles of human rights, democracy, and international law when  geopolitically convenient.