ANCA calls for US leadership to hold Azerbaijan internationally  accountable for crimes in Artsakh 

ArmInfo. During the International Religious Freedom Summit panel, the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) called for US leadership to take active steps to hold Azerbaijan internationally accountable for crimes  against Armenia and Artsakh. This was reported by the Central Office  of the "Hay Dat" Bureau of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation  Dashnaktsutyun (ARF).

It is noted that the summit participants called for US leadership on  Artsakh's survival, Armenia's security and the future of  Armenian  communities from Syria and Lebanon to Jerusalem's Armenian quarter.  In this regard, the summit participants outlined key policy measures  that the United States must implement to uphold religious freedom and  prevent further aggression by Azerbaijan.

The executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America  Aram Hamparian called on the United States to immediately cut off  military aid to Azerbaijan, impose Magnitsky Act sanctions to on  Azerbaijani officials responsible for war crimes committed in the  territory of Armenia and Artsakh and cultural destruction. At the  same time, he also demanded that a UN Security Council resolution  should be introduced that would ensure the safe, protected and  dignified return of Armenians to Artsakh. Hamparian noted that the  failure to hold Azerbaijan accountable emboldens authoritarian  regimes worldwide. "Good policy starts with moral clarity. The United  States must take decisive action, and not just issue statements of  concern," Hamparian emphasized.

Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) called for strong U.S. condemnation of  Azerbaijan's destruction of Armenian churches and cultural heritage,  warning that Baku's ongoing occupation of sovereign Armenian land is  a prelude to further aggression. "The cultural destruction has to  stop. Azeri forces occupy 75 miles of Armenia itself. God forbid this  is a prelude to even more expansionism," Smith said. He urged the  State Department to designate Azerbaijan as a "Country of Particular  Concern" (CPC) for its systematic persecution of Armenian Christians.

Fr. Garegin Hambardzumyan highlighted the urgency of deploying  international monitoring teams to Artsakh to document Azerbaijan's  systematic destruction of Armenian churches and religious heritage  sites. He also called for the protection of the rights of Artsakh  Armenians to safely return to their homelands under the oversight of  the international community.

In turn, human rights Christine Arakelian argued that Christian  populations in the Middle East will play an important role in the  U.S. efforts to bring peace in the region.  As such, "stabilizing  Christian populations in the Middle East is going to be hugely  supportive and actually a necessary condition of creating peace, not  just in the Caucasus between Armenia, Turkey, and Azerbaijan, but  also with respect to the Palestinians." .