Honolulu City and County Council, Hawaii
last week for the recognition of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic (Karabakh) and a peaceful resolution for the Karabakh conflict, reported the Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly). The resolution was introduced on March 23 by Honolulu City Councilmember Kymberly Pine, District 1.
Resolution 16-78, CD-1 states that the Council of the City and County of Honolulu “encourages and supports the Nagorno Karabakh Republic’s continuing efforts to guarantee its citizens those rights inherent in a free and independent society.” In addition, “the Council urges the President and Congress of the United States to support the international community’s efforts to reach a just and lasting solution to security issues in the strategically important South Caucasus region.”
Assembly State Chair for Hawaii, George Casen, submitted testimony for this resolution to the Honolulu City and County Council Committee on Business, Economic Development, and Tourism.
“How can anyone expect the residents of the Armenian-majority enclave of Nagorno Karabakh, designated as a separate oblast (mini-state) during Soviet times, to accept becoming part of Azerbaijan whose President is pursuing an aggressive agenda to annex the neighboring Republic of Armenia?” Casen said. “The people of Nagorno Karabakh should be afforded the right to self-determination that they have voted for.”
Last month, the House of Representatives of the State of Hawaii unanimously passed , a resolution recognizing the independence of Karabakh. The resolution states that “the House of Representatives of the Twenty-eighth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2016, honors and recognizes the Nagorno Karabakh Republic and its citizens.”
I am pleased that the Hawaii House of Representatives has passed a resolution recognizing the right of self-determination for the people of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic,” Casen stated. “This entity and the Republic of Armenia are the remaining sanctuaries for the Armenian people, who were scattered to the ends of the earth from the 1890s to the early 1920s due to ethnic cleansing in the historically Armenian provinces within the Turkish state.”
167 was sponsored by Representatives Angus McKelvey (D-HI) and John Mizuno (D-HI), and signed by the Hawaii State House of Representatives Speaker Joseph Suoki (D-HI). Hawaii becomes the seventh U.S. state to recognize Karabakh’s independence, along with Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Louisiana, Maine, California, and Georgia.
Established in 1972, the Armenian Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based nationwide organization promoting public understanding and awareness of Armenian issues. The Assembly is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt membership organization.
Armenian Assembly of America