Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Krekorian introduced a resolution calling on the United States and other governments to immediately halt all assistance to Azerbaijan and to recognize the independence of Artsakh.
RESOLUTION
CONDEMNING AZERBAIJAN’S AGGRESSION AGAINST ARMENIA
WHEREAS, on September 12, 2022, Azerbaijan yet again attacked its Armenian neighbors, shelling civilians and infrastructure within Armenia’s borders, and over 100 more Armenians are dead in this latest round of Azeri aggression; and
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WHEREAS, two years ago, Azerbaijan opportunistically invaded the Republic of Artsakh without provocation, and violated Armenia’s sovereign territory, in the midst of the global pandemic; and
WHEREAS, that Azeri aggression led to thousands of deaths, illegal military occupation of territory, and the capture of Armenian prisoners (some of whom Azerbaijan holds as hostages to this day), while Azerbaijan committed countless war crimes and used internationally banned weapons, including cluster bombs and chemical weapons, against civilian targets; and
WHEREAS, the City of Los Angeles condemned that Azeri aggression and demanded meaningful response from our federal government, but the Trump Administration utterly failed to respond to Azerbaijan’s war crimes and aggression, and that inaction by our government and the rest of the world essentially invited Azeri dictator Aliyev to take whatever territory he wants by whatever violent means he chooses; and
WHEREAS, yet again, the American government has given no meaningful response to the most recent attacks, leaving Azerbaijan’s pattern of unprovoked aggression and violent land grabs unchecked, thus allowing Azerbaijan to endanger regional stability, to usurp democratic self-determination, to violate international law and norms, and to pursue Aliyev’s racist dream of completing the Armenian Genocide; and
WHEREAS, Azerbaijan has a long history of destroying Armenian cultural heritage, churches, cemeteries and monuments in the territory it seizes, the clear purpose of which is to commit cultural genocide and erase the ancient history of the indigenous Armenian people; and
WHEREAS, Azerbaijan perpetrated such crimes during its 2020 invasion of Artsakh, and through its current attacks it threatens to fulfill dictator Aliyev’s openly expressed goal of invading, occupying and erasing Armenia itself; and
WHEREAS, all Americans, and everyone who cares about peace and stability in the world, must denounce Azerbaijan’s latest aggression in unambiguous terms; and
WHEREAS, on September 10, 2013, the City of Los Angeles formally recognized the Republic of Artsakh as free, independent and sovereign state, and in 2018 the City Council renewed its call for the international community to join Los Angeles in recognizing Artsakh as a free, independent and sovereign state;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED with the concurrence of the Mayor, that by the adoption of this resolution, the City of Los Angeles calls on President Biden and all members of Congress to take meaningful punitive action against the Azeri regime to reign in its violent expansionism once and for all, including but not limited to discontinuing all sale of arms and other financial and economic assistance to Azerbaijan under Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the City of Los Angeles calls on the United States and all other democracies to stand with Armenia in its present danger and immediately suspend all military and economic aid to Azerbaijan; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the City of Los Angeles calls for the United States and all nations who respect democracy and self-determination to extend, at long last, full diplomatic recognition to the Republic of Artsakh as a free, independent and sovereign state, and to demand unequivocally that Azerbaijan must respect the sovereignty of Armenia and discontinue its pattern of aggression, violence and war crimes in the region.
