More than 100 activists to attend meetings on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, February 1 and Thursday, February 2 and protest on Thursday, February 2 at 1 pm
(Washington, DC) January 30, 2023 — In light of Azerbaijan’s 50 days of blockade of the people of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh), the Armenian National Committee of America Eastern Region (ANCA Eastern Region) has organized Advocacy Days for more than 100 activists from throughout the region on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, February 1 and Thursday, February 2. The activists have scheduled meetings with members of Congress and will be sounding the alarm bells of the genocide being committed against the Armenians of Artsakh to legislators in both the US House and Senate. They will culminate their time in Washington with a protest outside of the Capitol building on February 2 at 1 pm ET. ANCA activists, members of the Congressional Armenian Caucus, and coalition partners will be on site and ready to answer media inquiries at the protest.
The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) has worked with bi-partisan members of Congress to introduce measures to sanction Azerbaijan for its illegal blockade and aggression against Artsakh and the Republic of Armenia. The latest measure – “Resolution Condemning Azerbaijan’s Blockade of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh)” – is to be introduced by Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), Adam Schiff (D-CA), and David Valadao (R-CA), and senior Foreign Affairs Committee member Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) later this week. The bipartisan resolution calls on the U.S. to condemn the Azerbaijani blockade of Artsakh, investigate Azerbaijan’s war crimes, enforce Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act, cut U.S. military aid to Azerbaijan, and to provide necessary humanitarian aid to the suffering people of Artsakh. As such, more than 100 activists from across the region will visit the offices of every member of Congress – 435 Representatives and 100 Senators – to discuss co-sponsoring the resolution and/or working to cut all aid to Azerbaijan.
President Biden has the power to enforce Section 907 and cut off all military aid to Azerbaijan. While on the campaign trail, the President had strongly criticized the Trump Administration for providing over $120 million in military assistance to Azerbaijan immediately prior to the invasion of Artsakh in September 2020. Since assuming office, however, the Biden Administration has twice reauthorized military assistance to Azerbaijan – despite its refusal to release all remaining prisoners of war, its continued destruction of Armenian cultural heritage, and its escalating encroachments along the line of contact with Artsakh and the Republic of Armenia itself.
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Immediately suspending all aid by fully enforcing Section 907 and sanctioning Azerbaijan would send the strongest signal yet to the Aliyev regime that its attempt to ethnically cleanse 120,000 Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh from their ancestral homeland is unacceptable to the United States.
In the early morning of December 12, 2022, the Azerbaijani government began an illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor—the only road connecting the indigenous Armenian people of Artsakh to the outside world. Since then, food and medical supplies have been almost entirely cut while access to the internet and energy for heat and electricity have been repeatedly shut off. This blockade on the people of Artsakh represents only the latest in a clear pattern of escalation that requires a firm U.S. response to prevent a humanitarian disaster.
