Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) spearheaded a resolution condemning Azerbaijan for perpetrating an ethnic cleansing campaign against the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh, reported the Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly).
“Azerbaijan’s genocidal campaign against the Armenian people continues with the ongoing destruction of religious, historical, and cultural sites, as well documented by the Caucasus Heritage Watch,” stated Armenian Assembly of America Congressional Relations Director, Mariam Khaloyan. “We look forward to working with Reps. Eshoo and Smith to expose Azerbaijan’s human rights violations and hold the perpetrators accountable.”
The resolution traced the unprovoked violence against the Armenians of Artsakh from the “grueling” 10-month long blockade of the Lachin Corridor in 2022, to the full-scale military offensive in 2023 that took the lives of hundreds of soldiers and civilians, and over 120,000 displaced who “facing the threat of further ethnic violence, fled the territory as refugees within two weeks of Azerbaijan’s assault.”
The ongoing “unjust imprisonment” of Armenian POWs and civilian captives on “politically motivated charges or not charges at all” was also emphasized, as was the destruction of Armenian cultural heritage sites by Azerbaijani forces who “have systematically destroyed Armenian cultural heritage sites in Nagorno-Karabakh, including churches, monasteries, cemeteries, and other cultural moments.”
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The resolution underscored the “vastly insufficient amount of humanitarian aid to respond to the refugee crisis in Armenia” and has not yet “imposed meaningful accountability measures on Azerbaijan for perpetrating an inhumane blockade and campaign of ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh.”
Concluding the resolution, the House of Representatives condemned the “atrocities perpetrated by Azerbaijan against the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh” that constitute as “acts of ethnic cleansing,” emphasized robust humanitarian assistance to the Armenian people of Artsakh, called on the Administration to “impose targeted sanctions on Azerbaijan government officials complicit in human rights abuses,” and to prohibit U.S. military aid pursuant to Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act.
