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The original was posted on /r/hayastan by /u/ANCA_Advocacy on 2023-09-13 23:03:32.
The Biden-Harris Administration stands squarely on the wrong side of Artsakh, aligning with Azerbaijani and Turkish dictatorships against America’s longstanding commitments to genocide prevention, self-determination, indigenous rights, and regional peace.
- The Biden-Harris Administration actively dismisses and aggressively downplays Azerbaijan’s genocidal blockade against Artsakh, an act of denial of and complicity in this crime aimed at delivering for regional dictators a “peace” plan that will integrate Artsakh into Azerbaijan. This genocidal plan represents a death sentence for 120,000 indigenous Christian Armenians.
- President Biden’s State Department pressures Congress and the international community to misrepresent Azerbaijan's blockade of Artsakh as a “conflict” to be solved as opposed to a genocide to be prevented – which is directly at odds with our legal and moral responsibilities under the U.N. Genocide Convention.
- The moral and legal responsibility of the Biden-Harris Administration to prevent genocide in Artsakh is heightened in light of U.S. participation in negotiations and ongoing U.S. military aid to the Azerbaijani regime committing this atrocity – as reflected in repeated waivers by the Biden Administration of Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act.
- The Biden-Harris Administration has failed to enforce U.S. statutory sanctions (under Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act, Section 502B, Global Magnitsky, Leahy Laws, among others), or to press for United Nations sanctions against Azerbaijan – and continues to greenlight U.S. military aid to the Azerbaijan military.
- The Biden-Harris Administration has failed to hold Azerbaijan and its Turkish allies accountable for war crimes, including the use of prohibited munitions (cluster bombs and white phosphorous), deployment of foreign mercenaries, the presence of U.S. parts in Azerbaijan’s fleet of Turkish UAVs, and – of course, - its abuse and murder of POWs.
- The Biden-Harris Administration has failed – directly, multilaterally, or internationally – to organize an airlift of U.S. humanitarian assistance to Artsakh – an undertaking with multiple precedents that is well within the capabilities of the U.S. government. Even prior to the imposition of Azerbaijan’s blockade in December of 2022, the Biden-Harris Administration provided no humanitarian aid to at-risk families in Artsakh.
It is not too late for the Biden-Harris Administration to step back from these failed policies, resetting our strategic approach to Artsakh in alignment with our true interests and enduring values as a nation, by:
- Designating Azerbaijan’s blockade of #Artsakh as a genocide
- Stopping all U.S. arms and military assistance to Azerbaijan
- Sending humanitarian assistance directly to Artsakh via airlift
- Pressuring Azerbaijan to lift its genocidal blockade of Artsakh
- Securing Azerbaijan’s immediate release of Armenian POWs
- Enforcing sanctions on Turkey and Azerbaijan for war crimes
Until President Biden undertakes these common-sense steps, U.S. Senators must – consistent with America’s commitment to genocide prevention - place an immediate hold on all of President Biden’s nominees to the U.S. Department of State.
Concerned citizens can urge their Senators to take this urgently needed action by visiting .