Our Investment in the American Political System is Paying Off - ANCA  Head

ArmInfo."President Trump, who has dramatically increased US military aid to Azerbaijan, arming and supporting the Aliyev regime's attack on Artsakh in 2020, must do more than issue a campaign statement. He needs to deliver real results before Election Day".

This statement was made by Aram Hamparian, the Executive  Director of the Armenian National Congress of America (ANCA), in a  video message to Armenian American voters and coalition partners,  commenting on today's statement by former US President and  presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Trump condemned the lack of action by the US administration in  response to the persecution and forced displacement of Armenian  Christians from Artsakh and promised to "stop the violence and ethnic  cleansing, and restore PEACE between Armenia and Azerbaijan. "Kamala  Harris did NOTHING as 120,000 Armenian Christians were horrifically  persecuted and forcibly displaced in Artsakh. Christians around the  world will not be safe if Kamala Harris is President of the United  States. When I become President, I will protect persecuted  Christians, I will work to stop the violence and ethnic cleansing,  and we will restore PEACE between Armenia and Azerbaijan,", Trump  said on his Truth Social account on October 23. 

According to Hamparian, Trump could start by publicly affirming  Artsakh's right to return and personally urging House Speaker Johnson  to schedule a floor vote on H.R. 7288, enforcing Section 907  restrictions on U.S. aid to Azerbaijan. For his part, Vice  Presidential candidate J.D. Vance, a sitting member of the U.S.   Senate, should co-sponsor and work for the passage of S.Res.540,  scrutinizing Azerbaijan's use of U.S.  military aid to commit  anti-Armenian war crimes.

"While we are pleased to see that our community's sustained  engagement has forced Artsakh and Armenia into our national election  discourse, we expect and deserve more than words. To earn our votes,  we need to see results, now -actions that will actually hold Aliyev  accountable and deter Azerbaijan's renewed aggression," Hamparian  added.

As reported by ANCA, with less than two weeks to go before the 2024  U.S. presidential election, both Republican and Democratic  presidential candidates have issued statements regarding Artsakh  (Nagorno- Karabakh) vying for the support from Armenian-American  voters across the U.S., and especially in key swing, states including  Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and  Wisconsin.

On September 23, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris  expressed support for "the right of Armenians displaced from  Nagorno-Karabakh to safely return to their homes." Vice President  Harris also noted that "we must never forget the Armenian Genocide"  and stressed her commitment to "a lasting peace between Armenia and  its neighbors that respects sovereignty, independence, and  territorial integrity." As Hamparian noted, it is clear that Armenian  votes matter. We saw it today with former President Trump calling out  the Biden-Harris administration's inaction in the face of  Azerbaijan's ethnic cleansing of Artsakh. "We saw it a couple of  weeks ago with Vice President Harris calling for the safe and  sustainable return of Armenians to Artsakh. This is a major milestone  for our community, an important milestone in our emergence as an  electoral force on the American national stage. So please remain  engaged, keep up the pressure. Our investments in the American  political system are paying off," Hamparian concluded.

Meanwhile, the Armenian organization said in a statement that earlier  this year, the ANCA gave an rating to both the Trump and Biden  administrations for aiding and abetting Azerbaijani and Turkish  aggression against Armenia and Artsakh, which resulted in the  genocidal ethnic cleansing of 120,000 Armenians in Artsakh and the  ongoing Azerbaijani occupation of Armenia's sovereign territory. The  ANCA called on both the Republican and Democratic presidential  candidates to take concrete actions to address Armenian American  concerns. 

In an August 13 statement, the ANCA shared with the Republican  presidential ticket: "Armenian American voters expect the Trump-Vance  campaign to condemn Azerbaijan's ethnic cleansing of Artsakh and  support Congressional efforts to hold Azerbaijan accountable for its  crimes against humanity. This must begin with the Trump-Vance  campaign endorsing H.R. 7288 to enforce Section 907 of the Freedom  Support Act, supporting the imposition of targeted Global Magnitsky  Act sanctions against Azerbaijani war criminals, and advocating for  the right of return of indigenous Armenians of Artsakh to their homes  under international protection." 

Additionally, as a sitting U.S. Senator, ANCA calls on J.D. Vance to  demonstrate his commitment to holding Azerbaijan accountable for its  human rights abuses by co-sponsoring S.Res. 540, which would require  the State Department to conduct a formal investigation into  Azerbaijan's human rights abuses pursuant to Section 502B(c) of the  Foreign Assistance Act. In a July 30 statement, the ANCA told the  Democratic presidential candidate that "Armenian American voters  expect decisive action to recify the Biden-Harris administration's  shameful abandonment of Artsakh's Armenians - starting with an  immediate prohibition of U.S. aid to Azerbaijan, the imposition of  targeted sanctions against Azerbaijani war criminals, measures to  ensure the right of return for the indigenous Armenians of Artsakh,  and a significant increase in humanitarian aid to Artsakh refugees."