WASHINGTON, DC – The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission (TLHRC) held a landmark hearing spotlighting Azerbaijan’s escalating aggression against the indigenous Armenian Christians of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh), calling for sanctions against the Azerbaijani government in the face of a second Armenian Genocide taking place in the region.
“Today’s hearing both reflected and reinforced the growing pro-Artsakh Congressional consensus in support of an urgent reset in U.S. policy – starting with an end to all U.S. military assistance to Azerbaijan,” stated ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “The ANCA will continue to work with the broad coalition of faith-based, ethnic, and human rights organizations and Congressional leaders to defend Artsakh’s right to security and self-determination.”
The two-hour Capitol Hill hearing was hosted by TLHRC Co-Chairs Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) and included remarks by Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) and Frank Pallone (D-NJ). Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) also submitted a written statement for the record. Titled “Safeguarding the people of Nagorno Karabakh“, the hearing included testimony by former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback, former U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Evans, American Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Michael Rubin, and Columbia University Director of the Peace-Building and Human Rights Program, Institute for the Study of Human Rights, David Phillips.
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