ANCA Executive Director: ‘With the Advent of 2017, We Look to our Government and the International Community to Break with This Record of Failure and Forcefully Check Baku’s Aggression’

WASHINGTON (A.W.)—The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) has called upon the United States State Department and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group Co-Chairs to condemn Azerbaijan’s latest attack on Armenian troops, which took place on Dec. 29.

“Ilham’s Aliyev’s fatal cross-border attack today into Armenia follows a deeply troubling, yet clearly predictable multi-year pattern of Azerbaijani aggression around the Christmas and New Year holidays. We have called upon our State Department and OSCE Minsk Group partners to immediately, forcefully and explicitly condemn Baku’s reckless belligerence,” said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA

At least three Armenian servicemen— Senior Lieutenant Shavarsh Melikyan and Privates Edgar Narayan and Erik Abovyan—were killed and several others were injured in an unprovoked Azerbaijani attack on the northeastern section of the border between the Armenia and Azerbaijan on Dec. 29.

Hamparian went on criticize the OSCE leadership for “artificial evenhandedness” and ineffectiveness. “It is painfully clear, as we close out the deadliest year since the 1994 Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabagh/NKR) ceasefire, that weak and ineffective OSCE leadership—characterized by a stubbornly artificial evenhandedness and an equally dogged determination to never call out Azerbaijan for aggression that it has long since stopped trying to conceal—has only emboldened Aliyev. With the advent of 2017, we look to our government and the international community to break with this record of failure and forcefully check Baku’s aggression,” said Hamparian.

The ANCA also called on the public to urge U.S. policymakers President Barack Obama, as well as U.S. Senators and Representatives to take action through their #StopAliyev campaign.

“Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, following a predictable multi-year pattern of launching new attacks over the Christmas and New Year holidays, has targeted Armenians soldiers and civilians in the Tavush region of Armenia. This assault, the most deadly since Baku’s April offensive, killed at least three Armenian service members and wounded several more. With a few clicks, you can send an ANCA webmail calling on U.S. policymakers President Obama, your Senators and Representative and the OSCE international Karabakh negotiators calling on them to take immediate action to stop Aliyev’s attacks,” read the appeal.