Biden’s ‘lax’ stance has Christian group begging Congress to step in

A Christian advocacy group submitted a letter to the U.S. Congress this week urging motion to help Armenians nonetheless lower off within the Nagorno-Karabakh area.

“Washington’s lax strategy has solely emboldened Azerbaijan, who since December has been holding 120,000 Armenian Christians hostage in an try to extract concessions from Armenia within the long-delayed, oft-promised talks to normalize relations,” Robert Nicholson, president and CEO of Philos Undertaking, wrote within the letter. 

“It is finished nothing to alleviate stress on the beleaguered individuals of Artsakh.”

The Philos Undertaking submitted the letter to the Home International Affairs Committee (HFAC) Friday, addressing Chairman Mike McCaul, R-Texas, and rating member Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y. 

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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, heart, speaks throughout the bilateral peace negotiation closing session with Armenian International Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and Azerbaijan International Minister Jeyhun Bayramov on the George Shultz Nationwide International Affairs Coaching Middle in Arlington, Va., Might 4, 2023.  (Celal Gunes/Anadolu Company through Getty Photographs)

Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought two wars up to now 30 years over Nagorno-Karabakh, internationally acknowledged as a part of Azerbaijan however house to a big Armenian inhabitants within the Caucasus Mountains. Tensions have spiraled between the 2 ex-Soviet neighbors over the blockade of the one street giving direct entry to Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenia.

The Philos Project made an appeal, alongside Armenian-People and different advocacy teams, on to Biden for motion to assist the stranded Armenians, however the administration has offered solely a “muted response,” the group mentioned. 

An Armenian lady prays in a church in Yerevan on October 17, 2020, for Armenians killed throughout preventing over the breakaway area of Nagorno-Karabakh. – Baku and Yerevan have for many years been locked in a simmering battle over Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnically Armenian area of Azerbaijan which broke away from Baku in a Nineteen Nineties conflict that claimed the lives of some 30,000 individuals.
The Caucasus neighbours have defied worldwide calls to halt hostilities and accused the opposite of beginning new clashes that started September 27 and have seen the heaviest preventing since a 1994 truce.  (Picture by KAREN MINASYAN/AFP through Getty Photographs))

“As an alternative of appearing decisively in response to a transparent disaster, one which many see because the unfolding of a second Armenian Genocide, the U.S. authorities has, by all appearances, handled the state of affairs as enterprise as typical,” Nicholson wrote. “The President has been markedly silent, failing to acknowledge the present disaster even when issuing an anniversary message on the Armenian Genocide of 1915.”

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and President of the European Council Charles Michel arrive to a gathering in Brussels, Belgium, Might 14, 2023.  (Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Company through Getty Photographs)

Nicholson famous that following his earlier letter to President Biden, the State Division changed the senior adviser for Caucasus negotiations, which created “an unlucky setback.” 

One of many longstanding considerations surrounding the battle is Turkey’s involvement, seen to again the Azeri place. The day earlier than the talks occurred with Blinken, Turkey closed its airspace to Armenian plane in a perceived response to a monument, a transfer the Philos Undertaking argued “may simply be seen as an try to additional stress the Armenian facet and maximize Azeri leverage.” 

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Russian International Minister Sergey Lavrov, Azerbaijani International Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and Armenian International Minister Ararat Mirzoyan attend a gathering held in Moscow Might 19, 2023. (Russian Ministry of International Affairs/Anadolu Company through Getty Photographs)

A ceasefire brokered in 2020 by Russia between Armenia and Azerbaijan following a very violent conflict left Armenia weak to the political ambitions of longtime adversary (and U.S. ally) Turkey, which now seeks to make use of Armenia as land entry to commerce with Azerbaijan. That entry additionally supplies Turkey a stronger foothold within the Caucuses, bordering Iran and just a bit south of Russia. 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier this month hosted the overseas ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan for face-to-face talks, and Blinken claimed the ministers made “tangible progress.” The secretary claimed a deal between the 2 nations to finish the blockade was “nearby, inside attain,” however Nicholson mentioned that no announcement materialized. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin, proper, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan pose for a photograph throughout their assembly on the sideline of the Japanese Financial Discussion board in Vladivostok, Russia, Sept. 7, 2022. (Valery Sharifulin/TASS Information Company Host Pool Picture through AP)

“The dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh has challenged administrations of each events, however the Biden crew is dealing with it with the distinctive indifference and slowness with which they’ve addressed different overseas coverage disasters,” Morgan Ortagus, founding father of Polaris Nationwide Safety and a former State Division spokesperson. 

“Their actions over the previous 5 months present their apathy in direction of non secular liberty and their elementary misunderstanding of leverage.”  

Nicholson urged the HFAC to assist “reassert” American management by bringing speedy aid to the residents of Artsakh and not “flip a blind eye as purported companions and allies try to barter with one other accomplice by means of violent or coercive means.” 

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A U.S. congressional delegation led by Speaker of the U.S. Home Nancy Pelosi arrives in Yerevan for her first go to to Armenia Sept. 17, 2022.  (U.S. Embassy in Armenia)

“Negotiations towards peace made underneath these circumstances are sure to foster resentments that can be their undoing in the long term,” Nicholson argued. “America can do higher.” 

In response to a Fox Information Digital request for touch upon the blockade earlier this yr, the Azerbaijan Embassy within the U.S. despatched a “reality sheet” addressing “baseless claims on ‘closure’ of Lachin road and ‘humanitarian disaster’ confronted by ethnic Armenians” within the area. 

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“As repeatedly said by Azerbaijan, no restrictions have been utilized to motion on the Lachin street for humanitarian functions,” a press release from the embassy mentioned. “Nonetheless, the Armenian facet and the unlawful regime created by it within the territories of Azerbaijan stop the motion of native residents with a view to abuse the state of affairs.”

In response to a Fox Information Digital request for remark, the State Division pointed to Blinken’s comments made following the Might 4 negotiations. McCaul didn’t reply by time of publication.