(Scypre.com) – Representative Chris Smith, a Republican from New Jersey, has penned a letter to the Biden administration, urging them to condemn the ongoing genocide against Armenians in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Additionally, he called on the administration to make it clear that the United States will not compromise with Azerbaijan in this conflict.
In his letter to President Biden, Smith cited urgent and compelling testimony presented during a session of the bipartisan Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, which he co-chairs. The testimony came from Luis Moreno Ocampo, the former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, who asserted that there is a reasonable basis to believe that Azerbaijan’s blockade of the Lachin Corridor constitutes genocide. Ocampo further stated that Azerbaijan’s President, Ilham Aliyev, knowingly created conditions aimed at destroying the lives of 120,000 Armenians residing in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Smith’s letter expressed concern about recent remarks by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who emphasized the need for dialogue and compromise between the conflicting parties. Smith argued that encouraging compromise might inadvertently facilitate Azerbaijan’s use of genocide as a negotiating tactic, emphasizing the gravity of this humanitarian crisis.
Smith emphasized President Aliyev’s authoritarian rule over Azerbaijan and his history of human rights abuses, which include mistreatment and imprisonment of Azerbaijani human rights activists and the abusive treatment of Armenian Christians. Smith stressed that while negotiations might be necessary to resolve the differences between Azerbaijan and the Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, genocide should never be ignored or used as a bargaining tool.
Nagorno-Karabakh, originally within Azerbaijan’s borders, fell under the control of ethnic Armenian forces supported by the Armenian military following a separatist conflict in 1994. In 2020, Azerbaijan regained control of the surrounding territory in a six-week war with Armenia, facilitated by a Russia-brokered armistice. This armistice left the region’s capital, Stepanakert, connected to Armenia only by the Lachin Corridor, where Russian peacekeeping forces were deployed to ensure free movement.
However, over the past nine months, Azerbaijani forces have blockaded the Lachin Corridor, claiming it is to prevent arms smuggling. This blockade has caused severe shortages of food, medicine, and other essentials in the region, according to Armenia. Azerbaijan contends that it has allowed the Red Cross to evacuate people to Armenia for medical treatment and insists that there is no shortage of basic food staples, although they have not permitted food and supplies into the area for some time.
Smith called upon the Biden administration to address this critical situation urgently, stressing the responsibility they bear. He insisted that the blockade must be lifted to allow people to continue living in their ancestral homeland without fear of violence and threats.
In response, the White House referred to a statement from the State Department dated August 31, expressing deep concern about the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Nagorno-Karabakh due to the ongoing blockade of essential goods.
The statement called for the immediate reopening of the Lachin Corridor to humanitarian, commercial, and passenger traffic and urged representatives from Baku and Stepanakert to convene without delay to find ways to transport critical provisions to the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, emphasizing that humanitarian assistance should never be held hostage to political disagreements.