ANCA Gives Trump-Pence Administration Failing Grade on Armenia and Artsakh

WASHINGTON, DC – With the November 5th presidential election less than three months away, the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) has reaffirmed the Trump-Pence Administration’s failing grade for aiding, abetting, and emboldening Azerbaijan’s 2020 assault on the indigenous Armenians of Artsakh, for refusing to recognize the Armenian Genocide and then actively blocking Congressional remembrance of this crime, and for taking no meaningful steps to hold Azerbaijan accountable for war crimes perpetrated during the course of its 44-day Artsakh War – including the illegal detention and torture of Armenian prisoners of war, the deliberate targeting of civilian populations, and the destruction of Armenian cultural heritage. The ANCA statement is below.

ANCA Statement on the Trump-Pence Administration’s Failure to Address Azerbaijan’s Genocidal Assault on Artsakh, Emboldenment of Erdogan’s Authoritarian Regime, and Refusal to Recognize the Armenian Genocide

Following Donald J. Trump’s nomination as the Republican Party’s presidential nominee, the ANCA reiterates its profound disappointment with the Trump-Pence Administration’s reckless appeasement of Azerbaijan – which enabled the Aliyev regime’s genocidal assault on Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) in 2020, and established a precedent of impunity in the face of Azerbaijan’s widely documented war crimes.

Following the example of successive administrations, the Trump-Pence Administration waived Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act in all four years of its term – lifting restrictions on U.S. assistance to Azerbaijan due to its blockades of Armenia and Artsakh, as established by the 1992 law.  Then, in the face of Azerbaijan’s escalating aggression against the indigenous Armenian population of Artsakh since the 4-day-war in 2016, the Trump-Pence Administration broke with the established precedent of parity in U.S. military aid to Armenia and Azerbaijan and dramatically ramped up U.S. military assistance to Baku – allocating over $120 million – in the absence of Congressional oversight, emboldening the Aliyev regime’s aggression, which culminated in the September 2020 assault on Artsakh.

During the course of the 44-day war, the Trump-Pence Administration failed to take meaningful action to halt Azerbaijan’s unprovoked aggression, even amid widely documented war crimes including the summary execution of civilians, the use of prohibited weapons including cluster munitions against civilian populations, the arbitrary detention and torture of Armenian prisoners of war, and the destruction of Artsakh’s ancient Christian heritage. While the Trump-Pence Administration eventually sought to broker a ceasefire, absent any material consequences for its aggression, Azerbaijan violated the agreement within hours – which was met with silence by the Administration.

In the wake of Azerbaijan’s genocidal assault on Artsakh – which resulted in forced displacement of over 50,000 civilians and the ethnic cleansing of 70% of the region’s territory – the Trump-Pence Administration took no action to hold Azerbaijan accountable for war crimes and human rights abuses. The impunity Azerbaijan was granted for its brazen assault on Artsakh’s Armenians only further encouraged the regime’s aggression – including its military incursions into Armenia in May 2021 and September 2022, culminating in the blockade and ethnic cleansing of Artsakh in September 2023.

Furthermore, the Trump-Pence Administration took the unconscionable position of opposing USAID’s longstanding support for humanitarian de-mining and unexploded ordinance (UXO) safety programs operated by the HALO Trust in Artsakh – endangering the lives and livelihood of tens of thousands of civilians impacted by Azerbaijan’s deployment of landmines during and since the first Artsakh war in the 1990s.

In addition to the failure to hold Azerbaijan accountable for its genocidal aggression – the Trump-Pence Administration’s public embrace of Turkish President Recep Erdogan provided the unreliable NATO ally with a blank check amid its destabilizing actions across the region. During the 2020 Artsakh War, Turkey provided military and intelligence support for Azerbaijan’s genocidal campaign – including the deployment of NATO F-16s in Azerbaijan, in violation of end-use agreements. Furthermore, Turkey violated U.S. arms export law by deploying dual-use U.S. technology in drones transferred to Azerbaijan to target Armenian civilian populations and infrastructure. The Trump-Pence Administration also turned a blind eye to Turkey’s recruitment of foreign mercenaries – including those with links to ISIS and other known terrorist organizations in Syria and Libya – that were deployed in Azerbaijan during the 44-day war.

Additionally, the Trump-Pence Administration greenlit Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria in 2019 –enabling Turkey’s ethnic cleansing of Kurdish populations, undermining efforts undertaken by Washington’s Kurdish allies to combat ISIS, and gravely endangering the vulnerable Armenian community in Syria. Amid the further destabilization of Syria, the Trump-Pence Administration opposed Armenia’s humanitarian deployment of medical personnel and de-miners to Aleppo, where they saved the lives of Armenians and other Syrian civilians endangered as a result of the Administration’s reckless foreign policy.

Just as it turned a blind eye to Turkey’s aggression in the region, the Trump-Pence Administration similarly granted the Erdogan regime impunity for directing an attack on peaceful U.S. protesters in Washington, DC by the Turkish president’s bodyguards during a 2017 state visit. Despite broad, bipartisan condemnation of this brazen assault on free speech and the rule of law by a foreign dictatorship, the Trump-Pence Administration not only failed to criticize this assault but went on to drop charges against the perpetrators. The impunity Turkey was afforded for its crimes at Sheridan Circle was part of a pattern of Trump-Pence Administration failures to crack down on Turkey’s malign foreign influence in the United States. The Administration’s first National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, failed to register as a foreign agent for Turkey’s government, for which he received lucrative compensation while serving as the Trump-Pence campaign’s national security advisor. Flynn published an op/ed praising President Erdogan on Election Day in 2016 – suggesting the incoming Administration was well aware of Flynn’s relationship with Erdogan’s authoritarian regime.

The Trump-Pence Administration’s tolerance of Turkey’s undue influence in the U.S. political system was clearly demonstrated in its refusal to properly commemorate the Armenian Genocide in all four of its annual April 24th messages – enforcing Ankara’s gag-rule against honest American remembrance of the Armenian Genocide, even after the U.S. House (405-11) and Senate (100-0) officially recognized this crime. President Trump enlisted Senators Lindsay Graham (R-SC), David Perdue (R-GA), and Kevin Cramer (R-ND) in its ultimately unsuccessful attempts to block the passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution by the U.S. Senate.

The Trump-Pence Administration’s decision to aid Azerbaijan’s genocidal assault on Artsakh in 2020, and its inaction in the face of Azerbaijan’s war crimes, will weigh heavily on the minds of Armenian American voters this November – including in the key swing states of Nevada, Michigan and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, each home to significant Armenian American communities. In light of Donald J. Trump’s nomination, and the ascension of Senator JD Vance as the vice presidential nominee, Armenian American voters expect the Trump-Vance campaign to condemn Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing of Artsakh, and endorse 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 protections. Additionally, as a sitting U.S. Senator, the ANCA urges JD Vance to demonstrate his commitment to holding Azerbaijan accountable for human rights abuses by co-sponsoring S.Res.540 – which would require the Department of State to conduct a formal investigation into Azerbaijan’s human rights abuses pursuant to Section 502B(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act.

A just, durable, and dignified peace in the South Caucasus is only possible through accountability. The failure to redress Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing of Artsakh, secure the release of illegally detained Armenian prisoners, and ensure an internationally guaranteed right of return for Artsakh’s Armenians will not only encourage Azerbaijan’s genocidal aspirations – but send a dangerous signal to other abusive regimes that the United States is only prepared to defend the principles of human rights, democracy, and international law when geopolitically convenient.