“On democracy, I would say that Artsakh has a lot more to teach Azerbaijan, than Azerbaijan has to teach Artsakh”: Horizon Weekly Exclusive Interview with ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian

Horizon Weekly Exclusive Interview with ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian

On April 22, Horizon Weekly Montreal correspondent Aram Shoujounian interviewed Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Executive Director Aram Hamparian via Zoom.

INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS

On Artsakh’s Parliamentary and Presidential elections

“Artsakh is an American story: the victory of a free people over a foreign rule.

We can’t condemn for people to decide their own destiny, when that’s exactly how the United States was born.”

“The right American response will be to endorse that Democracy [in Artsakh]. We are troubled to see the OSCE and others way in with the Azeri talking points. We were disappointed by that and we made that very clear to our Government.”

“It’s not the victory of one party over the other, it’s the victory and triumph of Democracy. I don’t know anyone who can point out to any other People that has stood up and sustain a Democracy under more difficult circumstances, while its being shield, while the major cities like Stepanakert were being rocketed by the Azeri military. Yet the People of Artsakh maintained their democratic values and throughout the war and the reconstruction they have kept the democratic principles despite existential threats. US and its Western allies should not parody Ilham Aliyev’s talking points.”

“The elections in Artsakh were just another example of Artsakh’s progress on the democratic path and it really reinforces the contrast with Azerbaijan which is a hereditary petro-monarchy. On democracy, I would say that Artsakh has a lot more to teach Azerbaijan, than Azerbaijan has to teach Artsakh.”

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“Who they elect, as a leader, is less important for us, than the fact that the People can actually choose: the People of Artsakh has the freedom to choose.”

“Beyond the politics of Left and Right, are the enduring security interests of the Armenian Nation and those transcend any particular leader. These are values that are above politicians and they are national values.”

“Certainly, when Azerbaijan, in the early years of the war, sought to enlist Mujahidins from Afghanistan and from other parts of the world, on a religious basis, they saw an advantage to their cause to discriminate people based on a criterion other than purely political.”

On the HALO trust

“This administration, little more than a year ago, came after this aid program, at the same time they were increasing aid to Azerbaijan, by tens of millions of dollars, for military programs. Now they’re cutting an humanitarian program of a few million dollars a year and their boosting up the Azerbaijani military aid: This clearly looks to us as an Azerbaijani power play. Azerbaijan says they will cooperate on a rage of geopolitical issues, like Iran and others, but in return the U.S. has to kill this aid program: It’s a political dictate from Baku that’s being enforced sadly by the US executive branch. That’s a huge mistake.”

“89 members of the U.S. House of Representatives and 22 U.S. Senators wrote to the Administration saying: ‘No, we need to keep funding for this program’. The Administration is all-in for Baku and the Congress is stepping up on a bilateral basis to keep this program in place.”

‘Preparing the populations for peace’ is an asymmetrical expression: One that’s extremely one-sided. What they’re really saying is ‘we must prepare the Armenian population for peace’ that’s because they [U.S. State Department] are afraid of Baku.