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ANCA Rapid Responder Letter to Senate and House Members:
Dear Senator / Representative:
I am writing – during the 30th anniversary of Azerbaijan’s Baku Pogrom of its ethnic Armenian population – to ask you to speak on the U.S. House floor in support the right of the people of Artsakh to live in peace, security, and freedom – safe from Azerbaijani abuse and aggression.
As you know, the citizens of Artsakh – who inspired and led one of the first pro-democracy protests against the Soviet Empire – petitioned peacefully in the late 1980s against their arbitrary and immoral separation from Armenia by Joseph Stalin and his fellow Communist leaders in Moscow. Azerbaijan, rather than welcoming this move toward self-determination, responded with violent attacks against Armenian civilians across Azerbaijan, starting with the Sumgait pogroms in February of 1988. Further pogroms – as part of a systemic effort to ethnically cleanse Azerbaijan of Armenians – took place in Kirovabad (November 1988), and Baku (January 1990), followed by an all-out, but failed, war of aggression by Baku to subjugate the free people of Artsakh.
In the past, Members of Congress have made statements each January/February to mark this brutal chapter in Artsakh’s historic struggle for independence, a pro-democracy drive credited by many with sparking the eventual downfall of the Soviet Union. This year, we are asking you to please consider speaking about the broader context of how Azerbaijan’s aggression highlights the clear moral and political imperative for the citizens of Artsakh to live in peace and freedom, far from the grasp of the Azerbaijani military and security services.
We hope you can speak on the floor or submit a statement on these issues. If you should have any questions on this topic, please contact the Armenian National Committee of America at (202) 775-1918.
Thank you for your consideration of my concerns.