Young Activists on Capitol Hill to Advance Peace for Artsakh

ANCA National Board Member Raffi Hamparian, activist Silva Kechichian, ANCA Government Affairs Director Tereza Yerimyan, Congresswoman Dina Titus (D-NV), ANCA-WR Chair Nora Hovspeian, Esq., and ANCA Advisory Board Member Harut Sassounian thank Rep. Titus for her steadfast support for Artsakh.

LOS ANGELES, CA ”“ With a favorable jet stream speeding their way, dozens of Armenian National Committee of America ”“ Western Region (ANCA-WR) leaders and activists arrived in Washington, DC last week for a two-day Capitol Hill advocacy campaign in support of peace and freedom for Artsakh.

The cross country trip by so many ANCA-WR leaders and activists was inspired by the ANCA Fly-In For #NKPEACE initiative, which drew activists from more than a dozen states to the nation’s capital, where they met with the offices of over 30 U.S. Senators and U.S. Representatives, consulted with a broad range of senior foreign policy staff, and attended the annual Congressional event marking Artsakh’s commitment to peace and democracy. The Capitol Hill program, which drew a standing room only crowd, featured powerful remarks by Members of Congress, an address by Armenia’s Ambassador, and a keynote speech by Artsakh’s Foreign Minister Karen Mirzoyan.

The ANCA Fly In For #NKPEACE initiative was organized in the wake of a Congressional letter spearheaded this Fall by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) and Ranking Democrat Eliot Engel (D-NY), and cosigned by over 80 of their House colleagues, outlining three concrete steps to address Azerbaijan’s escalating aggression: Withdrawing snipers, adding observers, and deploying gunfire locator systems. Their letter was addressed to James Warlick, who serves as the U.S. Co-Chair of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group and who was present at the event for Artsakh held on Capitol Hill on December 9, 2015.

“I am so proud of the smart and dedicated team of activists, and especially the youth and student leaders, who joined us on Capitol Hill last week to raise our collective voices ”“ as American citizens ”“ for the rights of the freedom loving people of Artsakh,”