09.26.2023

Peters in Armenia as refugees flee breakaway region under Azerbaijan’s control

By: Melissa Nann Burke

Washington - Michigan U.S. Sen. Gary Peters is calling for additional humanitarian aid while on an official visit to Armenia days after a military offensive in the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh brought the disputed area back under Azerbaijani control.

The mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh region is home to an estimated 100,000 ethnic Armenians, thousands of whom are now fleeing as refugees after Armenia warned of ethnic cleansing, according to news reports.

"The situation in Nagorno-Karabakh is dire," Peters tweeted Friday, adding that he "stands with the Armenian people." "The Aliyev regime must allow international observers inside now so the world can see exactly what is happening."

Peters on Monday was set to meet with Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and members of the National Assembly, as well as people who have been displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh, according to his office. He also met with U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Kristina Kvien, Syunik Gov. Robert Ghukasyan, and representatives of the EU Mission in Armenia (EUMA).

Peters' office said he also went to the Armenia-Azerbaijan border during his visit to view the blockade of the Lachin corridor that has caused a humanitarian crisis for Armenians living in the region who are cut off from food, water and fuel. The corridor, about three miles wide, has been Armenia's only remaining territorial tie to Nagorno-Karabakh after Armenia's last military conflict with Azerbaijan in November 2020.

"I am certainly very concerned about what's happening in Nagorno-Karabakh right now, I think there needs to be some visibility," Peters told reporters on the border, according to Reuters.

Peters planned the congressional delegation to Armenia given the importance of this issue to Michigan’s Armenian-American community, his office said. An estimated 500,000 people in the United States are of Armenian descent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and about 15,000 make their home in Michigan — among the largest Armenian communities in the U.S., with many concentrated in Oakland County.

Armenia has had a long-running conflict Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region in the South Caucasus. The area has been controlled by ethnic Armenians for about 30 years.

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke Saturday with Prime Minister Pashinyan and reaffirmed U.S. support for Armenia's sovereignty and territorial integrity and expressed "deep concern" for the ethnic Armenian population in Nagorno-Karabakh.

"He underscored the United States is calling on Azerbaijan to protect civilians and uphold its obligations to respect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the residents of Nagorno-Karabakh and to ensure its forces comply with international humanitarian law," the State Department said in a readout of the conversation.

Peters gave a speech on the Senate floor last week condemning Azerbaijani's violence toward Armenia, saying the Azerbaijani government "has made it clear their goal is to erase the historic presence of Armenians in this region."

"We cannot ignore the violence and we must stand with the citizens of Nagorno Karabakh. This conflict systematically targets the Armenian people," Peters said.

"It's cruel, it's calculated, and it's inhumane ? further demonstrating that the Armenian people are facing an existential threat. Experts from the International Criminal Court say there's reason to believe it amounts to an act of genocide."

Peters has introduced bipartisan legislation in response to the military offensive by Azerbaijan that would give humanitarian assistance to Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh and would block additional U.S. security assistance from going to the Azerbaijani government.

Under President Joe Biden, the United States in 2021 for the first time formally recognized as genocide the systematic killing and deportation of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century. An estimated 2 million Armenians were deported and 1.5 million were killed in the events known as Metz Yeghern.