Sacramento, Calif. – The California Armenian Legislative Caucus is publicly condemning Azerbaijan’s aggressive attack against the peaceful Republic of Artsakh (also known as Nagorno-Karabakh).
On September 27, 2020 Azerbaijan launched an unprovoked attack on Artsakh by shelling innocent civilian populations throughout Stepanakert, the capital city of Artsakh, and surrounding areas. Azerbaijan has a long-standing history of constant human rights violations (presently Azerbaijan ranks 160th in the Press Freedom Index) and targeting innocent Armenians in Artsakh. Turkey has played an active role in supporting Azerbaijani’s aggression toward Artsakh by providing arms and even transporting paid Jihadist mercenaries to Azerbaijan to fight from Libya and the Turkish Syrian border.
Turkey has had a long history of violence against the Armenian people and this violence is a continuation of the hatred and atrocious crimes that Turkey committed against the Armenian people during the genocide over 100 years ago. Nearly 1,500 individuals including both civilians and military personnel have been killed in 5 days and the situation is escalating at a rapid pace.
This conflict stretches beyond Artsakh and into the Armenian community in California as several hate crimes against the Armenian diaspora community were perpetrated in the last few weeks. The Krouzian-Zekarian-Vasbouragan Armenian School in San Francisco was vandalized with graffiti that conveyed anti-Armenian messages specifically emanating from Turkish terrorist organizations. The school was later riddled with bullets from a drive by shooting. In addition, the St. Gregory Armenian Apostolic Church fell victim to an arson attack. These attacks need to be stopped.
As members of the California Armenian Legislative Caucus, Assemblymember Laura Friedman, Assemblymember Adrin Nazarian, Senator Anthony Portantino, and Senator Scott Wilk are calling on federal elected officials and the international community at large to support Artsakh and the Armenians being affected by the Azeri and Turkish aggression. The California Armenian Legislative Caucus asks that you join them in condemning the attacks, ask for a ceasefire, support a lasting peace, and begin defunding military support to Azerbaijan and Turkey. Join the effort by going to: http://anca.org/alert and https://armenian-assembly.org/ and sharing this press release.
It is important now, more than ever to support the Armenians in Artsakh and help spread the message that we will not tolerate the Azerbaijani and Turkish aggression against innocent civilians in Artsakh. The United States and the international community at large cannot continue to ignore these crimes against the Armenian people.
