Armenians for Biden Event Covers Genocide, Artsakh, Broader Issues with Prominent Officials

In addition to recognizing the Armenian Genocide, which Carpenter said was not only immensely important for rectifying the historical record but also for preventing future ones, Biden would support democracy and the Velvet Revolution in Armenia. He said, “We have this remarkable democratic national awakening in 2018 led by Nikol Pashinyan, which I think the United States under this current administration has completely neglected. We should be supporting this.” He added, “it is as if the State Department is on a different planet. They are not paying attention to this.” A Biden administration, he said, would provide support programs, assistance dollars and technical advisors and work also with the European Union to help Armenian democracy.

A third foreign policy reason for Armenian Americans to support the Biden candidacy, said Carpenter, is that it would support a resolution to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. He observed that the 1994 peace fire was imperfect, allowing sometimes dozens to die annually along the line of contact, while the current administration remains “completely absent.” He asked rhetorically why President Trump, Vice President Pence or Secretary Pompeo were not picking up the phone to tell President Erdogan to stay out of this conflict, and Aliyev as well in no uncertain terms.

Carpenter said that Turkey’s recent international actions in general call for censure for the United States, which has enormous leverage over Turkey if it wants to use it.

He said the US is not invested sufficiently in the mediation efforts of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group, as it has only appointed a mid-level bureaucrat as the US representative unlike the other two co-chair countries of France and Russia. He said that a Biden administration would energize this process and use both positive and negative incentives to move forward.

Diplomatic leverage would be used to press Azerbaijan, which has resisted monitors on the line of contact for at least 13 years. Monitors would allow calling out responsibility for incidents. Snipers also must be called back from both sides, he continued. Only Azerbaijan, he said, opposed both these measures.

Finally, the status quo in Karabakh must be changed, as at present demining has not been accomplished (with the current administration having halted the humanitarian demining program there) and there is a lack of investment and development. The US should also provide assistance for things like clean water and sanitation, as it does for other young democracies.

Carpenter did not, however, state what the final international status of Artsakh should be.

Ambassador Hachigian was the last main speaker, and summarized the case for Armenian Americans voting for Biden, both on general issues such as the economy, climate change and the California fires, healthcare and preschool education, as well as on specifically Armenian related topics. She observed that Biden is not personally beholden to Turkey and Russia, unlike Trump who received 13 million dollars from Turkey and 5 million from Azerbaijan for a failed deal. She said that the Biden administration would put real diplomats in positions to reinvigorate the State Department and that he would care about democracy in Armenia and in general.

Several questions were taken from participants after which Mekenian ended the session and called for all to vote.

The Mirror-Spectator has reached out to Armenians in the Trump campaign and is waiting to hear back.