SOUTHFIELD, Mich. — The St. John Armenian Church and the Michigan Chapter of the Armenian Assembly of America (AAA) hosted a luncheon meeting and briefing with Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) and members of the Armenian Community.
The members in attendance, as well as Very Rev. Aren Jebejian, pastor of the St. John Armenian Church who attended virtually, extended their appreciation to Peters for standing with the Armenian people during the Artsakh humanitarian crisis, and for his recent fact-finding trip to Armenia.
During the luncheon, which was graciously underwritten by Assembly Michigan Co-Chair John Jamian, Peters spoke about his visit to Armenia, where he had the opportunity to meet with Armenian officials and witnessed for himself Azerbaijan’s blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Peters made clear that he recognizes how critical the situation is on the ground and emphasized that the “US must help ensure that the Armenians from the region receive humanitarian assistance and that the US must stop all military assistance to Azerbaijan.”
Senator Peters advised the attendees that he has introduced the Armenian Protection Act (Senate Bill 3000), which is co-sponsored by a bipartisan group of Senators to repeal the waiver authority to Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act with respect to assistance to Azerbaijan. This legislation would “prevent taxpayer dollars from financing Azerbaijani aggression,” according to the Senator.
A question-and-answer portion of the program followed, with many attendees expressing their thanks to Senator Peters for his leadership in the Senate regarding Armenians displaced from Artsakh, as well as his involvement with the Assembly, where he recently headlined an event honoring former Secretary of the Navy Paul Ignatius.
