ArmInfo.The National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh welcomes the resolution submitted by Representatives Anna Eshoo and Chris Smith to the US House of Representatives, which proposes to officially recognize the ethnic cleansing carried out by Azerbaijan in Artsakh, demand that Baku be held accountable for war crimes, and protect the right of the people of Artsakh to a safe and secure return.
As stated in the statement distributed by the Artsakh parliament, the legislators attach importance to the fact that this resolution condemns the illegal blockade of Artsakh by Azerbaijan and the military aggression unleashed in September 2023, and calls on the US President and the relevant federal authorities to take immediate action to ensure the rights of forcibly displaced persons of Artsakh to freely and safely return to their homeland under reliable security guarantees. The authors of the resolution also recommend imposing sanctions on Azerbaijani officials guilty of war crimes, providing humanitarian assistance to Armenia to resolve the humanitarian problems of forcibly displaced people of Artsakh, suspending US military support to Azerbaijan and taking steps to immediately release Armenian prisoners of war illegally held in Azerbaijan, including the military and political leadership of Artsakh, and preserve the Armenian cultural heritage in Artsakh. "We are hopeful that the resolution introduced by the Representatives will be formally adopted by the House of Representatives and that the provisions presented in it will be used in the policy pursued by the US executive branch, contributing to the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the South Caucasus," the statement signed by Gagik Bagunts, Acting Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh, Artsakh Human Rights Defender Gegham Stepanyan, Karen Bekaryan, member of the Commission for the Protection of the Rights of the People of Artsakh, reads.
Notably the bipartisan Eshoo-Smith resolution states that "The Azerbaijani assault on Nagorno-Karabakh last year brought about the destruction of the ethnic Armenian community that has called the region home for centuries. Azerbaijan's actions meet every definition of ethnic cleansing and must be condemned as such". There is also a call for the Biden administration " to vigorously support the Armenians' rights against the ongoing crimes of the Azerbaijani government under its ruthless dictator Ilham Aliyev."
