Kenneth Hachikian sends letter to Hillary Clinton
Kenneth Hachikian, chairman of Armenian National Committee of America, sent a letter on June 4 to U.S. Secretary of State Hillarry R Clinton calling upon her to clearly, publicly and unequivocally condemn Azerbaijan's attack into Tavush region. The letter reads:
Dear Secretary Clinton I am writing today, only hours after an Azerbaijani cross-border attack into the Tavush region of Armenia killed three Armenian soldiers, to call upon you to clearly, publicly and unequivocally condemn this aggression, and, more broadly, to stake out a strong American stand against Baku’s open threats and escalating acts of belligerence against both Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.
Azerbaijan’s aggression, on the very day of your arrival in the Caucasus, represents, in addition, of course, to a painful human tragedy for those young men who were killed and injured, a brazen attack upon the prospects for a fair and lasting peace in this region.
It is long past time that the Obama Administration abandon its practice of artificial equivalence - a failed policy whose only response to Azerbaijani aggression and threats of renewed war has been to issue generically-formulated and transparently toothless calls on all parties to refrain from violence.
It is in this spirit that we call upon you to forcefully criticize Azerbaijan’s aggression during your upcoming visit with President Ilham Aliyev in Baku. We ask, as well, that you give substance to our nation’s condemnation of Baku’s march toward war by suspending all proposed, pending, or future sales or transfers to Azerbaijan of military equipment and dual-use items (including the proposed sale of advanced helicopter-based surveillance equipment - DDTC 12-002). We also request that the Administration immediately enforce Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act, and decline to waive this provision of law until Azerbaijan has stopped its threats of war, ceased all acts of aggression, and demonstrated a commitment to a lasting peace with Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh through solely non-violent means.
Please accept our thanks for your urgent attention to Azerbaijan’s act of aggression and the potential it holds for even greater violence and regional instability. We remain ready to work with you on this matter, and on all the many issues of special concern to Armenian Americans, and invite you, once again, to meet with the collective leadership of our community to discuss these matters in greater detail.