ANCA: U.S. policy on Nagorno Karabakh should align with American values
As U.S. Ambassador James Warlick gears up to make a statement on Nagorno Karabakh, Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Executive Director Aram Hamparian underscored the importance of aligning U.S. policy with American values, according to the Facebook page of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).
"The standard against which we measure our State Department's policy on Nagorno Karabakh is, of course, America's core commitment to the universal values of freedom and democracy," said Hamparian. "Since the era in which we won our own independence, Americans have stood proudly on the side of liberty, rejecting foreign rule over free peoples, and defending - for ourselves and all humankind - the enduring principle that governments must derive their just powers from the consent of the governed."
Ambassador Warlick, who serves as Co-Chair of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group, which is mediating status and security issues related to Nagorno Karabakh, is set to issue the U.S. policy statement at 9:00 am EST on May 7th, at a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace roundtable. The statement is timed with the 20th anniversary of the 1994 Nagorno Karabakh ceasefire.
"The Republic of Nagorno Karabakh's independence, like our own, represents the victory of democratic self-determination over foreign tyranny and aggression. We rightfully celebrate and support this great triumph of the human spirit," noted Hamparian. "As Americans, we should never ask others to live with less freedom than we would accept for ourselves."