Armenian Assembly submits testimony to Helsinki Commission Briefing on peace in Artsakh

The Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly) submitted testimony today to the Helsinki Commission Briefing titled, “Averting All-Out War in Nagorno-Karabakh: The Role of the U.S. and OSCE.” The panelists featured were former OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair (1999-2001) Ambassador Carey Cavanaugh, former OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair (2013-2016) Ambassador James B. Warlick, and International Crisis Group’s Europe and Central Asia Program Director Magdalena Grono.

“President Aliyev has plainly not abided by what he and his country agreed and we are grateful that this year the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs in two statements already have begun to identify Azerbaijan as the cause for the loss of innocent lives. The false equivalency that so many observers and actors try to apply to this conflict does not square with effective conflict resolution or American values,” the Assembly stated in its testimony.

During the Commission Briefing, Amb. Warlick stressed the importance of peace in the region, and noted that all the points of the Madrid Principles are interrelated, of which the entire panel agreed there needs to be respect for the principles of self-determination, territorial integrity, and the non-use of force.

“The Assembly also highlighted Azerbaijan’s cease-fire violations along the Line of Contact, which, since 2014, have occurred more than 77,000 times, with over 1.4 million shots fired. Azerbaijan continues to fire at several kindergartens, targeting young children in Armenia’s Tavush region.

“Instead of negotiating in good faith, Azerbaijan’s president has made it clear that he intends to continue to escalate hostilities in order to force concessions,” the Assembly continued. “The breadth and scope of the violations demonstrate a systematic pattern that must be addressed, and that is the reason why the Assembly strongly supports the agreements brokered by the Minsk Group Co-Chairs and reached by the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan to reinforce respect for the 1994 cease fire agreement signed by the governments of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabakh.”