A letter spearheaded by California State Senators Antony Portantino and Scott Wilk, along with State Senate Select Committee members urges the Administration to increase support for the displaced Armenians of Artsakh and demand the release of Artsakh Prisoners illegally held in Azerbaijan, the Armenian Assembly of America informs.
Initiated by Assembly advocates, including LA-based Advocacy Summit scholarship recipients, the letter included seven co-signers and was sent from the Select Committee on California, Armenia, and Artsakh Mutual Trade, Art, and Cultural Exchange to President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Additional urgent requests for the administration included sanctioning Azerbaijan for its genocidal policies, ending U.S. military assistance to Azerbaijan, ensuring the protection of Armenian cultural, heritage, and religious sites in occupied Artsakh, and condemning Azerbaijan for perpetrating ethnic cleansing against the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh.
“Our advocates are grateful to Senator Portantino and his colleagues for calling on the Biden administration to demand the release of Armenian prisoners held in Azerbaijan, sanction the genocidal authoritarian Aliyev regime, and provide humanitarian aid for the Armenians of Artsakh,” said David Ojakian, Western Region Director of the Armenian Assembly of America.
