US Lawmakers Appeal for Obama to Stop Military Aid to Azerbaijan

The US Congress Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Executive Director Aram Hamparian stated that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev doesn’t need US military aid, he doesn’t deserve US military aid, and he shouldn’t get US military aid.

YEREVAN (Sputnik) – The US Congress Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) and the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues called on President Barack Obama to "zero-out" US military assistance to Azerbaijan after the latest escalation in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

"Stated simply: [Azerbaijani President] Ilham Aliyev doesn’t need U.S. military aid, he doesn’t deserve U.S. military aid, and he shouldn’t get U.S. military aid," ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian said in a statement issued Thursday.

The NGO welcomed the condemnation of violence by caucus co-chairs, Republican Illinois Representative Robert Dold and Democrat New Jersey Representative Frank Pallone, Jr.

"We request that you condemn Azerbaijan’s aggression, suspend U.S. military aid to Azerbaijan, provide emergency relief aid to Nagorno Karabakh, and send a State Department fact-finding mission to both evaluate the destruction inflicted by Azerbaijan’s aggression and assess the humanitarian relief and reconstruction needs of Nagorno Karabakh’s affected civilian population," the caucus wrote in a letter to Obama.

Up to 2 million Armenians are estimated to reside in the United States, a second most populous Armenian diaspora in the world. ANCA bills itself as the largest and most influential Armenian American grassroots organization with representations in Europe, Australia, Armenia and the de facto independent Nagorno Karabakh Republic.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict began in 1988, when the autonomous region sought to secede from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. The region proclaimed independence when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

The latest violence intensified on April 2, leading to multiple casualties before Armenia and Azerbaijan reached a shaky ceasefire deal three days later that has since been regularly violated.