Action for Artsakh: A Pledge for Real Change

Many Armenians right now are anxious, upset, and angry about what is happening in Artsakh. I am one of those people. I’ve seen chat groups where people are talking about committing violence here in California, but that is not the way out of this.

The most immediately helpful thing that Adam Schiff, and all of the ineffective members of the congressional Armenian caucus can do is to author a resolution for brief, targeted US military intervention to prevent ethnic cleansing.

There is precedent. We did it 25 years ago in Kosovo, and it could provide immediate relief in Artsakh.

Longer term, though, Armenians need to see that they got themselves in this mess by supporting a con-man like Adam Schiff. All of the letters that he wrote; those are “thoughts and prayers” that distracted Armenians while he voted over a decade to increase foreign aid to Turkey by sevenfold. No amount of economic sanctions will stop Azerbaijan unless you address their major sources of power.

First: Turkey needs to be expelled from NATO. They are no longer a strategic ally, and they do not reflect the values of other NATO members. They are a back door of weapons even if we turn off direct military aid to Azerbaijan.

Second: Europe is buying a third of its oil and gas imports from Baku now that Ukraine is off limits, and no amount of US sanctions will put a dent in their income unless the United States stops prolonging the unrest in Ukraine.

It’s time that we had an Armenian in the congressional Armenian caucus. My pledge to Armenians is to expel Turkey from NATO and to end US support for the Ukrainian war that is allowing Azerbaijan to profit and have the upper hand. Then and only then can you force them all to come to the table seriously for a peace agreement.

That is my pledge to you.

Alex Balekian, MD.