In 2024, Valley Armenians deserve more, deserve better

By Marshall Moushigian
The Sun

Recognition of the Armenian Genocide is essential to some semblance of justice, but the safety and stability of Armenia, including Artsakh, must be front and center, writes Marshall Moushigian for Sun View.

Armenians rejoiced in 2021 when President Biden recognized the Armenian Genocide.

For decades, Armenians and their supporters pushed for White House recognition. Sadly, every President after Ronald Reagan failed to recognized it, succumbing to State Department meddling, influenced by Turkish and Israeli lobbies, and others who profit by keeping the record crooked. Biden’s proclamation, however, was not in response to any moral or historical obligation, but rather from sheer exhaustion.

With one Administration after the other being hounded to say “genocide”, Biden’s position was essentially, “You want me to say ‘genocide’? Fine: genocide. Now leave me alone. Everybody knows it happened. I really don’t care and, frankly, I never did. You Armenians are on your own.”

This callous indifference was evident during the Biden-Harris Administration.

For ten months in 2023, Azerbaijan blockaded the Christian Armenian enclave of Artsakh – no food, no medicine, no supplies. Biden and Harris knew what was happening and did nothing but issue empty assessments and even emptier warnings to Azerbaijan to refrain from ethnic cleanings.

With no repercussions from the Administration, Azeri dictator Ilham Aliyev took that silence as the green light it was intended to be. By November 2023 no Armenian remained on land where they had lived and worshipped for nearly two millennia.

Turkey and Azerbaijan made clear their goal of eliminating Armenia, and the Armenian race. The Armenian Genocide, begun in 1915 by Turkey, was put on hold by the Soviets for seventy years. Independence came in 1991 and Azerbaijan, Turkey’s flunky satellite state brimming with oil and oil money, is finishing the job.

That job necessarily included retaking Artsakh from the Armenians by force, which it did at the end of 2020. A stalemate ensued after the ceasefire and with no help from Biden or Harris, Armenian advocacy groups beckoned legislators sympathetic to Armenian causes.

Yet, after platitudes aplenty, Azerbaijan is still receiving offensive weapons from Israel, and Armenia’s existence is facing a growing threat. The Azeris have already bulldozed numerous churches in Artsakh; there are Azeri troops on Armenian soil.

Recognition is essential to some semblance of Genocide justice, but the safety and stability of Armenia, including Artsakh, must be front and center. Nobody did Armenia any favors by saying “genocide”; in exchange for that word, Armenia stands alone against an axis of evil many would rather ignore – Turkey, Azerbaijan and Israel.

Given how much support and guidance the Armenian community has directed to Congressional Armenian Caucus members, the Armenian community should be fed up with the current efforts of those legislators and, more disconcertingly, their results. For far too long Valley Armenians have been told Congress will help, primarily with Genocide or Artsakh issues. Armenians have gotten nothing, yet legislators get their votes.

As much as the strong conservative values of David Valadao and Tom McClintock are appreciated, more is expected. Both of these men have been in public service too long to have not done more than simply co-sponsor legislation or post pro-Armenian statements to social media. Neither of their Congressional websites, absent a deep dive, mention any Armenian issues. Membership in the Caucus is nice, but results are nicer.

In September 2022 then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi traveled to Armenia. It had been nearly two years since Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a ceasefire ending a war which claimed thousands of Armenian servicemember and civilian lives and bludgeoned the Armenian psyche. Pelosi’s presence was intended to stave off any further misery to the Armenians at the hands of the bloodthirsty Azeris. Whether the signal to Aliyev that the US would stand by Armenia was missed by him, or whether any signal was sent at all, the beginning of the end of Artsakh began four months later with the blockade.

Pelosi’s visit caught enough people’s attention such that when she returned, she and the entire Armenian Caucus, including Tom McClintock, David Valadao and Jim Costa, should have been in the Oval Office, with Biden and Harris, demanding immediate action to protect what was left of Armenia. Being the first race to accept Christianity and being victim of a genocide that never ended should have put Armenia in a special class to be protected, with the same level of passion and funding that have been showered on Israel over the decades and Ukraine over the years.

But when it comes to being in public service too long, Costa stands out. His Congressional website biography says he works with “each Congress to pass a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide and is a strong supporter of Israel as a vital partner of the United States”. Placing the Armenian Genocide and US-Israeli relations in the same self-congratulatory sentence is preposterous and shows just how out of touch he is with Armenian issues. Israel provides the weapons for a genocide Costa condemns.

Ten years after the first of $7 billion worth of suicide drones and cluster bombs arrived in Azerbaijan from Israel’s Ovda air base, Armenia not only lost Artsakh but now stands poised to be invaded by Azerbaijan (which refers to Armenia as “Western Azerbaijan”), with the goal of extermination, i.e. genocide. One wonders how sore Costa’s finger is, constantly being hoisted into the blowing wind.

It’s probably quite sore because Adam Schiff, who represents a sizable Armenian population, just introduced legislation that Costa co-sponsored. It was introduced one week before Congress recessed, and even if it was enacted, it did nothing except make Armenians feel good that their representatives are doing something.

Introducing legislation (something Costa has yet to do) does not meet the Armenians’ definition of “doing something”. Armenia faces an existential threat from Azerbaijan, from its Turkish patron, and from its Israeli arms supplier. The ultimate “something” to be done is passage of a comprehensive set of measures helping to ensure a safe, secure, and prosperous Christian Armenia peacefully and respectfully co-existing with its nearby Muslim neighbors and not-too-nearby Jewish neighbor.

When this happens, we can all rejoice.

Marshall Moushigian is an attorney and financial adviser in Fresno.