Leader of Maine’s Armenian Cultural Association Calls for Resignation of Director of State’s Office of New Americans, Cites Divisive Rhetoric

The president of the Armenian Cultural Association of Maine on Thursday sent a letter to Gov. Janet Mills calling for the resignation of Tarlan Ahmadov, the recently appointed director of the Maine Office of New Americans (ONA).

Ahmadov, who was appointed by Gov. Janet Mills as ONA director in December 2024, already began facing calls for his resignation earlier this week after The Maine Wire revealed his history of making anti-Armenian comments on social media, including now-deleted posts on X referring to Armenians living in the U.S. as occupants and aggressors, and suggesting that celebrity Kim Kardashian is a terrorist for making a donation to an Armenian organization.

“I am writing to express my grave concerns regarding the appointment of Mr. Tarlan Ahmadov as the Director of the Maine Office of New Americans (ONA),” wrote Armenian Cultural Association of Maine President Gerard Kiladjian in his Thursday letter to Gov. Mills.

“As an Armenian resident of Maine and the leader of the Armenian Cultural Association of Maine, I find it deeply troubling that someone with a documented history of anti-Armenian rhetoric and advocacy against an immigrant community is serving in a position meant to foster inclusion and diversity,” Kiladjian wrote.

“Mr. Ahmadov’s public statements and actions reveal a clear pattern of bias and hostility toward Armenians,” he continued. “His social media posts have included inflammatory statements labeling Armenia as an ‘occupant and aggressor’ and mocking the Armenian diaspora.”

Kiladjian said that Ahmadov’s rhetoric “not only inappropriate but directly contradicts the ONA’s mission to support and uplift all immigrant communities in Maine.”

Apart from Ahmadov’s social media posts, Kiladjian stated that Ahmadov has “actively worked to suppress Armenian voices and perspectives,” claiming that in December 2023, Ahmadov sent a letter to the leadership of the University of Southern Maine “deliberately interfering” with an academic panel discussion organized by the Armenian Cultural Association of Maine.

“The event featured distinguished speakers, including a respected professor, to discuss the humanitarian crisis affecting 120,000 forcibly displaced Armenians,” Kiladjian wrote.

“In his letter, Mr. Ahmadov falsely claimed the event was biased and misleading, demanding changes to its format and title while raising concerns about its impact on Azerbaijani and Turkish students,” he wrote. “[Ahmadov’s] interference was an attempt to suppress an open academic discussion, preventing the Armenian community from sharing its experiences and perspectives.”

In his letter to Mills, Kiladjian also referenced a trip to Azerbaijan facilitated by Ahmadov last summer that brought several Maine lawmakers, including Rep. Deqa Dhalac, sponsor of the bill to create the ONA, State Sen. Jill Duson (D-Cumberland) and Rep. Mana Abdi (D-Lewiston) on a tour of territory Azerbaijan had militarily seized in a recent conflict.

According to Rep. Dhalac’s 2024 personal financial disclosure with the Maine Ethics Commission, the trip to Azerbaijan was a “cultural exchange trip” paid for as a gift by the “fund to support Azerbaijan diaspora.” Sen. Duson’s disclosure similarly lists the junket but describes the payor as “Fund for Support Azerbaijani Diaspora.”

Ekhlas Ahmed, who was hired as a policy analyst in the ONA under Ahmadov, was also present on the May 2024 trip to Azerbaijan.

Also present on the trip: Abdullahi Ali, a Somali-American refugee who has received prominent coverage in Maine’s newspapers for his work via Gateway Community Services, a migrant services firm that has received millions in taxpayer dollars, and at which Dhalac was an assistant executive director. At the time of the trip, Ali was also raising money to support his failed bid for the presidency of Jubbaland in southern Somalia.

“Ahmadov personally facilitated and participated in a fully paid trip for several Maine legislators to Azerbaijan, where he acted as a government agent, arranging meetings with Azerbaijani officials,” Kiladjian wrote. “The trip included a visit to Nagorno-Karabakh—just months after the ethnic cleansing of its Armenian population.”

“Photographs from the trip show Mr. Ahmadov and the legislators attending celebratory events on the land where Armenians were recently forced from their homes,” he wrote.
“This blatant insensitivity and disregard for Armenian suffering further disqualifies him from holding a leadership position that is meant to represent and support all immigrant communities.”

“The Armenians of Maine wish all people well and strongly support the mission of the Maine Office of New Americans. It is our sincere hope that all our fellow immigrants, including Azeris, are allowed to participate fully in Maine’s public services,” Kiladjian stated. “However, we firmly believe Mr. Ahmadov’s long track record of anti-Armenian activism, his unrelenting service to a demonstrably genocidal regime, and his efforts to censor and interfere with our community render him unsuitable for any role in the field of Maine immigration services.”

Kiladjian urged Gov. Mills and Hannah Pingree, director of the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future (GOPIF) which oversees ONA, to reconsider Ahmadov’s appointment and to “seek a leader who truly represents Maine’s values as a welcoming state for all its residents.”

Armenian Cultural Association of Maine President Gerard Kiladjian’s full letter to Gov. Janet Mills can be read below: