Bass, Krekorian urge Biden to act on Nagorno-Karabakh blockade

Los Angeles Metropolis Corridor has no jurisdiction over a long-contested mountainous territory within the South Caucasus, but it surely was nonetheless the topic of consideration from Mayor Karen Bass and Metropolis Council President Paul Krekorian this week.

The disputed area of Nagorno-Karabakh — identified to Armenians as Artsakh — has been the positioning of battle between Armenia and the neighboring nation of Azerbaijan for many years. Positioned inside the borders of Azerbaijan, the territory’s predominantly ethnic Armenian enclave is managed by pro-Armenia separatists.

Tensions flared additional final month with the blockade of the Lachin hall, which hyperlinks Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia and supplies the one provide path to the separatist area.

Crowds from Azerbaijan have blocked the provision route since Dec. 12, in keeping with the Related Press, which additionally reported that Azerbaijan’s U.N. ambassador has denied that the federal government or protesting activists have blocked the highway.

Bass and Krekorian sent a letter to President Biden on Wednesday condemning the blockade as an “unfolding humanitarian disaster” and calling on the U.S. to “clearly reveal its dedication to democracy and international stability by coming to the help of the folks of Artsakh.”

The long-running regional dispute has far-reaching humanitarian and geopolitical implications, but it surely’s additionally politically potent domestically: The Los Angeles space is residence to the biggest focus of Armenians exterior of Armenia, a diaspora with deep roots within the metropolis.

It’s commonplace to see particular person Metropolis Council members releasing statements about developments in Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave lower than half the scale of Los Angeles County and greater than 7,000 miles away.

The Metropolis Council has additionally issued a lot of resolutions on the area in recent times, together with one in 2013 that acknowledged “the unbiased and sovereign Republic of Artsakh” and known as on the worldwide neighborhood to additionally acknowledge the enclave as an unbiased state. (The area has been internationally acknowledged as a part of Azerbaijan since Armenia and Azerbaijan gained independence from the fallen Soviet Union.)

“The Armenian neighborhood has been an lively a part of L.A.’s political construction for many years now,” mentioned Areen Ibranossian, a Los Angeles political marketing consultant and former chief of workers to Krekorian, the council’s first Armenian American president.

Although metropolis politicians have little say in U.S. international coverage, Ibranossian mentioned that native measures like Bass and Krekorian’s letter “create an incentive construction for motion” at greater ranges of presidency.

“Los Angeles is a world metropolis that’s residence to a whole lot of hundreds of members of the Armenian diaspora,” Bass spokesperson Zach Seidl mentioned when requested why she selected to weigh in as mayor of L.A. “This is a matter Mayor Bass has a protracted historical past on, together with the greater than a decade-long span when she served because the top-ranking Democrat on the Home Overseas Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, World Well being, and World Human Rights and through her time serving in Sacramento.”

The letter was launched a day after a number of dozen protesters rallied exterior Getty Home, Bass’ official residence, to construct consciousness of the blockade. Bass had already spoken to Krekorian about signing on to the letter the week earlier than, Seidl mentioned.

“The folks of Los Angeles, whether or not Armenian or not, care about human rights, care about peace and stability, and care concerning the rule of regulation. The scenario in Artsakh proper now’s a menace to all of these issues,” Krekorian mentioned Thursday, describing the area’s inhabitants as dealing with “imminent hunger and potential genocide.”

Bass and Krekorian’s letter makes a lot of concrete calls for for a U.S. response, together with offering “direct U.S. humanitarian help to Artsakh,” insisting that Russian troops within the space get replaced by worldwide peacekeepers and asserting U.S. diplomatic engagement to facilitate negotiations between Azerbaijan and ethnic Armenian leaders within the separatist area.

Salpi Ghazarian, director of the USC Institute of Armenian Research, described the Lachin hall as “a lifeline” to the area.

“While you block this one hall, which is what Azerbaijan has now completed for practically a month, you might be in impact saying no meals can are available, no medical help can are available, nobody can go away for any goal, together with medical, and so that you’re strangling a inhabitants,” Ghazarian mentioned.

The battle over the territory is the longest-running battle in post-Soviet Eurasia, in keeping with the nonpartisan assume tank Worldwide Disaster Group.

Combating reignited in fall 2020, with a six-week conflict that left greater than 6,700 useless and drew worldwide consideration to Nagorno-Karabakh.

The 2020 conflict loomed significantly massive within the Los Angeles space, the place hundreds of Armenian Individuals took to the streets to protest, elected officers gathered in solidarity at Metropolis Corridor and a lot of native Armenian Individuals even uprooted their lives to affix the battle of their residence nation.

Los Angeles County has been residence to a considerable Armenian inhabitants for greater than a century, with international occasions triggering successive waves of migration.

Ghazarian mentioned many Armenians within the Los Angeles space are deeply “linked to Artsakh” via a lot of cultural, collaborative and help packages that assist assist the area.

“The opposite sort of connection is that Armenians in L.A., particularly the immigrants of the final 20 or 30 years, have family members in Armenia who’re additionally on the entrance line,” Ghazarian mentioned. “During the last two or three years, folks have misplaced brothers, sons, uncles, cousins. It’s a extremely direct emotional and familial connection.”