[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 182 (Friday, October 23, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E985]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  RECOGNIZING THE REPUBLIC OF ARTSAKH

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ADAM B. SCHIFF

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 23, 2020

  Mr. SCHIFF. Madam Speaker, I rise because for more than four weeks, 
Azerbaijan and Turkey have been waging war on Artsakh, bombarding 
civilians, churches, and committing possible war crimes. More than 800 
soldiers have been killed repelling Azerbaijan's attacks, and dozens of 
civilians are dead. Estimates are that more than half of the civilian 
population of Artsakh has been displaced, sleeping in cars or open 
fields away from falling bombs, as winter approaches.
  For decades, through the OSCE Minsk Group, the United States has 
supported a peaceful, democratic, and negotiated resolution to the 
dispute surrounding Nagorno Karabakh, or Artsakh. We have persisted in 
this policy even as Azerbaijan launched countless assaults and as their 
leadership frequently threatened war to redraw the line of contact by 
force, and as they rejected monitoring along the line of contact.
  Today, it appears that Azerbaijan and Turkey are determined to make 
good on their threats. With bombs, and drones, and Syrian mercenaries, 
Turkey and Azerbaijan are pushing ahead with a war that has no end in 
sight. The Armenian people are the grandchildren and great-
grandchildren of the genocide perpetrated a century ago by the Ottoman 
Empire, and the words and deeds of Erdogan and Aliyev today call to 
mind the crimes of one hundred years ago.
  We cannot allow history to repeat itself. If Azerbaijan and Turkey 
have determined to wage war, the United States, the Minsk Group, and 
the International Community should make clear that they will not 
succeed in their aims.
  And that if they persist in this violence, we must recognize the 
Republic of Artsakh as an independent nation. Doing so would send the 
strongest possible message that we will not allow border disputes to be 
settled by the indiscriminate and devastating use of force against 
civilian populations.
  Aliyev and Erdogan must be made to understand that if they continue 
with this war, there will be consequences. The United States will not 
stand idly by.

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