The Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region (ANCA-WR) challenged Secretary Kerry’s silence on Azerbaijan’s war crimes committed during the April 2-7 attacks on Nagorno-Karabakh, confronting him at the Pacific Council on International Policy where he was offering remarks earlier Tuesday, Asbarez reports.
ANCA Western Region advocates shared their concerns with attendees of the Pacific Council event as well as media sent to cover it, citing that Secretary Kerry, who had met with President Ilham Aliyev just days before his attack on Nagorno-Karabakh last week, has stopped short of clearly and unequivocally condemning Azerbaijan’s escalating aggression. “This diplomatic failure has emboldened an increasingly authoritarian Azerbaijan, effectively encouraging its corrupt President to pursue his march toward war, confident that the international community will not stand in his way,” noted the ANCA-WR statement.
Advocates also called for a “Leahy Law” Investigation into reports of brutal attacks on civilians by Aliyev’s forces, including the execution and mutilation of an elderly couple and the torture and beheading of at least three Armenian soldiers.