The Central Council of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun presented a summary of the work of the commissions and offices.
On November 29-December 3, a conference of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun Armenian National Committees’s offices was convened in Yerevan, Goris and Stepanakert, which was attended by about 50 representatives of more than 20 Armenian National Committees.
The agenda of the conference referred to all spheres of the work of the Armenian National Committees and offices, from the directions of achieving a pro-Armenian solution to the Artsakh issue in the current situation to international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, reparations, counteraction to Turkey-Azerbaijan anti-Armenian activities, etc. The works of the previous period and the upcoming activities were discussed. Tactical adjustments were made as needed.
On December 6, the Central Office of the Armenian Cause issued a statement on the work of the conference.
2021 In November 2012, the ARF Bureau Central Office of the Armenian Cause published the 2020 results of the Armenian National Committees’s offices. A yearbook summarizing the work. That series will be continuous, in 2022 ․ In the first quarter, it is planned to publish the Armenian Cause 2021 ․ the yearbook summarizing the works.
United States of America
Raffi Hamparian, Chairman of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), wrote a letter to US President Joe Biden urging him to condemn Azerbaijan’s aggression, suspend US military aid to Baku, and impose sanctions on President Ilham Aliyev and other high-ranking members of his regime. General policy review.
As a criterion for reviewing American policy, Hamparian noted:
1) Withdraw the presidential restrictions of Resolution 907 on US assistance to Azerbaijan;
2) Provide $ 100 million in direct assistance to more than $ 100 million in ethnic cleansing by Azerbaijan. To support the Armenians of Artsakh,
3) Impose Global Magnitsky sanctions on Azerbaijani leaders for war crimes committed during the 2020 attacks in Artsakh, Armenia;
4) condemn the illegal detention of Armenian prisoners of war by Azerbaijan;
5) Investigate the transfer of Syrian mercenaries by Turkey and the use of illegal weapons against the civilian population of Artsakh and Armenia;
6) Condemn Turkey’s material military assistance to Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing of Artsakh and Azerbaijan’s continued aggression against Armenia;
7) Actively oppose Turkey’s attempts to mislead Armenia, to “normalize” bilateral relations at the expense of Artsakh’s independence or the justice of the Armenian Genocide.
Europe
On December 14, the ARF Dashnaktsutyun’s European Office issued a statement on the current meeting of the European Union և Eastern Partnership Summit և European Council President Charles Michel and Armenia և Azerbaijani Leaders ․
ARF Dashnaktsutyun’s European Office և Its committees in European countries, as representatives of the European Union civil society, call on the President of the European Council ․
- Reaffirm the EU’s support for the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs’ mediation efforts և fundamental principles, including the right of the indigenous Armenian population of Artsakh / Nagorno-Karabakh to self-determination;
- To adopt a clear position on the inadmissibility of the ongoing Azerbaijani provocations towards the sovereignty of the Republic of Armenia;
- Call on the Azerbaijani authorities to immediately withdraw their armed forces from the territory of the Republic of Armenia;
- Call on the Azerbaijani authorities to establish a demilitarized security zone around Armenian settlements, including in Artsakh;
- To state that no process of demarcation or demarcation of Armenia between Azerbaijan and Azerbaijan can be imposed by force, in violation of human rights at the expense of Armenia’s national security, to predetermine the status of Nagorno-Karabakh in the context of Azerbaijani demands;
- Put pressure on the Azerbaijani authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Armenian prisoners of war;
- Emphasize that the ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Armenian population in the Nagorno-Karabakh settlements controlled by the Azerbaijani armed forces as a result of the 2020 war is intolerable;
- To state that the war unleashed by the authoritarian regime of Azerbaijan with the support of Turkey, with the deployment of mercenary terrorists, cannot lead to the establishment of any transport connection with a special status through the territory of the Republic of Armenia at the expense of Armenia’s security and economic interests;
- Put pressure on the Azerbaijani authorities to end the policy of appropriation and / or destruction of Armenian cultural heritage in Nagorno Karabakh;
- To call on the Azerbaijani authorities to stop the policy of anti-Armenianism and war rhetoric.
Greece
The ARF Hay Dat Greece office met with the head of the Thessaloniki Public Transport Organization, to whom he complained about inadmissible, insulting advertisements on public transport. The chairman of the organization undertook to immediately pursue the elimination of the problem, noting that the organization will issue a statement on the results in the coming days. It should be noted that in mid-November, an advertising poster with the image of the Armenian historical city of Shushi was posted on the city buses of Thessaloniki, thanks to the efforts of the Azerbaijanis, which falsified the Armenian affiliation of the city.
A special event dedicated to the International Day of Genocide Victims was held on December 9 in the Parnassos Hall of Athens, organized by the ARF Dashnaktsutyun of Greece and the All-Union Union of Greece.
Whether the event was organized by Armenian-Pontic political units, the commemoration was dedicated to other genocides committed during the 20th century, which left a shameful mark on humanity, especially due to human indifference and impunity for the perpetrators.
The party was attended by the representative of Archbishop Jerome of Athens, Greece, members of the Greek Parliament, university professors, and a public circle who came to commemorate the victims of the genocides.
The agenda of the event included four different reports, which presented in detail the political, historical and international response to each crime.
France
On December 6, on the initiative of the French deputies of the European Parliament and organized by the French National Committee of France, the “Together for the Armenian People” event took place in Paris, which was attended by more than 500 people. One of the keynote speakers was the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia Arman Tatoyan.
As a result of the event, a joint statement was issued, signed by MEPs François Alphonse, François-Xavier Bellamy and Natalie Luazo. They expressed their support to the Armenian people fighting against the Azerbaijani-Turkish aggression.
Cyprus
The Armenian National Committee of Cyprus, taking into account the anniversary of the Artsakh war, the ongoing provocations by Azerbaijan against Armenia, in cooperation with the state representative of the Armenian community Vardges Mahtesyan, as well as the Artsakh Friends Circle, prepared a resolution condemning Azerbaijan.
2021 On December 3, the Cypriot parliament unanimously adopted a resolution condemning Azerbaijan.
Australia:
On November 30, a resolution was debated in the Australian House of Representatives for the first time, directly calling on the government to recognize the genocides of Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks in the Ottoman Empire.
The resolution, introduced by MP Trent Zimmermann, urges the Australian Government to adhere to the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, recognizing the “genocidal genocide of Armenians, Greeks and other Christians by the Ottoman Empire in 1915-1923.”
The House of Representatives of the Australian Parliament has called on the Federal Government to recognize the genocides of Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks.
This is the first legislative success of the Joint Justice Initiative, developed in February 2020 by the Armenian-Australian, Assyrian-Australian-Greek-Australian communities.
“The House of Representatives has spoken. “The largest and most representative House of Representatives in the Australian Parliament has unanimously called on the Australian Government to recognize the genocides of Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks,” said Hayk Kayseryan, Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee of Australia.
Armenian National Committees and offices continue to advocate for the interests of Armenians around the world, using a comprehensive set of lobbying tools. Extensive work is being done to condemn the Azeri-Turkish aggression against Artsakh, to promote the restoration of Artsakh’s territorial integrity, to restore the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, to raise the issue of exchange of prisoners and victims, and to provide objective information to foreign media. Special attention is paid to the internal political discussions, parliamentary hearings on the Karabakh issue in different countries, which often turn into the adoption of specific resolutions.