Aram Hamparian outlines key priorities for Armenian Americans after Armenian religious leaders meet with Trump

Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), issued a statement on the occasion of the meeting between Armenian religious leaders and US President Donald Trump.

“Meetings such as this with Armenian spiritual leaders hold special meaning for the Armenian faithful – clergy and laity from across America who remain today deeply alarmed by the Pashinyan government’s caesaropapist attacks on the legacy of apostolic succession, the ecclesiastical autonomy, and the spiritual sovereignty of the Armenian Church.

However, such gatherings are, of course, no substitute for substantive dialogue at the presidential level with our community’s long-established civic institutions – representing Armenian American voters – regarding core Armenian American foreign policy priorities – among them:

• The lack of US leadership to return Artsakh refugees, secure the release of Armenian hostages, force the withdrawal of Azerbaijani occupiers, and protect Christian holy sites.

• The Administration’s green-lighting of US arms/aid to Azerbaijan (waiver of Section 907), and failure to sanction Azerbaijani war criminals.

• The President’s retreat from US recognition of Armenian Genocide – a crime officially recognized by the White House, both houses of Congress, all 50 states, and more than a dozen NATO allies.

• On a more recent note – the State Department’s refusal to recall US diplomat Amy Carlon for dancing in ethnically cleansed Shushi – celebrating Azerbaijan’s genocide of its indigenous Armenian population.

It should be noted that the meeting in the Oval Office at the White House took place at the initiative of the Armenian embassy in the US. Participants included Paula White-Cain, head of the Faith Office, and its director, Jennifer S. Korn; Narek Mkrtchyan, Ambassador of Armenia; and the primates of the Western and Eastern Dioceses of the Armenian Apostolic Church in the US — Archbishops Anoushavan and Mikael, among others. In their talks with Trump, they discussed relations between the two countries, the peace process in Armenia and the American leader’s role in it, and prayed for the republic’s future.