“Armenian Genocide must be recognized” – 2020 U.S. Presidential Candidate Tulsi Gabbard

Hawaii Congresswoman and 2020 U.S. Presidential Candidate Tulsi Gabbard called for a just resolution of the Armenian Genocide and pledged to promote the security and prosperity of Armenia and Artsakh in a video statement released to the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

“I was so grateful to have the opportunity in 2017 to visit Armenia and Artsakh, where I gained a deeper understanding about both the challenges and the opportunities facing the Armenian people. The Armenian community here in the United States has played a positive and integral role for well over a century, and I am proud to support and stand with this community’s objectives to realize a just resolution of the Armenian Genocide and to promote the security and prosperity of the citizens of Armenia and Artsakh.”

Commenting on the broad range of foreign policy challenges facing the United States today, Rep. Gabbard noted “it’s especially critical that we pursue a foreign policy that rejects this fossilized, zero-sum thinking of ‘you’re either with us or against us. In order for us to win, you must lose.’ Instead, we must pursue a foreign policy that is based on cooperation with other countries, rather than confrontation.”

Rep. Gabbard stated her support for the continued role of the U.S. as a mediator in Artsakh peace talks through the OSCE Minsk Group, then noted, “but this does not mean that we continue a policy of false parity and fail to speak honestly when either party violates the cease-fire. In order to maintain credibility as an impartial broker, the United States should not promote a resolution that’s based on immediate and permanent concessions by Armenia or Artsakh only, in the absence of equivalent concessions by Azerbaijan. And while the principle for respect for territorial integrity must be adhered to, we also must stand for the right to self-determination for all people.”

Rep. Gabbard urged that the “Armenian Genocide must be recognized in order to bring about justice for one of the most egregious crimes against humanity in history.”