CNN
—
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Saturday that she is leading a congressional delegation to Armenia this weekend, which her office says makes her the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the country since its independence in 1991.
The trip is intended to underscore “the strong commitment of the United States to a peaceful, prosperous and democratic Armenia and a stable and secure region of the Caucasus,” the California Democrat said in a statement on Saturday.
Joining Pelosi are Democratic lawmakers, she mentioned on Twitter as “proud and longtime champions of Armenia”: Representatives Frank Pallone of New Jersey and Jackie Speier of California, co-chairs of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues; and caucus member Rep. Anna Eshoo of California. Both Speier and Eshoo are of Armenian descent.
The visit follows deadly clashes earlier this week along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border. The two former Soviet states have been fighting over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh for decades. This week’s violence has raised fears the two nations are on the verge of reigniting their conflict, but a senior Armenian official said late Wednesday that a truce had been agreed with Azerbaijan.
President Joe Biden last year became the first US president to officially recognize the massacre of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire during World War I as genocide.
The United States House and Senate in 2019 approved a resolution that would “commemorate the Armenian Genocide through official recognition and remembrance” of “the killing of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire of 1915 to 1923”.
Turkey maintained that the killings did not constitute genocide, saying it was wartime and there were casualties on both sides. Turkey also disputes the death toll, approaching the figure of 300,000.
“It is the moral duty of all to never forget: an obligation that has taken on added urgency as atrocities are being perpetrated around the world, including by Russia against Ukraine,” Pelosi said in his statement. Saturday.
She also added that the Congress delegation will meet with leaders of the Armenian government in the national capital, Yerevan, including Alen Simonyan, Speaker of the Armenian National Assembly, as well as members of the security establishment and members of the civil society, according to Pelosi.
Pelosi and members of the delegation are scheduled to hold a press conference on Sunday afternoon local time following a bilateral meeting with Simonyan, his office said. Pelosi is also expected to deliver a speech at the Cafesjian Center for the Arts to “reaffirm America’s strong support for the Armenian people and their security and democracy,” according to his office.
Earlier in the week, Pelosi attended a summit of parliamentary speakers from G7 countries in Germany, where she spoke on Friday about Russia’s “continuing and unified response” to the war on Ukraine.
She recently made another high-profile overseas trip, visiting Taiwan in August to show support for the self-governing island – a move that has hugely angered Beijing and added strain to US-China relations.
In response to Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, China announced sanctions against the speaker and her immediate family, suspended cooperation with the United States on several issues including climate change talks, and conducted several military exercises. around the island.
China’s ruling Chinese Communist Party considers Taiwan to be part of the country’s territory, although it has never controlled it, and has long vowed to ‘reunite’ the island with the Chinese mainland, by force if necessary.
