ANCA advocates bring community message to Capitol Hill

PanARMENIAN.Net - The first day of the Armenian National Committee of America’s (ANCA) grassroots advocacy Fly-In campaign concluded on Tuesday, March 15 with a standing-room-only Capitol Hill program featuring Congressional speeches, inspiring remarks by Armenia’s Ambassador and Nagorno-Karabagh’s Permanent Representative, and a moving keynote address by the director of Stepanakert’s Lady Cox Rehabilitation Center—a regional clinic in urgent need of U.S. support.

House Intelligence Committee Ranking Democrat Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Armenian American Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), and Representatives Judy Chu (D-Calif.) and Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) were among House Members offering powerful remarks regarding ongoing grassroots efforts to support peace, prosperity and justice.

Armenian Ambassador to the U.S. Grigor Hovhannissian and Artsakh’s Permanent Representative to the U.S. Robert Avetisyan shared the Armenian nation’s efforts to foster regional peace and stressed the vital role of expanded ties with the United States. Offering impromptu remarks was Montebello, Calif. Mayor Jack Hadjinian, who shared his city’s efforts to assist Artsakh through a special sister-city relationship with its capital, Stepanakert. In his keynote remarks, Lady Cox Rehabilitation Center Director Vardan Tadevosyan discussed the life-changing work of the internationally renowned program which helps more than 1,000 adults and children with disabilities annually.

Tadevosyan traveled to Washington D.C. to join with ANCA advocates from throughout the U.S. who are participating in two full days of meetings with Congressional leaders on a host of community concerns, with special focus on expanded U.S. aid to Artsakh and Armenia; the implementation of Royce-Engel proposals for Artsakh peace; passage of the Armenian Genocide Truth and Justice Resolution (H.Res.154); and support for a State Department determination of genocide in describing the ISIL / Da’esh attacks against Christians, Yezidis and other minorities in the Middle East. A resolution, H.Con.Res. 75, led by Jeff Fortenberry (R-Nev.) and Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) condemning the genocide was adopted unanimously on March 14. Secretary of State Kerry’s statement on the issue is expected later this week.