In a powerful U.S. House floor speech marking the 18th anniversary of the Azerbaijani massacre of Armenians in Sumgait, Azerbaijan, Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ) on Tuesday called on the U.S. government to "flex its geo-political muscle in order to send a message that ethnically charged genocides, illegal blockades of sovereign nations, and the constant harassment of the Armenian people will not be tolerated," reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA). "We want to thank Congressman Pallone for reminding his colleagues about the Sumgait massacre and explaining how this atrocity sparked the cycle of Azerbaijani and Turkish aggression against Armenians that continues to this day," said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. Congressman Pallone said he wanted to draw the attention of his Congressional colleagues to "the continued Turkish and Azeri aggression against the Armenian people."

Commenting on a series of demonstration organized in Washington, DC and throughout the world by the ANCA and its affiliates, Representative Pallone noted that, "today many Armenians marked the anniversary of the Sumgait Massacre by organizing a march here in Washington from the Embassy of Turkey to the Embassy of Azerbaijan in order highlight the continued Turkish and Azeri aggression toward the Armenian people." The New Jersey Congressman also addressed Azerbaijan's "organized effort to destroy historically sacred Armenian sites," specifically mentioning the "documented video evidencing the systematic destruction of a more than 1000 year-old cemetery and historic carved stone crosses in the southern Nakhichevan region of Djulfa."