Trump Administration ‘looking to end assistance’ to Armenia, Artsakh - ANCA

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) says it has received "troubling reports" that despite US House passage of the Cox Amendment to continue US aid to Artsakh in 2020, “the Administration is looking to end assistance for this life-saving program in just a few months.”

As part of its Fiscal Year 2020 Budget, the Department of State had earlier approved the assistance for Arsakh proposed by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

The first bill proposing aid to foreign countries was first included into the Congress agenda thanks to Democrat Congressman Brad Sherman (back in 1998). The 1999 financial aid package was initiated by TJ Cox, a Democratic Congress member.  

The ANCA has launched a campaign, asking the Armenians in the country to contact their representatives in the respective states to urge them  to cosign the Congressional letter led by the two congressmen.

According to Suren Sargsyan, Director of the Armenian Center for American Studies, the Administration intends to cut down the amount of aid envisaged for demining activities in Nagorno-Karabakh. Describing the move as a serious political message, the analyst urges US-Armenian friends to join the campaign to avert “heavy political aftermaths”. “This will set a political and legal precedent whose consequences are understandable to us all,” he says in a post on Facebook, noting that the United States is the only world country providing direct assistance to Karabakh “notwithstanding the non-recognition of the Armenian Genocide" on an official level.