Armen Ashotyans Open Letter to the US Ambassador Kristina Quinn from Prison

168.am has published an open letter from political prisoner Armen Ashotyans, which he addressed to the US Ambassador Kristina Quinn while in prison.

“Open letter to the US Ambassador

Your Excellency,

Unfortunately, I have not yet had the honor of meeting you in person, and my current 'residence' is not suitable for inviting a distinguished lady, so I am forced to take a few minutes of your valuable time in this format in response to a series of evaluations you expressed on the Public Television of Armenia, which, even with your personal charm and high diplomatic mastery, could not help but raise a series of questions from the Armenian public seeking honest and straightforward answers.

Regardless of the fact that I and many other citizens are subjected to illegal persecution by the authorities of Armenia, who are worthy of romantic ballads on your part, exclusively for our political activities, the substance of my inquiries will not relate to the real state of democracy in Armenia, which you describe with enviable persistence as a 'bright spot of democracy in the region'. In this sense, allow me to impolitely suggest that Your Excellency find some free time between your opportunities to praise the Pashinyan regime and read the report from your own employer, the US State Department, on the state of human rights in Armenia in 2022 (oh, how I envy you; how many revelations await you during that reading).

My inquiries and reflections will concern exclusively the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and regional developments.

And so.

1. You rightly assert that the conflict has no military solution. Then, why do you rely solely on the situation created in our region due to the bloody war triggered by Azerbaijan in 2020, which flagrantly violated international law and trampled on the principles of the OSCE Minsk Group?

2. The entire collective West, led by the United States, insists that no peace treaty can be concluded in Ukraine that would be imposed and under threat of force. Why has this same approach not been adopted for the Armenian-Azerbaijani framework, where Azerbaijan is openly forcing the Armenian people to accept degrading and unjust capitulation under the threat of force? Furthermore, your country not only does not rule out the embodiment of such predatory coercion on paper, but also actively mediates in that direction.

3. Why is it that in a case you consider aggression, the entire Western toolset is applied in the form of extensive sanctions, while the ongoing, creeping, and persistent aggression of Azerbaijan against the Armenian people not only does not receive an appropriate response but does not hinder the expansion of economic cooperation based on interests with the aggressor country?

4. You express confidence that Azerbaijan can guarantee and implement the 'rights and security of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh'. I have one big request for you. Can you find even one, I repeat, even one document, report, or evaluation in the US diplomatic archives that indicates that fundamental human rights and freedoms are guaranteed and unimpeded in Azerbaijan for its own citizens?

5. As a global vanguard and leader of democracy, why is the US not making efforts to properly and fully protect the 'bright spot of democracy in the region' from a corrupt, authoritarian, anti-democratic aggressor? Can you imagine what a powerful message the US would send to the world if it actively demonstrated that merely being a democracy is sufficient for safe and respected living in one’s own country?

I could continue my list of questions without claiming to receive public answers from you. After all, after exhausting all the diplomatic and rhetorical tricks at your disposal, you could insist that the US approaches to the content of Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations are shaped, including by the evaluations and approaches of Nikol Pashinyan representing Armenia, placing the entire blame of anti-Armenian developments on him as a tolerated prime minister of the Armenian people. But, Madam Ambassador, that trick will not work either, as you publicly and unwaveringly support Pashinyan in executing that destructive policy, as well as turning a blind eye to the disgraceful developments within our country to keep him in power in Yerevan.

Taking this opportunity, I congratulate you on the occasion of the US Independence Day. I hope the smoke from the barbecue organized on the embassy grounds has not prevented you from seeing the whole reality.

Your country was created from the heroic struggles and uncompromising fight of its people, and it is the product of the right to self-determination of that people. The Declaration of Independence of America states that everyone has the right to pursue happiness. Yes, the people of Artsakh also have the right to pursue happiness. My friendly request and appeal is not to join the black deeds that would bring misfortune to them.

With deep respect,
Armen Ashotyans
Vice President of the Republican Party of Armenia
'Nubarashen' Penitentiary
July 5, 2023