Artsakh President Bako Sahakian Meets with Members of Congress at the US Capitol

WASHINGTON, DC — Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Bako Sahakian visited the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday where he was welcomed by members Congress

Sahakian met with a group of members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, discussed issues related to the Nagorno-Karabakh-U.S. relations, the settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict and issues related to regional processes. A reception devoted to the 30th anniversary of the 1988 Karabakh movement was organized at the Congress.

In his speech Sahakian highlighted the importance of the meetings organized by the supreme legislative body of the United States, noting that they also “enhance the degree of our responsibility in the course of carrying out hard and painstaking work, further deepening and developing bilateral relations.”

“I am optimistic – it will be definitely so, for we consider the United States to be a friendly country, a state which has become a second homeland for millions of Armenians. I am optimistic because we have here devoted, sincere and honest friends, who have been standing by Karabakh for many years, supporting our people, providing objective information about our country worldwide. We highly assess our friendly ties, considering them to be a precious asset,” stressed the Karabakh leader in his speech, as quoted by his press office.

Sahakian added that Karabakh “greatly acknowledges the support rendered by the American people” and emphasized “the special role that the House of Representatives, the Senate, our congressman and senator friends have in this process.”

The Karabakh leader also stressed Washington’s “considerable contribution to maintaining peace and stability in our region, to the peaceful and fair settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict.”

“Cementing and deepening ties with the United States have always been and will remain among the fundamental directions of our foreign policy,” Sahakian underscored.

During the reception, Sahakian handed Nagorno-Karabakh state awards to a group of U.S. congressmen and senators for supporting Karabakh and for their tangible contribution to the development of Karabakh-USA relations. The recipients included Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) and Ranking Democrat Eliot Engel (D-NY), and Representatives David Cicilline, Jim Costa, Brad Sherman, Adam Schiff, and David Valadao.