The top House Democrat, after a controversial trip to Taiwan, is reportedly heading to Yerevan
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will join Jackie Speier (a California Democrat) in Armenia to show support for Nikol Pashinyan. Politico first reported the news on Thursday, citing people familiar with this matter. This congressional visit is coming shortly after the 170+ deaths caused by border clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Pelosi is already in Germany, where she is attending the G7 Speakers’ Summit in Berlin in support of “Ukraine’s heroic fight”Russia. Politico says she will fly to Yerevan following the conference with Speier who is Armenian American.
Speier’s office has not commented on the report, while Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff Drew Hammill told Politico they “don’t confirm or deny international travel in advance due to longstanding security protocols.”
Pelosi’s previous foreign trip was to Taipei in early August, undertaken against explicit warnings from Beijing. The incident sparked tensions between China and America over Taiwan’s status.
Armenia accused Azerbaijan of launching drone strikes and artillery across the border on Tuesday morning. In the following firefight, dozens of soldiers from both sides died. Yerevan had sought the help of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization, (CSTO) which Armenia belongs to. Azerbaijan offered its assistance. “humanitarian ceasefire.”
American Armenians living abroad have called for Washington’s support of Yerevan.
“Armenia has not received the kind of attention Ukraine has received, and this will shine a light on a country crossing an international border in violation of international law,” Anthony Barsamian, co-chair of the Armenian Assembly of America, told Politico about Pelosi’s reported visit.
There has been tensions between these two neighbours over the Nagorno Karabakh dispute. Yerevan supports the independent status of the mostly Armenian-populated region since its separation from Azerbaijan at the beginning of 1990.
Azerbaijan and Armenia fought 44 days war against Nagorno Karabah in 2020. This ended with a Russian-brokered ceasefire. In August, Baku demanded “demilitarization”Yerevan accused Yerevan, however, of trying to cut the road that links Nagorno Karabakh and Armenia.
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