Trump reacted to a supportive chant from an Armenian American woman as he spoke at an election campaign rally in Nevada on Sunday. “We are working on some things,” he said without elaborating.
“Armenians, they are good people,” Trump went on. “They are great businesspeople too, you know … Where I just left there were some many Armenians with beautiful flags. We’re working on some things.”
“People from Armenia, they have a great spirit for their country. Thank you very much,” he added.
Trump spoke after being greeted in neighboring California by Armenian American supporters who waved Armenian flags and urged the U.S. administration to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh and help stop Turkey’s military support for Azerbaijan.
Trump has still not publicly commented on the hostilities in and around Karabakh that broke out on September 27. But U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has repeatedly called for an end to the fighting.
On Thursday Pompeo also criticized Turkey’s involvement in the conflict. “We now have the Turks, who have stepped in and provided resources to Azerbaijan, increasing the risk, increasing the firepower that’s taking place in this historic fight,” he told broadcaster WSB Atlanta.
“We’re hopeful that the Armenians will be able to defend against what the Azerbaijanis are doing, and that they will all, before that takes place, get the ceasefire right, and then sit down at the table and try and sort through this,” Pompeo said in remarks criticized by Azerbaijan.
The United States, Russia and France have long been leading international efforts to end the Karabakh conflict through the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security Organization in Europe.
Moscow brokered an Armenian-Azerbaijani ceasefire agreement on October 10. Hostilities in the conflict zone have continued since then, however.
Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, Trump’s Democratic rival in the November 3 presidential election, last week expressed deep concern over the “collapse” of the ceasefire and accused the Trump administration of being “largely passive and disengaged.”