Harris also pledged to “continue to support Armenia” when she congratulated the Armenian community in the United States on the South Caucasus country’s Independence Day marked on September 21.
“I remain committed to a lasting peace between Armenia and its neighbors that respects sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity,” she said in a statement publicized by the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) on Tuesday. “The right for Armenians displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh to return safely to their homes is vital to restoring dignity to the Armenian people and stability to the region.”
Harris did not say what she will do in support of that right if she wins next month’s U.S. presidential election.
More than 100,000 Karabakh Armenians, the region’s virtually entire remaining population, fled to Armenia in the space of a week following Azerbaijan’s September 2023 assault condemned by the U.S. and the European Union. Despite that condemnation, the administration of President Joe Biden did not impose sanctions on Baku or Azerbaijani officials.
Visiting Armenia in July, the head of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Samantha Power, said Washington is still looking into the exodus of the Karabakh Armenians to determine whether it was the result of ethnic cleansing.
Azerbaijan denies forcing the Karabakh Armenians to flee their homes and says they can live there under Azerbaijani rule. Karabakh’s leaders and ordinary residents rejected such an option even before the Azerbaijani offensive. Some of those leaders have said after the exodus that only “international guarantees” could convince the refugees to return home.
Armenia’s government, which has accused Baku of carrying out ethnic cleansing in Karabakh, does not seem to be seeking such guarantees. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has repeatedly indicated that the Karabakh issue is closed for his administration.