Bob Menendez: “I rise to speak about a horrific set of events that are taking place in a part of the world that we could do something…”

“I rise to speak about a horrific set of events that are taking place in a part of the world that we could do something about. In this photo, this dead man's body is completely emaciated. The skin, tight over his bones, barely covers his skeleton. Bruises and scars stretch across his chest. This is not a victim at the side of the road during the Ottoman Turks' Armenian genocide. It is not a holocaust survivor lying on the ground as allies liberated Buchenwald. It is not a human carcass left in the wake of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia or the Hutu in Rwanda or Serbian forces in Bosnia. It is from the Human Rights Defender's Office in Nagorno-Karabakh, and it is from August--only weeks ago. Because, right now, as the Presiding Officer sits here on the dais and I stand here in the Chamber, the Aliyev government in Azerbaijan is carrying out a campaign of heinous atrocities that bear the hallmarks of genocide against the Armenians in Artsakh. They have purposely and viciously trapped an estimated 100,000 to 120,000 Christian Armenians in the Karabakh Mountains. There is only one road out connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia for people, food, medicine, and basic supplies. And the Azerbaijanis have blocked it since December of last year. Now, despite some reports yesterday, no aid has moved.…”