Trump’s inaction harmed democratic Armenia in recent war
Communities across America took a collective sigh of relief as Joe Biden became president-elect. After four years of Donald Trump’s foreign policy of incoherent isolationism, a renewed sense of hope and optimism was ushered in by his defeat. Biden now has the opportunity to significantly redefine America’s foreign policy and restore our position on the world stage.
Trump’s “America First” policy impacted the political climate for Muslims. Many of my friends stopped wearing their hijabs to avoid being profiled or targeted.
It also had a direct impact on the immigration process for Muslim applicants, including my aunt in Tehran who was forced to restart her entire citizenship process. Under Trump, my Azeri-Turkish father and Persian mother feared the worst and hoped for the best. I was so moved that instead of departing for the Peace Corps as planned in 2017, I relocated to Washington, D.C. to advocate on American Muslim issues in the federal government.
Trump’s reprehensible lack of action on a war in the Caucasus has had a profound impact. My connection to the Armenian community started when I joined the UCLA Armenian Students’ Association. I marched with my friends every April 24 to recognize the Armenian Genocide, and I protested Azerbaijan’s bombing of Armenia in 2016.
Then in 2019, I finally got to serve my country as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Republic of Armenia, the only country I applied to. My host family took me in as one of their own and I was fully immersed in the Armenian culture.
In the Peace Corps, I worked at a women-led nonprofit, teaching English and professional skills to high school students. I came to know Armenians as an immensely proud, hardworking people who desire a more prosperous nation and whose peaceful aspirations were frequently undercut by the belligerence of neighboring countries.
Still it was a surprise when on Sept. 27, Azerbaijan and Turkey waged war on Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh. The Azerbaijani military bombed Vardenis, a mere 30 minutes from my former Peace Corps site. After 44 days of fierce fighting, Armenia was forced into a “peace agreement” by Russia and Turkey, ceding ancestral Armenian land to Azerbaijan and displacing tens of thousands of Armenians.
An oil-rich dictatorship supported by a NATO power defeated the only thriving democracy in the Caucasus. Azerbaijan feels emboldened and plans to erase Armenian heritage from their ancestral lands. For Armenians, this is an existential struggle all too reminiscent of the well-documented Armenian Genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turkey just a century ago.
Trump and his State Department had every opportunity to end the war. He could have prevented the deaths of thousands with a single phone call to Turkish President Erdogan. Instead, after condescendingly calling Armenians “good businesspeople” at a campaign rally, he bragged that he “had it under control,” and that solving this crisis “would be easy.”
Biden offers a different vision for a more measured, coherent foreign policy. Unlike Trump, Biden will not put his personal or financial interests before our country’s. In a meeting with The New York Times, Biden presented a more forceful means of holding Turkey’s president accountable.
Freedom House’s democracy ranking puts Azerbaijan 147th and Turkey 110th out of 165 countries. Americans have experienced a horrific streak of Trump’s authoritarianism. Biden is starkly aware of this and won’t kowtow to ruthless dictators.
Four years of destructive isolationism has made America less safe. It’s also had a devastating impact on a small democracy like Armenia. The current “peace agreement” was missing a critical player: the United States. Our absence is squarely on Donald Trump’s shoulders. The agreement should be renegotiated under Biden to secure a long-term peace that recognizes the Republic of Artsakh and its right to self-determination.
I say this as someone with Azeri-Turkish and Persian roots and a strong connection to the Armenian people. But most of all, I say this as a proud American.