Highlights of Senator Boxer's Record on Armenian Community
From 1915 to 1923, the Ottoman Empire killed about 1.5 million Armenians and displaced thousands more. Barbara Boxer believes the United States must describe this for what is was – genocide – and stand up for the Armenian people.
- Armenian Genocide: As a member of the House of Representatives, Boxer repeatedly cosponsored resolutions declaring a national day of remembrance of the Armenian Genocide. More recently, she has cosponsored legislation calling on the President to ensure that U.S. foreign policy reflects appropriate understanding of and sensitivity to issues related to human rights, ethnic cleansing, and the Armenian Genocide.
- U.S. Ambassadors to Armenia: In 2006, Boxer opposed the nomination of Richard Hoagland to be U.S. Ambassador to Armenia because he wrote in response to an inquiry from Boxer that the massacre of the Armenians did not constitute genocide. In 2008, Boxer opposed the nomination of Marie Yovanovitch to be Ambassador to Armenia because of Yovanovitch’s failure to call the Armenian Genocide by its rightful name.
- Armenian Victims Insurance Fairness: Unfortunately, survivors and descendants of the Armenian Genocide are still trying to recoup the benefits owed to them from insurance policies issued prior to the Genocide. In 2004, Boxer authored a bill allowing states, like California, to require insurance companies to disclose information about any policy issued in areas controlled by the Ottoman Empire between 1875 and 1923. A number of insurance companies finally agreed to pay the long-overdue benefits.
- Trade with Armenia: In 2003, Senator Boxer was a cosponsor of bipartisan legislation to establish normal trade relations with Armenia. President Bush established permanent normalized trade relations with Armenia in 2005.
- Aid to Azerbaijan: In 2000, Senator Boxer supported legislation to maintain restrictions on U.S. aid to the government of Azerbaijan as long as Azerbaijan refused to lift its economic blockade on Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.
- United Nations Support: In 1991, as a member of the House of Representatives, Senator Boxer traveled to Armenia as part of a human rights fact-finding mission, including meeting with residents of the Nagorno-Karabagh region. Afterwards, she and 64 of her colleagues called on President Bush to support a U.N. force in the region.
- Ottoman and Turkish Studies Department: In 1997, the Government of Turkey tried to endow a chair of Ottoman and Turkish Studies at UCLA. Boxer wrote a letter to the UCLA Chancellor arguing that this was an insult to the Armenian people and that it would stifle academic freedom. UCLA decided against creating the new department.
- Murder of Hrant Dink: In 2007, Boxer cosponsored a resolution condemning the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist and human rights advocate Hrant Dink and urging the people of Turkey to honor his legacy of tolerance.
