Iskajyan And Tatevossian: Transparency Is A Two-Way Street In Tight New Hampshire Senate Race

By Gev Iskajyan and Michael Tatevossian, NH Journal

New Hampshire’s U.S. Senate race is shaping up to be one of the closest contests in the country, with recent polling showing former Sen. John E. Sununu and Rep. Chris Pappas locked in a close race.

As the race tightens, one question is gaining traction among the state’s estimated 3,500 to 4,000 Armenian American voters: what should they make of the Sununu family’s ties to Anglo Asian Mining?

The stakes behind that question are not abstract. The company operates mines in territories seized by Azerbaijan during its military campaign against the Indigenous Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh (also known as Artsakh). In September 2023, more than 100,000 Armenians — nearly the entire population of roughly 120,000 —fled as Azerbaijani tanks and soldiers moved in, ending a centuries-old Christian presence in the region. International observers documented a humanitarian catastrophe as families abandoned their homes, churches, schools, and businesses under threat of renewed military assault.

The world watched as an ancient Christian community disappeared almost overnight — enabled, in large part, by the Biden administration’s choice to look the other way and appease Azerbaijan and its allies in Turkey.

Anglo Asian Mining has secured mining rights to territory previously held by Armenians, including the Kashen copper mine — which the company calls Demirli — in Nagorno-Karabakh’s Martakert region, from which Armenians were displaced in 2023. Azerbaijan transferred that contract area to the company under a July 2022 agreement.

With thousands, not millions, of voters deciding the winner, Granite Staters deserve transparency about the candidates seeking to represent them in Washington. That includes understanding where they stand on hot-button issues, but also whether their personal or family interests intersect with some of the world’s most troubling human rights abuses.

According to public filings, former White House chief of staff John H. Sununu, the father of Senate candidate John E. Sununu, holds a substantial ownership stake in Anglo Asian Mining, having been on the board since 2005, while John E.’s brother, Michael Sununu, has served on the company’s board of directors since 2020.

The candidate’s own financial ties run deeper than his family’s. In a financial disclosure report filed May 11, obtained by Politico, Sununu reported a personal stake in Sununu Holdings LLC, a New Hampshire-based investment company that is the second-largest shareholder of Anglo Asian Mining.

The disclosure also lists Sununu’s personal holding of Anglo Asian Mining stock as worth up to $5 million. His campaign has downplayed the significance of that stake, with spokesperson Mike Schrimpf saying Sununu “has no operational role in the business whatsoever.”

John E. Sununu has made holding opponent Pappas accountable a central theme of his campaign, accusing the congressman of lacking transparency and refusing to take clear positions on difficult issues.

Transparency isn’t a one-way street, and Granite Staters deserve straightforward answers about the Sununu family’s ties to a company whose fortunes have risen alongside Azerbaijan’s conquest of Armenian lands and displacement of Christians.

Pappas, for his part, has consistently supported humanitarian assistance for displaced Armenians, enforcement of Section 907 restrictions on military aid to Azerbaijan, accountability for those responsible for war crimes, and a stronger U.S.-Armenia partnership. Voters may agree or disagree with those positions, but they know where he stands. They deserve the same clarity from John E. Sununu.

Sununu should address these issues openly and explain his vision for America’s role in the South Caucasus. He should also explain whether he believes it is appropriate to profit from mining operations enabled by the forced displacement of Christians.

For decades, Washington has treated Turkey and Azerbaijan as strategic partners while too often overlooking the consequences of their actions on neighboring nations like Armenia. Successive administrations of both parties have placed geopolitical convenience ahead of democratic values, allowing Ankara and Baku to act with increasing confidence that there would be few meaningful consequences.

The 120th Congress should not repeat those mistakes. It should lead the effort to hold Azerbaijan accountable, protect Armenia’s sovereignty, and ensure that American foreign policy once again reflects our values as well as our interests.

That is why this Senate race matters. New Hampshire voters deserve to know whether their new senator will help lead a new bipartisan consensus that stands with persecuted Christian communities worldwide, or whether the status quo will continue.

America has long championed religious liberty, national sovereignty, and the right of Indigenous peoples to live in peace. Those principles should not disappear when the victims happen to be Armenians.

Gev Iskajyan is the National Grassroots Director for the Armenian National Committee of America. Michael Tatevossian is the Programs Director for the Armenian National Committee of America. They wrote this for NHJournal.com.

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.