Davit Ishkanyan
BY SARIG ARMENIAN
Three years ago, when it was my honor to host a live one-on-one online public interview with Davit Ishkhanyan, discussing the recent events in Artsakh, neither of us would have believed that just six months later, he would be taken hostage.
As I logged into our interview, before we went live, I felt the weight of the moment. Davit — a member of the ARF Bureau, a member of the Artsakh Parliament, a former military commander, a teacher, a husband, father, and grandfather — carries himself with calm authority that anchors any room he enters. Our conversation was warm, reflective, even hopeful. Yet beneath it lingered an unspoken awareness of the dangers surrounding Artsakh— the sword of Damocles hanging over its people. When we ended the broadcast, I remember silently praying for his safety — and the survival of Artsakh itself.
Today, Davit Ishkhanyan is unlawfully imprisoned in Baku, one of many Armenian political leaders who were detained following Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing and the forced displacement of Artsakh’s Armenian population.
I first met Davit in the 1990s. I was a young community activist who had traveled to Armenia to participate in a service project working with children from Armenia and Artsakh. After completing the program, I decided to take a detour to visit Artsakh for the first time. It was life-changing to bear witness to the fierce determination of Artsakh’s people and the reality of self-determination, as the only path to survival.
In the village of Ashan, I was introduced to him simply as Davit—a teacher. Not a commander or political figure, but a man devoted to his students in a fledgling Artsakh Republic. Through his quiet strength and steady care for his community, Artsakh came into focus for me—not as a geopolitical abstraction, but as a small Armenian nation he felt bound to guide and protect.
Davit’s presence was deliberate, his words measured, his gaze piercing yet deeply humane. Through him, I began to understand that nation-building is not forged in slogans or speeches, but in classrooms and village gatherings. It is built by teachers, by community organizers, by individuals who choose responsibility over comfort and service over self-interest. The early years of the Artsakh Republic carried real hope. Armenians around the world recognized that the movement was inseparable from our broader statehood and that it demanded sacrifice. We believed self-determination—enshrined in international law—was not a privilege bestowed by power, but an inherent right claimed and defended by a people.
Today, that principle is being tested.
From Ukraine to Iran, there is an unraveling of global norms where international law is increasingly substituted by power politics. The continued detention of Davit Ishkhanyan and other Armenian political figures in Baku is not merely a regional dispute, but a dangerous trend. It is hostage diplomacy — the use of detained officials as leverage in broader geopolitical negotiations. Their imprisonment does not stem from a legitimate legal process. Rather, it reflects an Azerbaijani authoritarian system in which kangaroo courts function as instruments of political persecution and geopolitical coercion.
This holds true especially in the context of a weakened government in Yerevan, making it easier for Azerbaijan to disregard international norms and to continue its aggression in the aftermath of ethnic cleansing. This is not about justice; it’s about power and political leverage to advance the continued genocidal agenda against the Armenian nation.
For the international community, this is a defining moment. When elected officials and civic leaders are detained and prosecuted in Azerbaijan’s kangaroo courts, silence sends a message. It signals that coercion works. It weakens the credibility of global human rights standards and the principle that political disputes must not be settled through the imprisonment of innocent leaders.
But for me, this is also deeply personal.
Davit is not an abstract “detainee.” He is the man whose quiet conviction deepens our understanding of service, responsibility, and national dignity. I think about my last conversation with Davit often. His composure and unwavering belief in the enduring right of Artsakh’s self-determination. There was no bitterness in his voice. Only dignity and resolve. That dignity now demands action.
Davit Ishkhanyan and the other Armenian political prisoners must be released — immediately and unequivocally. As global leaders increasingly acknowledge the growing rupture in the rules-based international order, a concern raised repeatedly in forums from Davos to the United Nations— the detention of Armenian leaders in Baku represents a test of whether that order still carries meaning. Either human rights principles compel their freedom, or the principles are exposed as selective slogans. Diplomatic engagement with Azerbaijan cannot ignore these imprisonments as incidental.
Yet advocacy cannot rest solely with institutions or an abstract international community. These men are our brothers, and the global Armenian nation must ensure their names and their cause remain present in our collective conscience.
If Davit taught us anything, it is that the viability of the Armenian nation is our collective responsibility. He chose service over comfort. Principle over convenience. Courage over silence. We owe these Armenian leaders who are held hostage — more than sympathy and prayers. We owe them our voices and our vigilance.
It is our duty to speak their names at our community gatherings. To remember them in our homes. Be their voice in every conversation, with every public official. Refuse to let them fade into footnotes or be reduced to political bargaining chips.
As for Davit, let us follow his example. Together, let us choose responsibility and service over silence. Until Davit Ishkhanyan and all the Armenian political prisoners return to their families, our work is not finished.
Sarig Armenian is an attorney, writer, and community outreach strategist based in Los Angeles, California. Having served in both the legislative and judicial branches of the U.S. government, she is actively involved in legal and community-based efforts focused on justice, accountability, and the protection of Armenian rights. She is also a board member of the Armenian Legal Center for Justice and Human Rights.
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