Author: Emil Lazarian

I am angry and ashamed, European Parliament member Nathalie Loiseau said in an interview with France Info radio station, commenting on the ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh.

“We have been warned about this for months. The Armenian people are experiencing the first ethnic cleansing of the 21st century. And as it was in 1915, everyone is looking the other way,” she said.

A total of 100,483 people have been forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh in the past week.

Nearly all ethnic Armenians have fled Nagorno-Karabakh following Azerbaijan’s military occupation. A humanitarian crisis appears to be building with rising numbers of refugees, injuries and arrests.

Nazeli Baghdasaryan, spokesperson for Armenia’s Prime Minister, revealed the number of forcibly displaced persons from Nagorno-Karabakh reached 100,417 as of Saturday morning, about a week after Azerbaijan regained control over the breakaway region following a military offensive, according to Armen Press.

Of the displaced, 32,200 have taken up accommodation offered by the Armenian government. Many others chose to stay with friends or relatives in Armenia.

Many of the 100,000 people are hungry, exhausted and needing immediate assistance, UNHCR representative Kavita Belani said in a statement. “People are tired. This is a situation where they’ve lived under nine months of blockade. When they come in, they’re full of anxiety, they’re scared, they’re frightened and they want answers as to what’s going to happen next.”

UNICEF has noted that 30% of the arrivals are minors, many separated from their families.

Some 405 displaced persons are receiving medical treatment in Armenian hospitals, Armenia News quoted Baghdasaryan as saying. Of these patients, 337 suffered injuries from recent military activities and explosions. Ten children are in intensive care units; five are in serious condition, while one is extremely serious.

Azerbaijani forces arrested and persecuted Armenian citizens, including prominent figure Ruben Vardanyan, former State Minister of Artsakh, according to another report by Armenia News, which said public figures in Armenia were urging the government to protect the rights and interests of Vardanyan and others.

Vardanyan is highly regarded for his contributions to Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia.

At least 200 ethnic Armenians and dozens of Azerbaijani soldiers were killed during Azerbaijan’s military operation, reported the BBC, adding that an explosion at a fuel depot killed at least 170 people, with an additional 105 still missing.

The World Food Programme has set up mobile warehouses and kitchens to aid refugees. The U.N. Population Fund is distributing health kits and dignity kits, including sanitary pads and soap.

Armenian villages near the Karabakh border have turned into makeshift refugee camps, reported the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Refugees arriving are traumatized but also hopeful, IFRC’s Hicham Diab said.

Azerbaijan has offered to reintegrate Nagorno-Karabakh’s residents as equals, a claim that an Armenian spokesman dismissed as a “lie,” as per the BBC.

The region is recognized internationally as part of Muslim-majority Azerbaijan even though it has a majority Armenian population.

The conflict has its roots in the early 20th century when the region, which has a majority Armenian population, was part of the Russian Empire and later, the Soviet Union.

In the 1920s, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin established the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast within Soviet Azerbaijan. However, as the Soviet Union began to collapse in the late 1980s, ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh voted to secede from Azerbaijan and join Armenia. This led to a war between the two countries that lasted from 1988 to 1994, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of people and the displacement of over 1 million.

A ceasefire was signed in 1994, but sporadic violence continued in the region.

In 2016, a four-day war broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan, resulting in hundreds of deaths. In September 2020, the fighting broke out again, escalated rapidly and resulted in a large-scale military operation by Azerbaijan, with the support of Turkey, to retake the regions of Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding areas under Armenian control.

A ceasefire was signed again in November 2020, but tensions remained high, with both sides accusing each other of ceasefire violations.

In Nagorno-Karabakh, residents had been living in dire conditions, with no electricity and limited food supplies amid a monthslong blockade of the Lachin Corridor, the only road that connects Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.

Switzerland-based human rights group Christian Solidarity International had urged U.S. President Joe Biden to propose a four-point emergency response to the monthslong blockade, including an immediate humanitarian airlift. The group also called for sanctions against Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev for policies of ethnic-religious cleansing.

“You were the first U.S. president to officially acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, thereby earning the gratitude of the Armenian people and all who abhor genocide,” CSI President John Eibner said at the time. “Let it not be said that, on your watch, Azerbaijan — a strategic partner of the United States — successfully executed another phase of the historic Armenian Genocide.”

Biden became the first president since former President Ronald Reagan to recognize the Armenian genocide on its 106th anniversary in April 2021. Some historians see the Armenian genocide as a precursor of genocides the world witnessed later, including the Holocaust.

In October 2020, an estimated 100,000 people marched through the streets of Los Angeles, California, to call for an end to the fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

At least 100,000 people have now fled the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karbakh – more than four-fifths of the population – since Azerbaijan reclaimed the territory in a lightening offensive, authorities in neighboring Armenia said.

The rapid exodus has prompted the United Nations to send its first mission to the territory in about 30 years.

Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, said the UN team on the ground would “identify the humanitarian needs for both people remaining and the people that are on the move.”

Though internationally seen as part of Azerbaijan, the Armenian-majority Nagorno-Karbakh had spent decades under the control of a separatist, de facto government until Azerbaijan’s victory last week. The former breakaway republic will cease to exist as of next year.

Azerbaijan has long been clear about the choice confronting Karabakh Armenians: Stay and accept Azerbaijani citizenship, or leave.

As of Saturday morning, 100,417 people had been “forcibly displaced,” the Armenian prime minister’s spokeswoman, Nazeli Baghdasaryan, told reporters.

Armenian authorities have responded to the outflux of people by asking the International Court of Justice, a judicial arm of the UN, to tell Azerbaijan to withdraw its troops – citing fears of “punitive actions.”

They requested the court order Azerbaijan to “withdraw all military and law-enforcement personnel from all civilian establishments in Nagorno-Karabakh,” while refraining from “taking any actions directly or indirectly” that would have the effect of displacing the remaining ethnic Armenians or preventing those who fled from returning.

Azerbaijan should also allow people to leave the region “without any hindrance” if they wanted to, the Armenian authorities demanded.

Armenia also asked the court to direct Azerbaijan to grant the UN and the Red Cross access to Nagorno-Karabakh.

Azerbaijan should “refrain from taking punitive actions against the current or former political representatives or military personnel of Nagorno-Karabakh,” the Armenian authorities said.

The appeal comes as Azerbaijani state media reported Friday that the security services in the country had detained two former commanders of the self-proclaimed “Republic of Artsakh’s” military.

Loven Mnatsakanyan and Davit Manukyan were intercepted while attempting to cross from Nagorno-Karabakh into Armenia via the Lachin Corridor, the one road connecting the landlocked enclave to Armenia.

Mnatsakanyan, who reportedly served as defense minister from 2015 to 2018, was arrested Friday and taken to the Azebaijani capital of Baku, according to state media. He was accused of illegally entering its territory.

Manukyan, who reportedly served as the former deputy commander of Nagorno-Karbakh’s armed forces, was detained Wednesday, Azerbaijani state media reported.

He was accused of engaging in terrorism, setting up illegal armed groups, illegal possession of a firearm, and illegally entering Azerbaijan, though no evidence was presented to support the claims.

A video published by Azerbaijan’s State Security Service showing Manukyan in Azerbaijani detention could not be independently verified by CNN.

The announcement of the arrests came after the indictment of prominent Nagorno-Karabakh politician and businessman Ruben Vardanyan on multiple charges in Azerbaijan Thursday after being detained while trying to cross into Armenia the day before, according to state media citing the Azerbaijani State Security Service.

A former Minister of State of the self-proclaimed republic, Vardanyan is accused of financing terrorism, participating in the creation and activities of illegal armed groups, and illegally crossing Azerbaijani borders, according to state media. Azerbaijan has not presented evidence to support its claims.

On Thursday, local politician David Babayan, an adviser to Samvel Shahramanyan, the president of the self-styled “Republic of Artsakh,” wrote on Telegram that he would hand himself over to Azerbaijan.

“My failure to appear, or worse, my escape, will cause serious harm to our long-suffering nation, to many people, and I, as an honest person, hard worker, patriot and Christian, cannot allow this,” Babayan wrote.

Just over two weeks ago, Acting Assistant Secretary of State Yuri Kim testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. 

“We will not tolerate any attack on the people of Nagorno-Karabakh,” Kim declared. But the Biden administration tolerated just that. The best the State Department could do in the wake of an Azerbaijani aggression that has so far driven close to three-quarters of Nagorno-Karabakh’s indigenous population out of the region is to say “we are quite serious” about the U.S. desire to have an international monitoring mission. The White House has yet to declare a cessation of military aid to Azerbaijan, even as Congress grows more frustrated with its tepid response.

While Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has promised to ensure the rights of Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenian population, this is little comfort. Aliyev has never kept a promise, nor has the West held him to account for his duplicity. Further, Azerbaijanis in practice have no rights. Freedom House ranks the country alongside China and the military junta-controlled Myanmar in freedom. It ranks below Russia, Iran, and Cuba.

To understand how Azerbaijan represses its own people, consider the case of Gubad Ibadoghlu, a prominent scholar the Aliyev regime detained. Aliyev’s security services said they arrested Ibadoghlu for allegedly being in possession of counterfeit currency. The problem is that they first reportedly tried breaking into his safe, and when they were unable to crack it, they simply left a paper bag with counterfeit currency in a paper bag on top. The alleged setup fails the logic test: Why would someone have a safe and keep their money on a bookshelf?

The episode is straight from the autocrat’s playbook. It does not pass the smell test. Nor does the whispering campaign about Ibadoghlu’s alleged religiosity. Put aside that religiosity is not a sin so long as no one tries to impose it on others. The fact is Ibadoghlu reportedly has one of the most impressive collections of wine that he shared openly with friends and associates. 

The real reason Aliyev may have acted against Ibadoghlu, his son Emin Bayramli told me, is that he was researching alleged corruption on the part of firms linked to Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan in portions of Nagorno-Karabakh seized by Azerbaijani and Turkish forces in November 2020.  Ibadoghlu also researched Azerbaijani “caviar diplomacy” in the United Kingdom, where Aliyev’s influence is high because of his partnership with BP (formerly British Petroleum).

Dictatorships thrive in darkness. This is why silence is never the answer when dictators arrest dissidents. After Ibadoghlu’s detention, his son Emin Bayramli worked to keep his father in the limelight and to focus attention on the conditions in which Azerbaijan kept him confined. 

It was an effective strategy that annoyed the Aliyev regime. Sometime late on Aug. 18 or in the early morning hours of Aug. 19, someone entered the New Jersey house in which Bayramli lived and ransacked his room. An investigation is ongoing, but Azerbaijani agents or those working on their behalf are among the chief suspects that federal law enforcement now investigate, Bayramli told me on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. 

The case should worry all Americans. Dictatorships are becoming increasingly bold about targeting Americans not only abroad, but also inside the United States. Few remember that when Iranian radicals seized the U.S. Embassy in Iran and took 52 American diplomats hostage, President Jimmy Carter did not sever relations. He did that only five months later when the Iranian embassy in Washington, DC, organized the assassination of an Iranian dissident in nearby Bethesda, Maryland. That reaction set a red line that Iranian revolutionaries abided by until recently, even after repeatedly targeting dissidents in Europe.

Those red lines have eroded. The Iranian government, for example, has sought to kidnap Iranian-American dissidents from New York. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi openly brags about putting hits on former American officials Mike Pompeo and Brian Hook. Erdogan’s bodyguards have attacked American protesters in the heart of Washington, DC. The Bayramli case marks the first apparent attempt by the Azerbaijani regime to target dissidents in the United States. That should be a wakeup call.

Aliyev is riding high. He has conquered Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory Azerbaijan has never truly controlled, and expelled the indigenous Armenian population. He has called the American bluff without consequence. He believes, quite literally, that he can get away with murder. Quite simply, Aliyev is out of control. Words are not enough. The Biden administration needs to act now to stop Azerbaijan from taking its repression on the road, right into the heart of America. 

Now a 19FortyFive Contributing Editor, Dr. Michael Rubin is a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). Dr. Rubin is the author, coauthor, and coeditor of several books exploring diplomacy, Iranian history, Arab culture, Kurdish studies, and Shi’ite politics, including “Seven Pillars: What Really Causes Instability in the Middle East?” (AEI Press, 2019); “Kurdistan Rising” (AEI Press, 2016); “Dancing with the Devil: The Perils of Engaging Rogue Regimes” (Encounter Books, 2014); and “Eternal Iran: Continuity and Chaos” (Palgrave, 2005).

https://www.19fortyfive.com/2023/09/joe-biden-must-act-dont-let-azerbaijans-regime-get-away-with-murder/