Author: Emil Lazarian

“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS

Former ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo calls on Biden to help prevent new Armenian genocide

Emil Lazarian

 12:50,

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 23, ARMENPRESS. Former ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo, in an Op-Ed published by the Washington Post, has warned that Azerbaijan’s ambitions extend beyond Nagorno-Karabakh and the world has the responsibility to stop what is happening before its very eyes: the Armenian genocide of 2023.

Below is the full Op-Ed published by the Washington Post.

“In 2021, President Biden recognized the 1915 removal of Armenians from their lands in Anatolia, in today’s Turkey, as genocide. The United States had been silent on the issue for more than a century, and its silence had grievous consequences.

“Today, Armenians need global leaders, including Biden, to stop a new genocide — one that started this past winter and is now evolving into a more brutal phase.

“On Tuesday, after a months-long blockade and military buildup along the border of the Armenian-majority enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan’s military launched an attack. Within a day, Azerbaijani forces quickly overwhelmed local defenses, killing more than 200 people, including civilians. In short order, a shaky cease-fire was announced.

“In return for stopping the bombing, Azerbaijan demanded the surrender of Nagorno-Karabakh’s top leaders and the disarmament of all the armed forces of the Karabakh authorities.

“As Azerbaijan’s victory became more apparent, scores of Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenian civilians gathered around the airport in Stepanakert (the enclave’s biggest city) looking to flee their ancestral lands.

“They have every right to fear the next steps Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev might take. Since December 2022, Azerbaijan has blocked the Lachin Corridor, the only connection between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. On Feb. 22, the International Court of Justice, after hearing arguments from both sides, ruled that the blockade produced a “real and imminent risk” to the “health and life” of Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenian population.

“Rather than comply with the court’s binding order to end the blockade, Azerbaijan security forces doubled down in June, sealing off the enclave entirely, preventing even the transfer of food, medical supplies and other essentials. Since then, Aliyev has repeatedly ignored calls from the U.N. secretary-general and the U.S. secretary of state to comply with the court’s ruling. He correctly understood that Azerbaijan would bear no serious costs from the international community for its actions.

“Azerbaijan’s defiance is ominous. In international law, the Genocide Convention of 1948 makes it clear that one way to commit the crime is by “deliberately inflicting on [a] group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part” (Article II c). By blocking the Lachin Corridor, Aliyev turned Nagorno-Karabakh into a vast concentration camp for 120,000 Armenians. This week’s military intervention added killing (Article II a) and causing serious bodily and mental harm (Article II b) to the ledger.

“What happens next? Because Nagorno-Karabakh authorities surrendered, the international community has urged Aliyev to guarantee the full rights of his Armenian citizens in the enclave. Aliyev’s government has said it is not committing ethnic cleansing and assured the world that “reintegration” will bring prosperity to the region.

“But this rhetoric rings hollow given what has already been done. And Azerbaijan’s ambitions extend beyond Nagorno-Karabakh. Since 2010, Aliyev has regularly talked about Armenia itself as “Western Azerbaijan,” echoing long-standing Azerbaijani claims that Armenia as a whole is an illegitimate state. As recently as December, he said that “present-day Armenia is our land.”

“The world must call the crime by its proper name. Resistance to using the term “genocide” has been a long-standing problem in international affairs. In April 1994, most U.N. Security Council members refused to label the mass killings in Rwanda as genocide. Little has changed in 30 years.

“The last time the U.N. Security Council discussed the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, Aliyev’s blockade was repeatedly called a “humanitarian situation,” and continued negotiations were proposed. One is reminded of the heroic intervention by the Czech ambassador, Karel Kovanda, during the U.N. debates on Rwanda: When most leaders backed negotiating a truce, he likened the idea to “persuading Hitler to reach a ceasefire with the Jews.”

“Today, as always, geopolitics explain the world’s reticence. Azerbaijan is an ally with the West against Iran; it provides energy to Europe and it spends millions on sophisticated Israeli weapons. But such exigencies must not get in the way of the world’s responsibility to stop what is happening before its very eyes: the Armenian genocide of 2023.

“Biden did the right thing in 2021. Today, he needs to help prevent history from repeating itself.”

Armenia-Azerbaijan: UN calls for ‘credible and durable’ end to fighting in flashpoint region

Emil Lazarian
Sept 21 2023

A senior UN official told the Security Council on Thursday that the wellbeing of civilians caught up in the long-running conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan should be the “overriding priority” following renewed fighting.

Miroslav Jenča told ambassadors that Azerbaijan had announced, in their words, “local counter-terrorism activities in the Karabakh economic region” two days ago, in response to the tragic deaths of two civilians and four police officers in incidents that allegedly involved landmines placed by the Armenian military.

He noted that Azerbaijan had notified the Russian peacekeeping force in the region, of its activities in a bid to “prevent large scale provocations” by Armenian troops and “ensure their withdrawal and the restoration of the constitutional order” within internationally recognized Azerbaijani territory.

Mr. Jenča lamented that following a “serious escalation in military operations” across the Line of Contact between the two forces, civilian casualties had been reported, as well as thousands evacuated within the flashpoint region.

He stressed that the UN has no observers in the region and was unable to verify the “various claims and allegations.”

The UN has supported the full implementation of a 9 November 2020 Trilateral Statement by the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia, following the ceasefire of that year, together with efforts to reduce tensions and advance the normalization of relations between Baku and Yerevan.

Mr. Jenča told the Council that in light of the 2020 Statement, Secretary-General António Guterres urges all concerned to “strictly observe” the ceasefire and continue to abide by their obligations relating to international humanitarian and human rights law.

He reminded ambassadors that in recent months the freedom of movement of local civilians and humanitarian access along the Lachin Corridor and Aghdam road, “have been major sources of tension and sharp exchanges”.

“The Secretary-General remains deeply concerned about the impact of the escalation on the fragile humanitarian situation and calls on the parties to urgently facilitate unimpeded access” of relief to all civilians, Mr. Jenča added.

He said the uptick in violence in recent days should be viewed within a “broader pattern of ceasefire violations which have continued to persist.”

Assistant Secretary-General Jenča noted Wednesday’s announcement of a cessation of hostilities, cautioning that the situation on the ground remains fluid.

“We also understand that, in a positive step, representatives of the local population and the Government of Azerbaijan met earlier today for an initial exchange.”

He called for a “credible and durable” end to the fighting. “Any renewed escalation would lead to further loss of life and human suffering and further set back internationally supported peace efforts.”

Protection of civilians including their basic human rights “must be the overriding priority.”

The only sustainable way forward, he said, was through genuine dialogue between Azerbaijan and representatives of the region, “together with full engagement in the normalization process”.

Holy Etchmiadzin Postpones Muron Blessing Formerly Planned for Oct. 1 (Message of the Primate)

Emil Lazarian


HEADLINE:

 

The Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin has announced that the Blessing of the Holy Muron ceremony, planned to take place on October 1, has been postponed. Instead on that date, the Mother See will lead worldwide Armenian churches in a pan-national Prayer for Artsakh.

 

Diocesan Primate Fr. Mesrop Parsamyan informed the faithful of the Eastern Diocese of the decision in a message of September 22. Despite the postponement of the Muron Blessing service, the Episcopal Ordination services on October 8–where Fr. Mesrop will be consecrated as a bishop of the church–will go forward as planned. The service in New York welcoming the newly ordained Bishop Mesrop back to the Eastern Diocese will also proceed as planned on October 14.

 

Read Fr. Mesrop’s message to the public below.

 

* * *

 

A Message from Our Primate, Fr. Mesrop Parsamyan

 

Dear Faithful:

 

These are hard days for all Armenians: a time of heartache, deep reflection, and earnest prayer over Artsakh. The mood of our people, in our homeland and around the world, is somber—and naturally that sensibility will affect our national observances planned for the coming days.

 

I am writing to inform the faithful of the Eastern Diocese that the Blessing of the Holy Muron—the grand ecclesiastical celebration scheduled to take place on October 1, 2023, at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin—has now been postponed, and will not be going forward as planned.

 

This decision was made by our church’s Supreme Spiritual Council, during a meeting on September 22, presided over by His Holiness Karekin II, the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians. The determination was prompted by the circumstances now surrounding Artsakh. A new date for the blessing ceremonies has not been announced.

 

Instead, a different service will be held at Holy Etchmiadzin on Sunday, October 1: a pan-national Prayer for Artsakh, which will be offered as part of the Divine Liturgy at the Mother See, and in Armenian churches throughout the world on that day. Additional information on this service will be shared with parishes as it becomes available.

 

Finally, with great humility, I want to inform our faithful that the Episcopal Ordinations scheduled for Saturday, October 8, will indeed go forward as planned. I am already deeply grateful for the honor His Holiness Karekin II will confer on me and my brother clergymen on that day—and to receive this precious sacrament at such a critical time in our history leaves me profoundly moved in my heart and spirit.

 

In our own Diocese, my first Episcopal Divine Liturgy in New York’s St. Vartan Cathedral will also go forward as planned, on the morning of Saturday, October 14. I take this opportunity to renew my invitation to all our people across this blessed Diocese to join us in prayer, with a spirit of Christian Hope, on that day.

 

To close, let me repeat what I told worshippers last night, during a united prayer gathering at St. Vartan Cathedral, presided over by myself and my Brother in Christ Archbishop Anoushavan Tanielian. I observed that at this point in time, we cannot predict what the outcome of this week’s developments will be. But one thing is very clear to me: That in the days and weeks to come, our people in Artsakh are going to need our support more than ever before—and that we must stand united, as Armenians, to help in any way we can. It will take great spiritual reserves to undertake the task before us. But our Lord Jesus Christ has given the Armenian people such strength in the past—and He will do so again. It is to Him, above all, that we must open our hearts, and ask for his help and blessing.

 

In the days and weeks to come, please keep these calls to united effort in your heart. And please continue to pray for the Lord’s protection over our brave Armenian sisters and brothers in Artsakh.

 

Prayerfully

 

Fr. Mesrop Parsamyan
Primate

 

 

—9/22/23

 

# # #

Turkish Press: UN affirms respect to Azerbaijan’s sovereignty amid illegal Karabakh vote

Emil Lazarian
Daily Sabah, Turkey
Sept 13 2023

The United Nations reaffirmed that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan should be respected as Armenians in Karabakh, recaptured from Armenia in a 2020 war, recently went to polls to install their own leaders, to the chagrin of Baku.

Answering questions at a news conference at the U.N. headquarters in New York on Tuesday, the U.N. Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric reminded of U.N. Security Council resolutions on the issue affirming the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and urged “full respect” to both. “The Secretary-General urges Armenia and Azerbaijan to intensify efforts towards the long-term normalization of relations for the benefit of peace and security in the region,” he added.

On Saturday, separatist Armenians in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan held self-proclaimed elections to choose a new separatist president. This move was not recognized by many countries, including Azerbaijan, Türkiye, the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as the European Union.

Relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia have been tense since 1991 when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions. In the fall of 2020, Azerbaijan liberated several cities, villages, and settlements from Armenian occupation during 44 days of clashes. The war ended with a Russia-brokered peace agreement.

Despite ongoing talks over a long-term peace agreement, tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia rose in recent months over the Lachin road, the only land route giving Armenia access to the Karabakh region, where Azerbaijan established a border checkpoint in April on the grounds of preventing the illegal transport of military arms and equipment to the region.

https://www.dailysabah.com/politics/un-affirms-respect-to-azerbaijans-sovereignty-amid-illegal-karabakh-vote/news


Armenian Film Festival Debuts in Glendale

Emil Lazarian
Sept 13 2023
ByKennedy Zak

The inaugural Armenian Film Festival — put on by the Armenian Film Society, a Glendale-based nonprofit that shines a spotlight on Armenian films and filmmakers — began on Wednesday and will run through Sunday as a way to promote and empower Armenian films.
The film festival will close at the Alex Theatre on Sunday at 5 p.m. with a 15th anniversary screening of director Sev Ohanian’s “My Big Fat Armenian Family.” Afterward, audience members will hear an in-depth career retrospective discussion with Ohanian, a Hoover High School alum, who is also known for co-writing and producing the films “Searching” and “Run.”
Longtime Glendale resident Armen Karaoghlanian, co-founder of AFS alongside his wife, Mary Karaoghlanian, said this festival has been something on the society’s radar for years now. With a collection of films personally sought out by AFS or selected through a submission process, Karaoghlanian said all films have an Armenian connection through theme, characters or storylines.
“The films were made for a global audience, not just an Armenian audience,” Karaoghlanian told the News-Press. “So, my hope for the festival is that someone will come out because they’re interested in what an Armenian film or what an Armenian story is like, and they walk away realizing that Armenian filmmakers are incredibly talented.”
The opening night of the festival took place at the Alex Theatre on Wednesday and included a red carpet premiere of “Amerikatsi,” directed by and starring Michael Goorjian. On Friday, the festival showcased a series of select shorts including “Carnivore,” “Animus,” “Ararat” and “From the Work of the Devil” at the Laemmle Glendale.
Michael Aloyan, director and writer of “Carnivore,” said the film is “a collection of moments and memories.” Personal to Aloyan, who was born and raised in Glendale, “Carnivore” explores the experiences of Armenian American families in a coming-of-age short set in Glendale.
The short emphasizes the impact of the choices people make on their identity and “forces [characters] to confront these age-old traditions of manhood and ideas that are passed down.”
While “Carnivore” was well received in the Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival in Armenia in July, Aloyan admitted he was a bit nervous to showcase the film in Glendale.
“I’m curious to see how [Glendale residents] are going to feel about it, how they’re going to feel about being portrayed in certain ways,” he said ahead of the screening. “I think everybody knows at least one person in this movie; whether it’s their cousin or their uncle, they’re all relatable if you grew up in this community.”
With the establishment of Armenian cinema in 1923, Karaoghlanian was eager to put out the first Armenian Film Festival in 2023 to celebrate a century of Armenian cinema.
“We feel like we’re now ushering in the next chapter, the next 100 years of Armenian cinema,” he said.
On Saturday, the festival will host a discussion and book signing with Howard Kazanjian for his work, “Howard Kazanjian: A Producer’s Life” at 11 a.m. at Hero House, located at 326 Mira Loma Ave. Kazanjian is an Armenian American film producer whose credits include “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones,” and his novel chronicles his experience rising in Hollywood.
In the afternoon, another series of shorts will be screened at Laemmle Glendale, including “Cycles,” “No Thanks,” “Anahide” and “Nowhere” at 4 p.m. Then at 6 p.m., the shorts “250km,” “It Takes a Village …” and “Echoes of Kef Time” will also be showcased.
On Sunday, two of AFS’s projects, “Back to Ashtarak,” a short documentary, and “The Peace of All,” a feature documentary about Artsakh, will play at 11 a.m. at the Laemmle Glendale.
Filmed in 2021 in Armenia, “Back to Ashtarak” is about film director Tigran Nersisian’s connection to his hometown of Ashtarak. Nersisian, who sees himself as multicultural, was born in Ashtarak before moving to Russia at age 5. Once he decided he wanted to pursue filmmaking, Nersisian and his family moved to Glendale so he could study at UCLA.
While the documentary is about himself, Nersisian said his hope is that the film resonates with audiences and connects them to their own hometowns. Based on the film’s screenings thus far, this has often been the case.
“After the screenings, people would come to me and tell me that the film transported them to their childhoods and that’s the best reaction I can get because that’s really what I wanted to achieve,” Nersisian told the News-Press. “I wanted the viewer to at some point disconnect from me and my story and find their stories within that short film.”
Nersisian said Armenian filmmakers in the area are “lucky” to have the opportunity to be a part of the Armenian Film Society and the events they put on. While the organization started off small in 2015 by hosting one event each month, it has grown over the years through partnerships with nonprofits and local theaters. Karaoghlanian said they have put on dozens of events this year alone.
“[The Armenian Film Society] is a connecting hub for us,” Nersisian said. “That’s where we meet other filmmakers, that’s where we network, that’s how we communicate. And I’m really grateful to Armen and Mary for everything they’re doing.”
Karaoghlanian is happy with the festival’s lineup and is thrilled to be hosting it in Glendale.
“I always refer to Glendale as the best place on earth. It’s truly the city where I feel most at home,” he said. “We’re hopeful that people come to this festival and better understand who we are and better understand our culture … but also we just want people to come out, celebrate movies and have fun.”

First published in the September 9 print issue of the Glendale News-Press.

https://glendalenewspress.outlooknewspapers.com/2023/09/13/armenian-film-festival-debuts-in-glendale/

Film: ‘Cup of Salvation’ Trailer Traces Father-Daughter Journey to Reclaim Armenian Winemaking (Exclusive)

Emil Lazarian
Sept 13 2023

Jason Wise directs the film about WineWorks founder and CEO Vahe Keushguerian and his daughter Aimee’s wrought journey to revive a 6,000-year-old winemaking tradition, which will begin its theatrical release on Oct. 6.

Vahe Keushguerian and Aimee in ‘Cup of Salvation’ COURTESY OF SOMM TV

A father and daughter reclaim a 6,000-year-old winemaking tradition in the face of war, religion and geopolitics in the trailer for SOMM TV’s Cup of Salvation.

The two-minute look at the film from director Jason Wise follows WineWorks founder and CEO Vahe Keushguerian and his daughter Aimee as they set out on a wrought journey to revive the ancient grapes of their Armenian homeland.

“The story of an ancient land, with such an ancient wine culture,” says one voice in the trailer before Keushguerian adds, “For a winemaker, it’s the holy grail.”

In this tail of religion, war, family and survival, a family sets out through the demanding, battle-scarred landscape of the Caucus Mountains, past military bases and to clandestine vineyards deep in the Iranian countryside — all the while, the threat of arrest looms.

“My father wants to build a bunker cellar,” says Aimee. “I’m like, will we need it?”

“Wines have to struggle. So do people,” adds an expert featured in the trailer.

At the crossroads of Armenia and Iran is where this family breathes life into the post-Soviet infrastructure of their country while harvesting grapes during war and marketing their wine globally.

But this story of a family reviving the ancient grapes of their homeland is not just a harrowing tail of navigating culture, power and land in the name of wine. It is also a look at wine’s origins and how it continues to shape the fabric of human existence.

Alongside the Keushguerians, Cup of Salvation also stars, Dustin Wilson, Carole Meredith, Armen Sarkissian, Paul Hobbs, Boris Gasparyan, Armen Khachaturian, Jonathan Alpeyrie, Steve Matthiasson, Moe Momtazi, Naseem Momtazi, Steven Spurrier, Andres Roseberg, DLynn Proctor, and Sabato Sagaria.

The film features a story by director Wise and his partner Christina, and music by Alex Mansour. The film’s producers include the Wise’s, Jackson Myers, and Eric Esrailian, with Diane Carpenter serving as an executive producer.

Cup of Salvation will have a limited release in theaters beginning Oct. 6. 

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/cup-of-salvation-trailer-armenian-winemaking-1235588996/

‘Azerbaijan has assured Iran it has no intention to attack Armenia’

Emil Lazarian
TEHRAN TIMES
Sept 11 2023

TEHRAN – Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman told reporters on Monday that the Republic of Azerbaijan has assured Iran that it has no intention to take military action against neighboring Armenia.

“We are in contact with the officials of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Officials of Armenia had expressed worry over a possible new clash on the part of Azerbaijan but officials of Azerbaijan have sent messages to us that they have no intention to take any military action,” Kanaani stated.

“Because of the importance of the developments in the Caucasus and the impact of any instability, unrest, and new tension in the region on the entire region,” Iran is sensitive about the security of its northern borders and is closely watching the situation, he pointed out.

Transfer of unblocked funds soon 

Reuters had reported that Iranian funds blocked in South Korea under the guise of U.S. sanctions would be transferred to Qatari banks as soon as this week. 

Kanaani also expressed hope that the transfer of unfrozen assets will be completed in the coming days. 

According to the accord, Kanaani said Iran is permitted to utilize its unblocked funds “to buy unsanctioned goods”. 

He emphasized once more that the prisoner swap arrangement with the U.S. had nothing to do with the release of the funds.

“Considering the humanitarian nature of the issue, we are ready to implement the prisoner swap deal,” he declared, pointing out that it could have happened a long time ago if the American side had cooperated and had not made it dependent on other issues, like the nuclear deal, which the U.S. unilaterally ended in May 2018 despite Iran’s full and strict compliance.

Kanaani went on to add, “Based on the reached agreement, we are optimistic that the exchange of prisoners will happen soon.”

“No extension of the deadline for Iraq to disarm Kurdish separatists”

Kanaani also said that “Iran’s stance is completely clear. According to the agreement reached with the Iraqi government, the final deadline for the disarmament of the terrorist and separatist forces in Iraq’s Kurdistan region ends on September 19 and that deadline will not be extended in any way.”

He added that the Iraqi government has taken steps in this direction and has stated that it would keep its promises.

Iran, Russia to establish comprehensive plan for relations

Kanaani told reporters that “talks are underway between the two countries to draft a comprehensive document” that will serve as “a complete and comprehensive roadmap” that will allow government institutions to pursue bilateral ties based on the set goal.

He stated that the two parties have exchanged a draft agreement, which is currently being reviewed by their working groups.

On the attack on Iran’s embassy in Paris, Kanaani said “we strongly condemn” the assault.

France’s diplomats in Tehran and Paris have received a formal notice of complaint from Iran, he pointed out 

https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/488956/Azerbaijan-has-assured-Iran-it-has-no-intention-to-attack-Armenia

Armenia launches joint military drills with United States

Emil Lazarian
MEHR News Agency, Iran
Sept 12 2023

TEHRAN, Sep. 12 (MNA) – Armenia and the United States began a joint military training exercise on Monday, both sides said, at a time of high tension in Armenian relations with neighbouring Azerbaijan.

The 10-day “Eagle Partner” exercise involves 85 US and 175 Armenian soldiers and is designed to prepare the Armenians to take part in international peacekeeping missions. It is taking place at two training grounds near the capital Yerevan.

The Armenian Defence Ministry said on Monday that “the purpose of the exercise is to increase the level of interoperability of the unit participating in international peacekeeping missions within the framework of peacekeeping operations, to exchange best practices in control and tactical communication.”

The US Army Europe and Africa Command said around 85 soldiers will train with 175 Armenian troops between 11 and 20 in the Zar and Armavir grounds.

It said the drills would help prepare Armenia’s 12th Peacekeeping Brigade to meet NATO standards for an evaluation later this year.

MNA/PR

EU monitoring mission opens operating base in Ijevan

Emil Lazarian

 13:33,

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 12, ARMENPRESS. The European Union Mission in Armenia (EUMA) has opened an operating base in the Armenian town of Ijevan in Tavush province.

“Today marks the opening of EUMA operating base in Ijevan. HoM Markus Ritter together with Head of EU Delegation in Armenia, Ambassador Vassilis Maragos, Deputy Defence Minister Hrachya Sargsyan, & Governor of Tavush Province Hayk Ghalumyan cut the ribbon to the new EUMA offices in Tavush,” EUMA said in a post on X.

The Ijevan office is EUMA’s fifth operating base in Armenia.

Menendez Urges Biden Administration to Hold Aliyev Accountable and Prevent Genocide in Artsakh

Emil Lazarian
by Asbarez Staff

 

 

 

in Armenia, Artsakh, Featured Story, Latest, News, Top Stories, Videos

Sen. Robert Menendez makes remarks on the Senate floor


WASHINGTON – This week, Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, delivered remarks on the Senate floor about the ongoing ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh.

He called on the United States and the international community to respond and hold President Aliyev and his regime accountable for their actions in the region, which bear the hallmarks of genocide.
 
“Of course, to be an honest broker means we need to tell the truth about Azerbaijan’s atrocities,” Chairman Menendez said. 

“We need to call out those individuals perpetrating this campaign of ethnic cleansing. We need to target them—including President Aliyev—with sanctions. We need to be cutting off their access to the wealth and oil money they have stashed away at financial institutions around the world, to their yachts and mansions across Europe. The evidence is there and we must preserve it so that Aliyev can be held accountable for these atrocities,” Menendez added.
 
Below is the complete text of Menendez’s remarks.

 
Mr. President, I rise to speak about a horrific set of events that are taking place in a part of the world that we could do something about.
 
In this photo, this dead man’s body is completely emaciated. The skin, tight over his bones, barely covers his skeleton. Bruises and scars stretch across his chest. This is not a victim at the side of the road during the Ottoman Turk’s Armenian Genocide. It is not a Holocaust survivor laying on the ground as allies liberated Buchenwald. It is not a human carcass left in the wake of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, or the Hutu in Rwanda or Serbian forces in Bosnia. Mr. President, it is from the Human Rights Defender’s Office in Nagorno-Karabakh. And it is from August. Only weeks ago.
 
Because Mr. President, right now—as you sit there in the dais, and I stand here in the chamber—the Aliyev government in Azerbaijan is carrying out a campaign of heinous atrocities that bear the hallmarks of genocide against the Armenians in Artsakh. They have purposefully and viciously trapped an estimated 100,000 to 120,000 Christian Armenians in the Karabakh Mountains. There is only one road out connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia for people, food, medicine, and basic supplies, and the Azerbaijanis have blocked it since December of last year.
 
Despite some reports yesterday, no aid has moved. They have tried to deny their role but make no mistake, the Azerbaijani government is now wholeheartedly embracing this brutal blockade, denying the Armenian community food and fuel and medicine.
 
Aliyev and his regime are trying to starve these people into death or into political submission.
 
‘There are no crematories and there are no machete attacks,’ wrote the former prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo, in a recent report. But he said, ‘starvation is the invisible genocide weapon. Without immediate dramatic change, this group of Armenians will be destroyed in a few weeks.’ This group of Armenians – talking about over 100,000 – will be destroyed in a few weeks. Not my observations, the observations of the former prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.
 
In Artsakh, the shelves of stores are empty. Children wait in lines for the chance of finding bread to feed their grandparents who are too weak to leave the house. There is no gas for ambulances. According to the head doctor at one maternity hospital, miscarriages have nearly tripled. And the BBC reports that one in three deaths in Nagorno-Karabakh is from malnutrition.
 
For months, Azerbaijan was just doing the bare minimum—allowing the International Committee of the Red Cross limited access. But in July, Aliyev blocked even the Red Cross. And in complete defiance of the Geneva Conventions, Azerbaijan detained medical patients the Red Cross was transporting through the corridor.
 
This is not only outrageous at face value but an insult to the international community and a threat to brave Red Cross workers around the world. In addition to arresting sick and elderly residents—a few weeks ago—Azerbaijan also detained university students who were trying to go to Armenia to start the school year.
 
Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry says there is nothing to worry about. These concerns are just the result of, ‘propaganda and political manipulations spread by Armenia.’
 
Really? You’re blaming Armenia for this? That is a flat out lie. It was Azerbaijan—with Turkish backing—that launched the war in 2020. A war that uprooted close to 100,000 Armenians from their homes in Nagorno-Karabakh. A war that killed 6,500 people. Now Aliyev blocks the Lachin Corridor and says ‘I’m not organizing ethnic cleansing.’
 
The same Azerbaijani President has also threatened to ‘chase away’ Armenian separatists ‘like dogs.’ Whose government issued a commemorative postage stamp showing a worker in hazmat gear spraying disinfectant on the region. We have seen and heard this kind of propaganda throughout history. It is the work of a regime intent on destroying and erasing this ancient Armenian community’s history in Nagorno-Karabakh.
 
But Mr. President—right now—the United States is failing. The United States is not meeting the humanitarian needs or publicly putting enough pressure on Aliyev to stop this campaign of ethnic cleansing. And I sincerely hope the State Department is not considering renewing the 907 waiver, which allows for security assistance to go to Azerbaijan. I don’t know how the United States can justify spending any kind of support—security or otherwise—to the regime in Baku.
 
We’ve seen a video of Azerbaijani forces killing unarmed Armenian soldiers in cold-blood.
 
We have reports of Azerbaijani soldiers sexually assaulting and mutilating an Armenian female soldier. So to send them assistance makes a mockery of the FREEDOM Support Act. Section 907 of this act is meant to ban security assistance to Azerbaijan until it is ‘Taking demonstrable steps to cease all blockades and other offensive uses of force against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.’
 
But still, the Department of State has waived section 907 over and over and over again. Suffice it to say, I am strongly opposed to having any aid go to a fighting force known for war crimes and the violation of human rights. I understand the dynamics of the broader region are complicated, but our fundamental principles underlying security assistance should not be.
 
When the United States untethers our security assistance from human rights and American values to focus on short-term tactical military assistance, it not only damages long-term American national security interests, it flies in the face of our duty to honor the victims and survivors of the Armenian Genocide and our duty to ensure history does not repeat itself. We cannot look away from a systematic attempt to eradicate and erase an entire people from the face of the earth.
 
In 2021, as my colleagues witnessed here on the Senate Floor, I was overcome with emotion to see President Biden join us in recognizing—for the first time by an American president—the Armenian Genocide. More than a century ago, Ottoman Turks perpetrated a systematic campaign to exterminate the Armenian populations. Through killings, through forced deportation, and yes, through starvation.
 
What the Turks did is an irrefutable, historical fact. The recognition of this fact was a huge step forward and I am proud to have played a role in that effort. Proud that I spoke up even as many American leaders stayed silent. Proud that I pressured State Department nominees and officials to acknowledge this historical reality. Proud that I introduced or co-sponsored resolutions recognizing the Armenian Genocide since before I came to the Senate in 2006. But Mr. President, make no mistake—fighting the denial of Armenian Genocide is not only about the past. It is also about the present.
 
That is why I’m calling on Aliyev to immediately release the Armenian prisoners of war. It is why I have been working on legislation to address the current humanitarian crisis in Artsakh. And it is why—when USAID Administrator Power came before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee earlier this year—I pushed her to get humanitarian assistance to the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.
 
I believe that the United States can—and must—play an active role in addressing this conflict. Because the so-called Russian ‘peacekeepers’ who have supposedly been enforcing a ceasefire following Azerbaijan’s 2020 invasion have been—to no one’s surprise—wholly ineffective. As Azerbaijani forces began an incursion in September 2022, these Russian forces stood idly by. Moscow will no doubt seek to exploit any instability to its advantage, but they have also proved their lack of worth. Which is all the more reason that the United States must continue to play role.
 
We have been facilitating talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but we need to change our approach. We cannot continue to simply ‘facilitate’ talks. We have a responsibility to mediate, to pursue a meaningful—enforceable—agreement with the guaranteed rights, security, and dignity of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh as a central tenet. We must also encourage and—if necessary—broker direct discussions between political leaders in Stepanakert and Baku.
 
Of course, to be an honest broker means we need to tell the truth about Azerbaijan’s atrocities. We need to call out those individuals perpetrating this campaign of ethnic cleansing. We need to target them—including President Aliyev—with sanctions. We need to be cutting off their access to the wealth and oil money they have stashed away at financial institutions around the world, to their yachts and mansions across Europe.
 
The evidence is there and we must preserve it so that Aliyev can be held accountable for these atrocities. I have called on the United States Ambassador to the United Nations to introduce a resolution at the UN Security Council enforcing an end to Aliyev’s blockade. I am pleased to see that Secretary Blinken is personally engaging in the crisis now, but the message must be crystal clear. At the same time, the EU needs to step up too.
 
I was pleased to see High Representative Borell’s statement in July that the EU is ‘deeply concerned about the serious humanitarian [situation]’ in Nagorno-Karabakh… but I hope that actions accompany those words. Instead of just taking Azerbaijani gas and praising the country as a ‘crucial energy partner,’ they must also bring pressure to end the blockade.
 
How many leaders have somberly promised to learn history’s lessons and prevent future genocides? How many people have come to the floor of the Senate and said, ‘Never, never, again.’ How many people will have to die of starvation before we act? With Aliyev potentially moving troops along the border, we cannot say we didn’t see it coming.
 
This time must be different. In the past, plans to carry out genocide were clouded by distance or geography. But this time, we know. We know Aliyev is doing it right now, and we must not only hold him accountable for his actions, we must stop him from succeeding in erasing this Armenian community. We must stop him from starving these Armenians to death….or imposing political control by opening only the Agdam Corridor. This is not a substitution for opening the Lachin Corridor. It is not upholding the commitments of the 2020 agreement. Using basic humanitarian, food, and medical supplies as a political weapon is not acceptable.
 
And we have the power to do it—if we act now. Given the chance, who here among us would not go back and stop the Turks from rounding up the first Armenians victims of the genocide who were hung in the streets of Istanbul? Or the Serb forces who gave Bosnian Muslims a 24-hour ultimatum to surrender? Or the Rwandan radio broadcasts inciting violence?
 
Unlike those crimes of the past, we are living on the brink, right now. And so to the Biden administration, I would say, now is the time to step up and protect this vulnerable population. To the international community, now is the time to work together to bring pressure to stop this tragedy from unfolding in front of our eyes. And to the Armenian people, trapped in this blockade, with no food, know that you have friends and allies, here in the United States Senate and around the world, who will not rest until you are safe and secure. Hang on, hang on.
 
And to the men organizing and carrying out this brutal campaign, we will hold you accountable for your crimes, even if it takes a life time.
 
You will pay a price.
You will face justice.
And I certainly will not rest until you do so.