Author: Garo Vardanian

STEPANAKERT, Azerbaijan, Sept 24 (Reuters) – Ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh began a mass exodus by car on Sunday towards Armenia after Azerbaijan defeated the breakaway region’s fighters in a conflict dating from the Soviet era.

The Nagorno-Karabakh leadership told Reuters the region’s 120,000 Armenians did not want to live as part of Azerbaijan for fear of persecution and ethnic cleansing.

Those with fuel had started to drive down the Lachin corridor towards the border with Armenia, according to a Reuters reporter in the Karabakh capital, known as Stepanakert by Armenia and Khankendi by Azerbaijan.

Reuters pictures showed dozens of cars driving out of the capital at night towards the corridor’s mountainous curves.

The Armenians of Karabakh, a territory internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but previously beyond its control, were forced into a ceasefire last week after a 24-hour military operation by the much larger Azerbaijani military.

The Armenians are not accepting Azerbaijan’s promise to guarantee their rights as the region is integrated.

“Ninety-nine point nine percent prefer to leave our historic lands,” David Babayan, an adviser to Samvel Shahramanyan, president of the self-styled Republic of Artsakh, told Reuters.

“The fate of our poor people will go down in history as a disgrace and a shame for the Armenian people and for the whole civilised world,” Babayan said. “Those responsible for our fate will one day have to answer before God for their sins.”

The Armenian leaders of Karabakh said that all those made homeless by the Azerbaijani military operation and wanting to leave would be escorted to Armenia by Russian peacekeepers.

Reuters reporters near the village of Kornidzor on the Armenian border saw some heavily laden cars pass into Armenia. Armenia said 377 refugees had arrived by Sunday evening.

It was unclear when the bulk of the population might move to Armenia.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has faced calls to resign for failing to save Karabakh. In an address to the nation, he said some aid had arrived but a mass exodus looked inevitable.

“If proper conditions are not created for the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh to live in their homes and there are no effective protection mechanisms against ethnic cleansing, the likelihood is rising that the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh will see exile from their homeland as the only way to save their lives and identity,” he said, according to an official transcript.

The situation could change the delicate balance of power in the South Caucasus region, a patchwork of ethnicities crisscrossed with oil and gas pipelines where Russia, the United States, Turkey and Iran vie for influence.

Last week’s Azerbaijani victory appears to end one of the decades-old “frozen conflicts” of the Soviet Union’s dissolution. President Ilham Aliyev said his “iron fist” had consigned the idea of an independent ethnic Armenian Karabakh to history and that the region would be turned into a “paradise”.

Armenia says more than 200 people were killed and 400 wounded in the Azerbaijani military operation.

Nagorno-Karabakh lies in an area that over centuries has come under the sway of Persians, Turks, Russians, Ottomans and Soviets. It was claimed by both Azerbaijan and Armenia after the fall of the Russian Empire in 1917. In Soviet times it was designated an autonomous region within Azerbaijan.

As the Soviet Union crumbled, the Armenians there threw off nominal Azeri control and captured neighbouring territory in what is now known as the First Karabakh War. From 1988-1994 about 30,000 people were killed and more than a million people, mostly Azeris, displaced.

In 2020, after decades of skirmishes, Azerbaijan, backed by Turkey, won a decisive 44-day Second Karabakh War, recapturing territory in and around Karabakh. That war ended with a Russian-brokered peace deal that Armenians accuse Moscow of failing to guarantee.

The Armenian authorities in the region said late on Saturday that about 150 tonnes of humanitarian cargo from Russia and another 65 tonnes of flour shipped by the International Committee of the Red Cross had arrived in the region.

With 2,000 peacekeepers in the region, Russia said that under the terms of the ceasefire six armoured vehicles, more than 800 small arms, anti-tank weapons and portable air defence systems, as well as 22,000 ammunition rounds, had been handed in by Saturday.

Space for 40,000 people from Karabakh had been prepared in Armenia. Azerbaijan, which is mainly Muslim, has said the Armenians, who are Christian, can leave if they want.

Pashinyan blamed Russia publicly on Sunday for failing to do enough for Armenia which he said would review its alliance with Moscow.

“Some of our partners are increasingly making efforts to expose our security vulnerabilities, putting at risk not only our external, but also internal, security and stability, while violating all norms of etiquette and correctness in diplomatic and interstate relations, including obligations assumed under treaties,” Pashinyan said in his Sunday address.

Russian officials say Pashinyan is to blame for his own mishandling of the crisis, and have repeatedly said that Armenia, which borders Turkey, Iran, Azerbaijan and Georgia, has few other friends in the region.

Russia has voiced its concerns regarding Armenia’s plans to conduct a joint military exercise with the United States, with many interpreting this exercise as the latest indication of the former Soviet republic moving away from Moscow.

On September 6, Armenia announced its plans to host a joint military drill with the United States next week. The exercise, Eagle Partner 2023, is scheduled from September 11 to September 20 at Armenia’s Zar training center. 

Following this development, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov conveyed to reporters that the news regarding Armenia’s intention to hold a joint military exercise with the United States is “alarming.”

He further said that Moscow will thoroughly analyze and monitor the situation. 

“When it comes to the drills — of course, it causes concern, especially in the current situation. Therefore, we will deeply analyze this news and monitor the situation,” Peskov said. 

According to the Armenian defense ministry, the Eagle Partner 2023 exercises enhance cooperation and compatibility between Armenian and US military forces, particularly in international peacekeeping missions.

The Ministry pointed out that units preparing for international peacekeeping operations often engage in comparable joint exercises and training activities in partner nations as part of the preparations for peacekeeping missions.

A US military spokesperson said 85 American soldiers and 175 Armenian personnel are slated to participate in the upcoming military exercises. 

The American contingent, which includes members from the Kansas National Guard, known for its two-decade-long training partnership with Armenia, would be equipped with rifles but would refrain from using heavy weaponry during the exercises.

Additionally, on September 4, Gunther Fehlinger, the European Committee for NATO Enlargement Chair, called on Armenia to consider becoming a part of the North Atlantic Alliance. 

Subsequently, on the same day, Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanyan responded that Armenia had been actively collaborating with NATO across multiple formats and was ready to continue this process. 

Nevertheless, the development poses a considerable concern for Russia, which is expected to raise eyebrows and potentially ignite significant irritation within the Russian government.

Russia and Armenia find themselves in a contentious situation regarding a 2,000-strong Russian peacekeeping contingent assigned to oversee the Lachin corridor.

This corridor serves as the vital link between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, a region that witnessed a conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, leading to a ceasefire brokered by Russia in 2020. 

In recent months, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has become more critical of the Russian peacekeeping presence, particularly their alleged failure to ensure unrestricted access along a corridor connecting Armenia with Nagorno-Karabakh. 

This criticism underscores the growing tensions between Armenia and Russia in the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Recently, Pashinyan expressed dissatisfaction with Russia’s handling of the corridor, suggesting that Moscow might either lack the ability or the willingness to manage it effectively. 

The Armenian government contends that Azerbaijan has blocked access to the corridor and imposed a blockade on Nagorno-Karabakh, resulting in a humanitarian crisis in towns inhabited by Armenians.

Furthermore, in a significant shift in foreign policy, Pashinyan also said that Armenia’s longstanding reliance on Russia as its security guarantor had been a “strategic mistake.” This admission reflects a shift away from Armenia’s traditional alliance with Russia.

Adding to the complexities, Pashinyan’s wife visited Kyiv to participate in a meeting of first ladies and gentlemen and to provide humanitarian assistance. 

Early this year, Armenia declined to host military exercises conducted by the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). 

Russia maintains a permanent military base in Armenia, part of the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization. 

On its part, the Kremlin has reiterated its commitment to fulfilling obligations towards Armenia, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov emphasizing that Russia has no intentions of withdrawing its support.

“Russia is an integral part of this region,” he said. “Russia plays a consistent, vital role in stabilizing the situation in this region … and we will continue to play this role.”

The tensions between Baku and Yerevan have markedly intensified, with both sides leveling allegations of cross-border attacks against each other.

Experts warned a bipartisan congressional human rights commission Wednesday that the United States must be careful to avoid complicity in what they said could be an ongoing “genocide” against 120,000 Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh whom Azerbaijan forces have deprived of food and other crucial supplies for months. 

The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission held a hearing on the ongoing blockade of the Lachin Corridor, which connects Armenians to Artsakh, a self-declared Armenian breakaway state internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan with a predominantly Christian population.

Azerbaijan sealed off the Lachin Corridor last December after regaining control of territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh after a six-week war with Armenia in 2020. Armenian forces had captured the territory in a conflict that ended in 1994. 

A Russia-brokered armistice left the region connected to Armenia only by the Lachin Corridor, where Russian peacekeepers were supposed to ensure free movement.

Commission co-chair Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., led the hearing, which featured expert testimony from Luis Moreno Ocampo, an Argentine lawyer who served as the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court from 2003 to 2012; and David Phillips, the director of Columbia University’s Artsakh Atrocities Project and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University.

As the U.S. government conducts negotiations, Smith said U.S. Congress must determine if what is happening against the Armenians is a genocide and what the government’s duty is to prevent it under the Genocide Convention, an international treaty. 

Smith highlighted Ocampo’s written testimony, which cautioned the U.S. for taking on a mediatory role, warning that accepting the existence of “genocide” as part of a negotiation is “complicity.” 

During the hearing, Smith pointed out that two empty chairs were reserved for the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), both of which did not respond to multiple invite requests. 

During his testimony, Ocampo clarified that one misconception people have is that an action must involve many deaths before it’s considered genocide. 

The witness noted that the Azerbaijani security forces’ blockade of the Lachin Corridor impedes access to food and other essentials, arguing that the intent to starve the Armenians is a genocidal action. 

“There are many different forms of genocide. One form requires zero victim,” he said. “Genocide, under Article 2-C, requires just to create the conditions to destroy the people. The crime is to create the conditions and blocking the Lachin Corridor with the life system for the Nagorno-Karabakh people is exacting the conditions.”

“The physical issue is intentions. Can we say President Ilham Aliyev or anyone else in the Azerbaijani state has genocidal intentions? My thing was if you follow different quotes, then something very clear, the facts speak for themselves,” he added.

“In December ’22, the blockade of the Lachin Corridor started by people not formally connected to the states. However, in January this year, Secretary of State [Antony] Blinken called President Aliyev, asking him to remove it. President Aliyev didn’t follow the request. In February, the International Court of Justice unanimously said to President Aliyev, ‘This is creating risk for life of the Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh’ and ordered to open the Corridor. He did not follow. What he did instead was to create a security forces blockade.” 

In February, 15 judges from the International Court of Justice ordered Aliyev to remove the blockade, but the leader did not comply. 

Ocampo said that Aliyev’s actions send a “very clear signal” that he knows that the blockade puts lives at risk. According to Ocampo, this is a clear sign of Aliyev’s genocidal intentions, as ICJ was clear about the consequences of the blockade and its impact on the Armenians. 

“So when he is doing this now with security forces, obviously, he had intention to do that. That intention is confirmed because a few months later, he closed off all the traffic,” Ocampo said. “For me, at this stage, there is no doubt that genocidal intentions are there.”

In a report last month, Ocampo warned that there was a “reasonable basis to believe that a genocide is being committed,” suggesting that starvation was being used as an “invisible genocide weapon.” He called for the U.N. Security Council to intervene, which would be necessary because Azerbaijan is not a signatory to the statute that established the International Criminal Court.

Phillips agreed that Aliyev’s actions could constitute genocide against the Armenians and discussed how Azerbaijan security forces are firing on Armenian farmers, shortening their food supply and terrorizing them with psychological torture. 

In his testimony, Phillips argued that Aliyev has waged campaigns intended to dehumanize Armenian Christians. 

Regarding the steps that the U.S. should take to prevent these atrocities, Phillips recommends enforcing the sanctions described in Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act, which restricts assistance to the government of Azerbaijan to prevent conflict with neighboring Armenia.

Phillips also cited the Global Magnitsky Act, which consists of targeted sanctions to combat human rights abuses and corruption. 

On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of State announced that Blinken spoke with Aliyev about the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh earlier this month. 

“[Blinken] reiterated our call to reopen the Lachin Corridor to humanitarian, commercial, and passenger traffic while recognizing the importance of additional routes from Azerbaijan,” the statement read. “The Secretary underscored the need for a dialogue and compromise and the importance of building confidence between the parties. He pledged continued U.S. support to the peace process.” 

The bipartisan Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission was established by the House of Representatives in 2008 to promote and advocate for international human rights.

https://www.christianpost.com/news/experts-warn-of-genocidal-intent-against-armenian-christians.html