Category: 2023

Refugee Children From Nagorno-Karabakh Begin Class in Armenian Schools

Ophelia Vardapetian
Oct 6 2023

Thousands of ethnic-Armenian children who fled the Nagorno-Karabakh region after an assault by Azerbaijani forces on September 19 have begun attending classes at schools in Armenia, according to government and media reports.

On Wednesday, the Armenian prime minister’s press secretary, Nazeli Baghdasaryan, said more than 29,000 children were among 100,625 forcibly displaced people who had arrived in Armenia from Nagorno-Karabakh, and said their education was a priority for the government.

On Friday, Baghdasaryan told media that 7,904 children – roughly 38 percent of school-aged children who had arrived – had been enrolled in schools so far. The government was also looking to hire more teachers and advertised 1,035 vacant positions across the country.

This footage published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) on Friday shows students at a school in Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, where they said around 20 evacuee children were enrolled. The video includes interviews with children from Nagorno-Karabakh, including a girl who becomes tearful while recounting how her family was forced to leave their home, and an interview with a teacher from Nagorno-Karabakh who said she was hired immediately after arriving in Armenia, according to translations provided by RFE/RL. Credit: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty via Storyful

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/refugee-children-nagorno-karabakh-begin-185308785.html

Catholic, Anglican bishops affirm support for Armenia

Zhanna Nahapetian
Vatican News
Oct 6 2023
As the Archbishop of Canterbury visits crisis-struck Armenia, the Catholic Bishops of Europe call for action to address the growing humanitarian emergency in the country.

By Joseph Tulloch

“I come here to say you are not forgotten.”

Those were the words of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, as he arrived in Armenia. 

The Anglican Archbishop is on a two-day journey to the country, which has been rocked by Azerbaijan’s recent annexation of the neighbouring enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Speaking on Thursday to His Holiness Karekin II, the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Archbishop Welby said: “Armenia was the first Christian kingdom. You were the first region to have the cross as your symbol. This is a symbol of weight, pain and struggle.”

“The last weeks have seen so many Armenians suffer deeply. I have been praying for you daily. I come here to say you are not forgotten.”

Archbishop Welby is in the region as part of a five-day “pilgrimage of listening”. Earlier this week, he visited Azerbaijan and Georgia, meeting with civil and religious leaders, including the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

On the day Archbishop Welby began his visit to Armenia, the Council of Bishops’ Conferences of Europe, a Catholic grouping, released a statement echoing Pope Francis’ “repeated calls for a negotiated solution in the region.”

Noting that over 100 thousand Armenians have been displaced, they called on the international community to alleviate what they described as a “humanitarian emergency.”

Moreover, the bishops said, the exodus of the enclave's Armenian population “is also endangering the Christian heritage of the region”, which must be “monitored” to prevent defacement.

In their statement, the European bishops referred to a Resolution passed in 2022 by the European parliament.

The Resolution observes that “considerable deliberate damage was caused by Azerbaijan to Armenian cultural heritage during the 2020 war.”

“Over the last 30 years,” it continues, “the irreversible destruction of religious and cultural heritage has been carried out by Azerbaijan, notably in Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, where 89 Armenian churches, 20 000 graves and more than 5 000 headstones have been destroyed.”

The Resolution also condemns “falsification of history and attempts to present [Armenian heritage] as so-called Caucasian Albanian”, in reference to Azerbaijani government claims that historical and religious sites widely recognised as Armenian in fact belong to a now vanished culture.

Armenia struggles to assist refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh

Maral Chavushian
Euronews
Oct 6 2023

More than 100,000 ethnic Armenian refugees need to find warm housing before the winter sets in.

In the town of Masis in Armenia, which lies on the border with Turkey,  around 10,000 ethnic Armenian refugees from the Nagorno Karabakh region are being processed by the local authorities.

The Red Cross is also located in the town hall building, where it works to identify the assistance the new arrivals need. Nearby there are rooms where people can collect clothes and other items donated by local people, ands there's also a food distribution point. 

The refugees need to register so they can get monthly assistance payments from the Armenian government, but it's a gargantuan task for the officials of a small town that itself only has a population of around 20,000.

Recognising that there will be no immediate solution to the refugee crisis, the Armenian government has decided to give each refugee a one-off allowance of 236 euros and later a monthly allowance of 118 euros to help pay for rent and food.

"They do help us here and take great care of us," said one refugee, of the assistance she's received.

"But it still hurts, it hurts a lot. Our family cemetery remained there, everything remained there," she added.

Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of ethnic cleansing, which it denies. Azerbaijan's military launched an attack on the Nagorno-Karabkh region on September 19th, killing around 200 Armenian fighters and scaring almost the entire ethnic Armenian population into fleeing to neighbouring Armenia. About 200 Azerbaijani fighters were also killed, according to officials.

Azerbaijan was helped by Israel when, just weeks before Azerbaijan launched its attack its military cargo planes repeatedly flew between a southern Israeli airbase and an airfield near Nagorno-Karabakh, according to flight tracking data and Armenian diplomats.

Experts estimate Israel supplied Azerbaijan with nearly 70% of its weapons arsenal between 2016 and 2020 — giving Azerbaijan an edge against Armenia and boosting Israel’s large defence industry.

Israel has a big stake in Azerbaijan, which serves as a critical source of oil and is a staunch ally against Israel’s archenemy Iran. It is also a lucrative customer of sophisticated arms.

In the previous conflict in 2020 Turkey supplied Azerbaijan with military drones, which experts said helped it capture parts of Nagorno-Karabakh, including the second city of Shusha.

The things they could not carry

Nyrie Kalashian
Boston Globe
Oct 6 2023
By Arto Vaun

Since the day I moved to Armenia in early 2014, I wondered: How is this sustainable? By “this,” I meant the survival of Armenians in Artsakh, the historically Armenian region in Azerbaijan otherwise known as Nagorno-Karabakh.

The landscape stretching from Armenia to Artsakh, beguiling and vast, with its jagged mountains and valleys, seemed both of the present and not. Maybe it was because the expansive terrain was dotted with ancient monasteries — almost more of them than people. Wherever I looked, I felt outnumbered by heartbroken ghosts from a vibrant but melancholic past.

General Andranik Ozanian’s commanders in the Zangezur area of Artsakh in 1918. Andranik, as he is known, was one of the leaders of the resistance fighters fending off Turkish and Azeri aggression in Western and Eastern Armenia.ROUBEN DER STEPANIAN/PROJECT SAVE PHOTOGRAPH ARCHIVES

I’d been on the road for over six hours, along the narrow, winding “highway” from Yerevan, Armenia’s capital, to Stepanakert, in Artsakh. The cognitive dissonance I’d been experiencing since my arrival in Armenia was amplified with each mile, as though I were headed to the source.

Cut to the past two weeks. Azerbaijani forces seized the self-declared Republic of Artsakh in a short, violent campaign on Sept. 23. Literally overnight, Artsakh’s population was expelled, shrinking from some 120,000 to a few hundred left in a dystopian setting. In an instant, a people indigenous to that region lost everything, again.

Left, Armenian freedom fighters “Katchal Ghazar,” or “Bald Lazarus,” right, and Garegin Njdeh, center, in Zangezur, Eastern Armenia, in 1920. Njdeh, along with General Andranik Ozanian, was one of the pivotal figures during the struggle for Armenian self-determination. Like many others, Njdeh died in a Soviet prison in 1955. Right, three school friends in Shushi, Artsakh, in 1908. All three were killed in the 1920 massacre in Artsakh.LEFT, ROUBEN DER STEPANIAN/RIGHT, H.D. SHABEZIAN/PROJECT SAVE PHOTOGRAPH ARCHIVES

For Armenians, the 19th and 20th centuries were punctuated by periods of massacres and forced displacement, with the Genocide of 1915 being the most pivotal. The Republic of Armenia, established after the First World War, was quickly squeezed to death by Turkish-Azeri aggression on one side and the Bolsheviks on the other. In 1922, after both Armenia and Azerbaijan joined the USSR, Stalin gave Artsakh to Azerbaijan for reasons not hard to guess: Azerbaijan has oil; Armenia does not. Although Artsakh still had autonomous status, the Armenians there and in Azerbaijan suffered under discriminatory policies until they were forced to flee pogroms in 1988. Armenians are Apostolic Christian, and Azeris are largely Muslim.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, Armenians fought for and reclaimed Artsakh, but the region and its people remained in geopolitical purgatory. Unable to secure international recognition as an independent state, Artsakh was also never officially joined to Armenia. The region has since hung precariously in the balance.

Left, a mass rally in 1988 near the parliament building in Yerevan, Armenia, in support of the movement in Artsakh to join Armenia. Right, a mass funeral in Yerevan’s Opera Square in 1991 for the Armenian fighters killed in Artsakh. The dead would be among the first of many thousands who would die in armed conflict in the disputed region over the next 30 years.LEFT, ARAM OHANIAN/RIGHT, ARMEN PRESS/PROJECT SAVE PHOTOGRAPH ARCHIVES

Which brings us to the current moment. Azerbaijan has wreaked intense trauma on the Artsakh Armenians who had to frantically pack what they could and leave the only land they’d ever known. This after most of them had already lost loved ones in the previous wars and tragedies.

Children who survived an Azeri rocket attack in Stepanakert, Artsakh, in 1992.ARAM OHANIAN/PROJECT SAVE PHOTOGRAPH ARCHIVES

Painful images of chaos and sorrow have flooded social media. People around the world, mostly Armenians, are trying to draw attention to what’s happening while also trying to assuage their own feelings of helplessness.

Less ephemeral than social media posts are the artifacts and manuscripts in museums and libraries, and photographs and other relics that have been mostly left behind. Azerbaijan, abetted by Turkey, will seek to demolish or repurpose ancient churches and other historic sites, because it is cultural evidence that subverts historical revisionism and denial. This is why both countries have pursued a systematic and terrifying state policy of inculcating hate, erasing cultural traces of Armenians’ presence, and rewriting history.


Left, an Armenian cemetery in Shushi, Artsakh, desecrated by Azeris in 1995. The systematic destruction of Armenian cultural evidence and heritage has continued to this day. Right, the ninth-century Armenian monastery of Dadivank in the Karvachar region of Artsakh, a site dear to Armenians, was taken over by Azerbaijan in 2020.ARAM OHANIAN/WOLFGANG RICKMANN/PROJECT SAVE PHOTOGRAPH ARCHIVES

The vast majority of Armenians forced out of Artsakh did not have time to take their family photographs, old home movies, or other important cultural materials. Imagine that you have fled an atrocity and survived but you had to leave behind all the physical evidence of what your life, your home, your neighborhood, and your country were like. Without it, how much of you has actually survived?

Nov. 8, 1988: Armenians in Yerevan protested October Revolution Day by throwing Soviet flags to the ground in a show of support for Artsakh.ARAM OHANIAN/PROJECT SAVE PHOTOGRAPH ARCHIVES

For 48 years, Project Save Photograph Archives has been asking that question. As the oldest, largest archive in the world solely dedicated to photographs of the Armenian global experience, it has been at the forefront of understanding that storytelling and cultural preservation through original photography are among the most powerful ways to ensure that the truths of people’s lives and history are not forgotten.

Arto Vaun is the executive director of Project Save Photograph Archives. Follow him on Instagram @arto.vaun and follow the archive @projectsave_archives.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/10/06/opinion/armenians-flee-nagorno-karabakh/


MSF offers mental health support to people displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh

Jane Topchian
MSF.org – Doctors Without Borders
Oct 6 2023




Project Update6 October 2023

On Tuesday 19 September, Azerbaijan launched an attack on various areas in Nagorno-Karabakh. The region is a self-proclaimed republic internationally recognised as belonging to Azerbaijan, but which has traditionally been home to many ethnic Armenians. 
 
After a ceasefire agreement was reached 24 hours later, more than 100,000 residents from the region made their way to neighbouring Armenia through the Lachin corridor, located between the region and the border, which had been closed for 10 months. 

We are dealing with people who have lost everything.NARINE DANIELYAN, MSF MEDICAL TEAM LEADER IN GORIS

The displaced people have an urgent need for mental health support, alongside their other social and medical requirements. On Thursday 28 September, a medical team from Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) began receiving patients at the registration centre in Goris, in Syunik province, southern Armenia.

Two psychologists have provided mental health consultations and psychological first aid to over 200 people in just a few days. 

“We are dealing with people who have lost everything,” says Narine Danielyan, MSF’s medical team leader in Goris. 

“Our approach involves several steps, including building trust, ensuring well-being, stabilising those in acute distress, providing practical assistance, rebuilding social connections, offering coping strategies, and connecting them to additional resources and care.” 

Our teams provide mental health support and psychological first aid to people who have fled Nagorno-Karabakh, in Goris, Syunik province. Southern Armenia, September 28, 2023

The people our teams meet are often exhausted from carrying multiple bags; they are often looking for specific support or just someone to listen to their stories and concerns. 

Most suffer from mental health issues. Our medical staff have observed stress, uncertainty about the future, shock, denial, fear, anger, grief, sleep disturbances and physical symptoms, such as stomach aches and headaches, among the patients we see. But this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the long-term suffering that people can endure. 

“A woman came to us, repeatedly expressing her desire to return home immediately and asking for our help,” says Danielyan. 

“Almost everyone we talk to tells us they have lost a loved one or a distant family member. Most of them are devastated and severely psychologically affected.” 

Our mental health teams continue to follow up with patients who have been accommodated in some of the hotels or centres near the reception point in Goris by providing mental health sessions. 

Meanwhile, we remain actively engaged in assessing evolving needs, with a specific focus on general healthcare, continuity of care for patients with non-communicable diseases, and addressing respiratory infections, among other illnesses.

https://www.msf.org/armenia-msf-offers-mental-health-support-people-displaced-nagorno-karabakh





EU delivers further emergency assistance in Armenia as Commissioner Lenarčič visits the country

Paul Hambardsumian
Oct 6 2023

Today, Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič is in Armenia to coordinate the EU's assistance to the country in light of the mass exodus of people from Nagorno-Karabakh. This follows President von der Leyen's meeting with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan yesterday in Granada where a series of EU support measures were outlined.

The visit comes as a plane carrying EU emergency supplies is due to arrive in Yerevan. The aid flight is part of the European Humanitarian Response Capacity which has been activated to provide support to humanitarian organisations on the ground.

Mobilising its humanitarian stockpiles, the EU is delivering hygiene kits, kitchen sets, blankets, solar LED-s, and solar flashlights to EU humanitarian partners who will then rapidly distribute them to the people in need. This aid flight will therefore help support people in need with shelter and accommodation essentials.

Furthermore, the Commissioner will discuss the latest support mobilised via the EU Civil Protection Mechanism which was activated on 29 September upon a request from Armenia. So far, Austria, Germany, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Romania, and Sweden have offered urgently needed shelter equipment and food and medical supplies.

Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain, and Sweden have offered medical support to assist the mass burn victims of the fuel depot explosion in Stepanakert. The first medical evacuation flight transporting patients for treatment in France landed yesterday in Paris.

A team of EU humanitarian experts have been deployed to Armenia where they are now coordinating with humanitarian partners to assess the developing needs and to ensure a rapid response to the crisis.

The EU's Emergency Response Coordination Centre is operating 24/7 to coordinate donations via the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to Armenia.

During his mission, the Commissioner will meet the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan; the Deputy Prime Minister, Tigran Khachatryan; the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ararat Mirzoyan, as well as EU humanitarian partners in Armenia. Commissioner Lenarčič will also visit shelters for the displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh.

Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, said: “Almost the entire Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh has now fled to Armenia. We are mobilising our humanitarian stockpiles to deliver urgently needed shelter equipment to the displaced people. A flight with EU humanitarian cargo is landing in Yerevan. I also want to thank the EU countries that offered in-kind assistance to Armenia via the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. We stand in solidarity with those who have had to leave their homes and lives behind.”

In the past weeks, the EU has already allocated over €10 million in humanitarian aid in response to the crisis. The priority is to provide cash assistance, shelter, food security, and livelihoods, as well as mental health and psychological support to the refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh.

Since the outbreak of the Nagorno Karabakh war in 2020, the European Commission has allocated €31.2 million overall in humanitarian aid to provide emergency support to the affected people.

EU humanitarian assistance includes food, hygiene, and household items, multi-purpose cash assistance, shelter, education in emergencies, health and psychosocial support, medical equipment, and other urgent assistance.

EU humanitarian funding is provided in line with the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence.

https://civil-protection-humanitarian-aid.ec.europa.eu/news-stories/news/eu-delivers-further-emergency-assistance-armenia-commissioner-lenarcic-visits-country-2023-10-06_en

Armenia Fund Announces Plans to Assist Displaced Artsakh Armenians after Allocating $5 Million

Emil Karabekian
by Asbarez Staff

 

 October 6, 2023

 

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

A caravan of vehicles on the road from Artsakh to Armenia (Photo by David Ghahramanyan for Reuters)


Armenia Fund USA announced that it will $5 million toward assistance to Artsakh Armenians who have been displaced following Azerbaijan’s large-scale deadly attack on Artsakh last month.

“In light of the situation in Artsakh, the Armenia Fund Board of Directors has dedicated $5 million to help our displaced brothers and sisters, effective immediately,” Armenia Fund board chairperson Maria Mehranian said in a statement.

Armenia Fund then launched the “Artsakh Refugee Initiative: Restoring Hope Together,” which according to the organization will continue to provide short-term essentials, such as food, clothing and supplies to refugees, while also working to address mid and long-term goals for those settling in Armenia under immense stress.

With an active team on the ground in Armenia, the project will help to meet the urgent needs of the more than 100,000 displaced Artsakh Armenians at this critical time.

In addition to providing immediate assistance, the project will also arrange permanent housing and provide educational, medical and mental health resources to individuals, families and children.

In the long run, the program will also provide to the displaced Artsakh Armenians to find gainful employment.  

Visit the Armenia Fund website for more information, including progress and updates, and to make donations.

ANCA-Western Region to Honor Luis Moreno Ocampo with ‘Champion of International Justice’ Award

Yeghisabet Vorskanian
by Contributor

 

 October 6, 2023

 

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

BY KATY SIMONIAN

The Armenian National Community of America–Western Region will honor human rights activist and the former Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Luis Moreno Ocampo with the prestigious “Champion of International Justice” award for his unequivocal support of preventing genocide in Artsakh and his lifetime of pursuing justice for crimes against humanity around the world.

The Armenian community will have the opportunity to salute Ocampo’s trailblazing work at the ANCA-Western Region’s annual Awards Banquet which will take place on Sunday, November 12 at The Beverly Hilton.

Following nearly ten months of Azerbaijan’s illegal blockade of Artsakh and its military onslaught which resulted in the forced depopulation of Artsakh, the ANCA-WR Board seriously considered canceling this year’s Awards Gala.

However, remembering the inspiring words of Artsakh Foreign Minister and last year’s Freedom Award honoree David Babayan, who is currently unlawfully imprisoned in Baku, the ANCA-WR Board decided that it must not show weakness in the face of Azeri aggression and that it must forge ahead in a show of unity and resilience against the injustices inflicted on our people, pledging to donate a portion of the proceeds toward humanitarian assistance for Artsakh genocide survivors.

A few short weeks ago, while speaking at a Congressional Hearing for the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, Ocampo articulated a clear, declarative rejection of any refusal to call Azerbaijan’s actions against Artsakh a case of genocide in the name of preserving negotiations.

“The negotiation is between a genocider and his victims. You cannot ask for a negotiation between Hitler and the people of Auschwitz. It’s not a negotiation. You have to stop Auschwitz and then discuss negotiation. And that, I think, is the secret here,” he said at the hearing.

Ocampo’s words and presence at the Congressional Hearing offered an unprecedented display of support from one of the world’s most influential figures in international criminal justice. The context he provides with his detailed report on the current conditions in Artsakh, including the blockade that has pushed 120,000 Armenians to the brink of starvation, demonstrates that the Azeri government is clearly and incontrovertibly attempting to commit genocide against Christian Armenians in Artsakh.

“You cannot be involved in negotiations when President Aliyev uses genocide as a method of negotiation,” said Ocampo, as he continues to urge the Biden Administration to take a declarative stance to end Azerbaijan’s genocidal blockade of Artsakh.

“Having the support of Luis Moreno Ocampo during one of the darkest moments in our history offers all Armenians a sense of hope, knowing that a human rights defender of his caliber is committed to protecting the people of Artsakh and securing the safety of the Armenian homeland. History will remember him as a man of honor who spoke the truth, sounding the alarm to prevent crimes against humanity in the name of justice,” said ANCA-WR Chair Nora Hovsepian, Esq.

“We salute Mr. Ocampo and continue to urge lawmakers across the United States and around the world to heed his word and take action in preventing further crimes against humanity in Artsakh,” added Hovsepian.

Ocampo’s words carry a great deal of weight across the international community.

A living legend who served as the First Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court from 2003-2012, Ocampo has been at the forefront of pursuing justice in the name of peace and democracy for over fifty years. Born in Argentina, Ocampo trained at the University of Bueno Aires before starting his career as a Prosecutor.

In 1985, he made history while serving as Assistant Prosecutor in the Trial of the Juntas, which prosecuted the heads of the military Juntas that governed Argentina during the country’s last military dictatorship in 1975. The prosecution proved criminal responsibility against former Presidents Jorge Rafael Videla and Roberto Viola, Admirals Emilio Massera and Armando Lambruschini, and Brigadier Orlando Agosti, who were all convicted on December 9, 1985. This was the first case since the Nuremberg Trials where miliary commanders faced accountability for mass killings of the country’s citizens. Argentina 1985, a film chronicling the harrowing efforts of Ocampo and his fellow prosecutors, was released in 2022 and is available on Amazon Prime after becoming Argentina’s official film submission for the Academy Awards.

Following the landmark prosecution, Ocampo continued his commitment to seeking justice against the Juntas who sought to flee prosecution and successfully facilitated the extradition of many, including General Guillermo Suárez Mason from California in 1988.

During the 1990s, he joined the private sector, whilst maintaining his commitment to human rights by taking on cases of corruption across the public and private sectors. His experience made him a prominent voice across the international community and he used his platform by hosting a television series, Fórum, la corte del Pueblo, which gave audiences a window into the process of mediation.

After years of serving as a jurist across the field of human rights, Ocampo made history in 2003 when he was unanimously elected as the first prosecutor of the newly founded International Criminal Court. During his nine-year tenure as prosecutor, he opened investigations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, the Central African Republic, Kenya, as well as Darfur and Libya, at the request of the UN Security Council, and in Côte d’Ivoire at the request of national authorities.

His unique insight and background equipped him with formidable antennae to pursue cases of crimes against humanity and leaders with a complete absence of empathy and regard for the law, chief among them being Omar al-Bashir who Ocampo accused of crimes against humanity in Darfur. His office prosecuted Bashir, after investigations proved he had caused the deaths of over 300,000 people including a UN peace keeping force.

Under his leadership, the first trial of the ICC resulted in the conviction of Thomas Lubanga, who was convicted of war crimes and the use of child soldiers in the Congo. As fate would have it, the legendary Ben Ferencz, who served as prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials, closed the prosecution at age 93 – a fitting connection for Ocampo, who embraced the legacy of Nuremberg in seeking justice for his country of Argentina.

Ocampo went on to prosecute cases in Sudan and Kenya, with his trademark steadfast dedication to holding those in power accountable for their actions and maintaining a strong stance against corruption that would cause harm to developing democracy. As the first prosecutor, he set crucial precedents for what is possible when achieving international criminal justice, proving that victims of crimes against humanity can and must be heard in order to heal and to prevent future crimes.

After his tenure at the ICC was completed, he carried on with his groundbreaking work, applying pressure to the UN Security Council in many high-profile cases, as he joined the campaign group Yazda, which sought to persuade heads of state to recognize the crime of genocide in support of the Yazidi community of Iraq. He is a senior fellow at the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs at Yale University and a senior fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University.

As a man of immense humility and grit, he has never chosen to shy away from challenging cases or be discouraged by the often-deafening silence of the international community on matters of genocide prevention. His presence, speaking truth to power on behalf of the Armenian community has been quite impactful. “This is an ongoing genocide. This is happening now,” he told the Congressional hearing. “Genocide under Article IIC requires just creating the conditions to destroy a people … blocking the Lachin Corridor with its life systems for the Nagorno-Karabakh people is exactly creating those conditions.” His words offer a stern warming to the United States against any complicity in what is clearly an act of genocide by all legal and moral standards.

After the most recent horrors that took place in Artsakh which saw Azerbaijan’s forces attack innocent civilians, forcing over 100,000 Armenians to flee their ancestral lands, Ocampo voiced his position once again in a scathing article in The Washington Post, condemning international complacency in failing to prevent a second Armenian Genocide. His article calls for international intervention and the need for acknowledge the crime of genocide, writing “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 thirty years.” Ocampo’s command of the geopolitical nuances at the backdrop of international complacency is matched only by the clarity with which he condemns all who are willfully complicit in allowing what he calls “the Armenian genocide of 2023” to occur.

One of the greatest enemies of progress is the cold, glazed wall of indifference. Such walls cannot be broken with force, but rather with the blazing light of truth, melting barriers of injustice and fear. Luis Moreno Ocampo has dedicated his life to being a light for those without a voice in order to create spaces in which people may be heard and justice can be accomplished. The light he continues to shine on the people of Artsakh serves as a warning for all nations and a call to action to prevent genocide from ever again occurring in the name of global accountability and peace.

For more information about Luis Moreno Ocampo’s extraordinary work for global human rights, genocide prevention and justice, and to purchase tickets for the 2023 ANCA-Western Region Awards Banquet, please click here. A portion of the proceeds from this year’s gala will be donated to support Artsakh Genocide survivors.

The Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region is the largest and most influential nonpartisan Armenian American grassroots advocacy organization in the Western United States. Working in coordination with a network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout the Western United States and affiliated organizations around the country, the ANCA-WR advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of issues in pursuit of the Armenian Cause.

Asbarez: Russian Peacekeepers Dismantle 2 Permanent, 1 Temporary Posts in Artsakh

Vanyan Gary
by Asbarez Staff

 

 October 6, 2023

 

in Armenia, Artsakh, Featured Main, Latest, News, Top Stories

Russian peacekeeper in Artsakh


Moscow Denies Reports of Ending Peacekeeping Contingent Mission

During the past 24 hours, the Russian peacekeeping forces in Nagorno-Karabakh have dismantled two permanent and one temporary observation posts, the Russia’s Defense Ministry said.

“During the day, two permanent observations posts in Shushi and Askeran region and one temporary post in the Market region were closed after the disarming [of the Artsakh Army] and leaving the areas,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Moscow added that the inventory of arms that were handed over by the Artsakh Defense Army is ongoing.

A government source told the Tass news agency that reports that Russia is planning to end its peacekeeping mission in Nagorno-Karabakh are not true.

“Reports by a number of media outlets suggesting that a Russian Defense Ministry delation is discussing with Baku and Yerevan the withdrawal of Russian peacekeeping forces in Nagorno-Karabakh is not true,” a diplomatic source told Tassl

“We are discussing planned contacts regarding the current activities of the peacekeepers,” added the source.

Again citing an unnamed diplomatic source, the official Tass news agency reported on Friday that a Russian military delegation will visit Yerevan later on Friday to discuss with Armenian officials time frames for the Russian withdrawal from Karabakh.

Armenia’s Defense Ministry spokesperson, Aram Torosyan, said, however, that he has “no information” about the visit. No Russian-Armenian talks on the issue have been scheduled so far, he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed on Thursday that the peacekeepers could not have thwarted the September 19 attack on Artsakh because Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan downgraded their mandate with his decision to recognize Azerbaijani sovereignty over Artsakh. Putin acknowledged that there are virtually no Armenians left in Karabakh.

Asbarez: Yerevan Condemns Azerbaijan’s Arrest of Artsakh Leaders

Emil Lazarian
by Asbarez Staff

 

 October 4, 2023

 

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

Artsakh leaders attend Mass before the Lachin Corridor blockade in December


Armenia’s Foreign Ministry condemned the arrest of prominent Artsakh leaders by Azerbaijan, pledging, in a statement, that Armenia will take all steps to protect their rights.

This comes as Azerbaijani sources on Tuesday confirmed the arrest of Artsakh’s former presidents, Arayik Harutyunyan, Bako Sahakian and Arkady Ghukasian, as well as that of parliament speaker Davit Ishkhanyan. Earlier this week it was reported that former Artsakh State Minister Ruben Vardanyan, the former foreign minister Davit Babayan and two high-ranking Artsakh military commanders were also arrested.

“Despite statements made by high-level Azerbaijani government officials on willingness for dialogue with Nagorno-Karabakh representatives about respecting and protecting the rights of Armenians and not obstructing their return to Nagorno-Karabakh and on the establishment of peace in the region, the Azerbaijani law enforcement agencies continue to carry out arbitrary arrests,” Armenia’s foreign ministry said.

The statement also pointed out that Armenia, on several occasions, has called for the need to guarantee such actions, “including on September 23 from the podium of the UN General Assembly.”

“On September 28, the Republic of Armenia appealed to the UN International Court of Justice, within the framework of the Armenia vs. Azerbaijan case examined as part of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, requesting provisional measures demanding Azerbaijan to refrain from taking punitive actions against current or former Nagorno-Karabakh leaders or military personnel,” explained the foreign ministry.

“The Republic of Armenia will take all possible steps to protect the rights of the unlawfully arrested Nagorno-Karabakh representatives in international bodies, including judicial bodies,” the statement said.

“We also call upon international partners to follow up their calls made thus far to Azerbaijan regarding the protection of the rights and security of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, and address the issue both in bilateral relations with Azerbaijan and within various international bodies,” the Armenian Foreign Ministry said.