Category: 2023

THE PERSECUTION OF ARMENIAN CHRISTIANS IS NOT JUST A RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ISSUE

by Joel Veldkamp
10 . 3 . 23

This September, the end came for Nagorno-Karabakh. 

The tiny mountain region was once home to 120,000 Armenian Christians
governing themselves in a de facto independent republic, the Republic of
Artsakh. Armenians have been living in this region for thousands of years,
and they have been Christians since the fourth century. The dozens of
ancient and medieval churches dotting the landscape bear witness to this
history.

But for nine months, the dictatorship of Azerbaijan had been blockading this
region. The siege led to a hunger crisis and created dire fuel and medicine
shortages. One horrifying indicator of the scale of the suffering: the
miscarriage rate in the territory reportedly quadrupled. 

Then, on September 19, Azerbaijan attacked. The military assault drove half
of the region’s population out of their homes, and swamped the capital’s
hospital with wounded for whom there were no medical supplies. Widespread
atrocities were reported, including the apparently deliberate bombing of a
group of fleeing children. Five days after the attack began, the Karabakh
Armenians accepted Russia’s offer to evacuate their population to the
neighboring Republic of Armenia. 

In one fell swoop, one of the world’s most brutal dictatorships destroyed
one of the world’s oldest Christian communities. Not only that, but the
dictatorship in question receives U.S. military aid and is considered a
“valued partner” of the U.S.

How did conservative Christians in the United States-members of the world’s
largest, freest, richest, and most influential Christian community-respond
to the ethnic cleansing of their coreligionists by a U.S. ally?

With almost complete silence.

Two facts make this shameful non-reaction particularly strange. First, since
the 1990s, the U.S. has been home to a robust and vocal movement on behalf
of persecuted Christians abroad. This movement has been especially strong
among conservative Christians. Second, during the Armenian Genocide of
1915-1923, American Christians mobilized to help the genocide’s victims as
never before in history. They raised a phenomenal $100 million for relief,
aiding perhaps two million refugees in total. Herbert Hoover would later
remark that, “probably Armenia was known to the American school child in
1919 only a little less than England.”

Contrast that with what one of my colleagues in the U.S. told me earlier
this year: “Joel, most people in my congregation don’t even know what an
Armenian is.”

How do we account for an abdication this massive?

From my perspective as a staff member at Christian Solidarity International,
one factor appears salient: the absorption of Christian organizing and
political energy into a movement for “international religious freedom.”

Over the past three years, when I have talked about Karabakh with Christians
who work in organizations dedicated to helping the persecuted, I have
repeatedly gotten versions of this question: “But is this really about
religious freedom?”

There is a history to how this question became the overriding determinant
for organizations like mine. After the end of the Cold War, a large
coalition of Christian and Jewish activists and organizations began working
to get the U.S. government to address the persecution of Christians in the
Global South.

To do so, these activists chose to frame the problem within the discourse of
human rights. They settled on one human right in particular: the right to
“religious freedom” enshrined in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights.

Today, we have become used to thinking of religious persecution as, by
definition, an attack on religious freedom. Yet the twentieth century’s
worst instance of anti-Christian persecution-the Armenian Genocide-did not
fit the “religious freedom” category so neatly. The architects of the
genocide were not, after all, trying to keep Armenians from worshipping
Jesus, building churches, or reading the Bible. Much like Azerbaijan today,
they were trying to exterminate a Christian people (whether practicing or
not) that they had long held in subservience but had come to see as a threat
to their power.

At the time, this fact posed no obstacle at all to American Christians
organizing for their suffering coreligionists. Later generations of
Christendom would not benefit from this clarity.

The anti-persecution movement achieved its greatest legislative victory in
1998, with the passage of the “International Religious Freedom Act.”
Significantly, as the scholar Elizabeth Castelli notes, the final
legislation does not use the word “persecution” even once in its definitions
of terms. It speaks only of “violations of religious freedom.” These
violations might include “forced mass resettlement,” “rape,” “enslavement,”
“murder,” and so forth-but only “if committed on account of an individual’s
religious belief or practice.”

This framing suits the priorities of the U.S. foreign policy establishment
rather well. If persecution is primarily a problem of individual liberty,
rather than a question involving ethnic identity, peoples, or even nations
and nation-states, then it becomes an issue between governments and their
citizens. U.S. diplomats can grade the performance of foreign governments
and otherwise address the issue at their leisure, without calling into
question broader U.S. foreign policy.

In order to pass key legislation and gain a foothold in the U.S. government,
Christian anti-persecution activists accommodated themselves to the
government’s preferences. This came at a cost. Soon, the institutions the
U.S. and its allies set up to promote religious freedom began to shape the
way Christians did advocacy. Eventually, it shaped the very way we thought
about persecution.

This category shift has been so debilitating that, as the bombs were falling
on Armenian Christians in September 2023, Christianity Today saw fit to
publish just one piece about the attack-an article that interviews six
“religious freedom experts” about whether or not specifically Christian
advocacy for the Armenians would be appropriate.

An urgent task is now before Christian leaders and activists: to free our
imaginations from the constraints of “international religious freedom” and
its definitions, and to rediscover our biblical calling to solidarity with
the body of Christ (I Cor. 12:25-26).

The next Karabakh will most likely be Syunik, the southernmost province of
the Republic of Armenia, which Turkey and Azerbaijan are now eyeing
greedily. And there will be other Karabakhs. Christian communities around
the world are facing oppression, military attack, and ethnic cleansing in
ways that are not easy to define as violations of individual religious
freedom. This is the case today in the Nuba Mountains, West Papua, Benue,
Southern Kaduna, Manipur, and Karen state. 

But you likely haven’t heard of most of these places.

Joel Veldkamp is the head of international communications at Christian
Solidarity International.

 09:46, 5 October 2023

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 5, ARMENPRESS. Poland has sent humanitarian aid to Armenia for the forcibly displaced persons of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The aid consists of 10 tons of food and 200 packages of blankets.

Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland Wojciech Gerwel personally arrived to Armenia to hand over the aid.

Speaking to reporters, Gerwel expressed concern about the displacement of over 100,000 refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh.

“We want to show Poland’s support to Armenia at this difficult time,” he said.

“In response to the call by UNHCR Yerevan office, Poland is donating 200,000 euros for the urgent needs of the refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh,” Gerwel added.

100,630 forcibly displaced persons have arrived to Armenia from Nagorno-Karabakh. 

The Armenian government is providing accommodation and financial support to the forcibly displaced persons.

 10:42, 5 October 2023

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 5, ARMENPRESS. Any geopolitical change in the South Caucasus would be unacceptable for Iran, President Ebrahim Raisi has said.

Raisi made the remarks during separate meetings in Tehran with Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan and Khalaf Aly Oghlu Khalafov, the special representative of Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, IRNA reports.

During talks with Secretary Grigoryan, President Raisi ‘stressed the importance of respecting the territorial integrity of the countries in the Caucasus, and announced Iran’s readiness to cooperate on improving peace and security in that region’, according to IRNA.

Raisi also rejected any geopolitical change in the Caucasus, calling it harmful to the interests of the regional countries.

He stressed the need for protecting the rights of the Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, and announced Iran’s readiness to help Armenia and Azerbaijan resolve their standoff through dialogue. The Iranian president made similar comments during talks with Khalaf Aly Oghlu Khalafov, the special representative of Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev.

Raisi said that protecting and improving stability in the Caucasus depends on the cooperation of regional countries which he said are capable of resolving regional issues.

He added that the presence of extra-regional countries under any excuse does not benefit regional nations, and that the region’s geopolitics should remain unchanged.

 10:10, 5 October 2023

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 5, ARMENPRESS. U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), the new Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on October 4 issued the following statement on the need to support Armenia and reevaluate military assistance and security cooperation with Azerbaijan.

“Following nearly a year of a horrific blockade, President Aliyev finally used military power to exert control over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, effectively erasing its Armenian population and rich history. As the world continues to grapple with Azerbaijan’s coordinated, intentional campaign of ethnic cleansing, we must both prioritize support for the Armenians who have been expelled as well as holding Azerbaijan accountable.

“As we look forward we must take steps to ensure that Azerbaijan does not advance militarily in pursuit for further territorial gains, including forcefully condemning inflammatory rhetoric. The United States should halt security assistance to Azerbaijan until it has stopped this brutal campaign. The United States and the international community must also reaffirm our commitment to documenting war crimes and atrocities, as well as continue to support efforts to repatriate prisoners of war, many of whom Azerbaijan continues to detain.

“Finally, we must stand in solidarity with the Armenian people, particularly as Azerbaijan and Turkey eye the potential Zangezur corridor. We should increase humanitarian support for those ethnic Armenians who have left Nagorno-Karabakh. The U.S. should also continue to support democratic reforms that Armenia’s leadership has taken in recent years, including efforts to promote transparency, good governance, and economic cooperation with the United States and Western Europe more broadly.”

 11:11, 5 October 2023

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 5, ARMENPRESS. Washington has confirmed that top officials from the United States, EU and Russia held a meeting in Istanbul days before Azerbaijan launched an attack in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The meeting was first reported by POLITICO and described as ‘secret’. The U.S. State Department, however, refused to describe the talks as such.

“I’d perhaps first take issue with the characterization of it being a secret meeting,” U.S. State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said at a press briefing when asked on the meeting. “We engage with stakeholders and interlocutors in the region quite regularly, and the meeting in Istanbul on September 17th came together to address specifically urgent humanitarian issues and the provision of potential humanitarian aid in Nagorno-Karabakh.  That’s what that meeting was about.  But broadly, the U.S. remains deeply engaged on the situation and we continue to be committed to helping the parties achieve a lasting peace in the South Caucasus,” he added. Patel said it was a meeting of Minsk Group co-chairs at the working level.

The U.S. State Department spokesperson declined to disclose who initiated the meeting.

“It was a meeting that took place at the working level…this was a specific topic on the issue of humanitarian needs in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.  That was the scope and the context of this meeting.  I would not expand it or overinterpret this to mean anything else,” Patel said.

“Broadly, this is a situation that we have continued to be deeply concerned about.  I don’t want to boil down on one specific moment.  But we’re of course concerned by the situation after the recent hostilities, and it has resulted in over 100,000 ethnic Armenians fleeing the Nagorno-Karabakh region into Armenia, and we’re closely monitoring the situation on the ground.  Of course, we continue to be concerned and paying close attention to the humanitarian impacts.  That’s why – part of the reason why this meeting had been taking place,” the State Department spokesperson said when asked whether the U.S. was frustrated that two days after the meeting the Azeri offensive began.

 11:31, 5 October 2023

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 5, ARMENPRESS. The United States Department of State has said it has taken note of Azeri leader Ilham Aliyev refusing to participate in the EU-mediated peace talks with Armenia in Granada, Spain.

“We note that President Aliyev will not participate in the proposed meeting in Granada.  And we’ve consistently been clear though that dialogue between Armenia and Azerbaijan is essential to resolving this longstanding conflict.  This is something that the Secretary and others here continue to be deeply engaged on and we will continue to work on this,” U.S. State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said at a press briefing.

Asked whether or not Washington could deliver arms to Armenia after France recently signaled arms supplies to Yerevan, Patel said: “I have no change in posture to announce.  Again, we continue to believe that dialogue between Armenia and Azerbaijan continues to be incredibly important to finding a dignified and durable peace for the South Caucasus.  It’s why the Secretary has engaged on this so personally, continuing to speak with counterparts and interlocutors in both countries.”

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev cancelled on October 4 a meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan which was due to take place on Thursday in the Spanish city of Granada. The talks were to be held on the sidelines of an EU summit. European Council President Charles Michel, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz were to take part in the meeting.

After Aliyev opted out, PM Pashinyan expressed regret that the meeting wouldn’t take place but said he would nevertheless visit Granada to have other meetings.

 11:27, 5 October 2023

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 5, ARMENPRESS. Azeri authorities have pressed fabricated charges against the former Nagorno-Karabakh President Arayik Harutyunyan days after his arrest which was strongly condemned by Armenia.

Charges include waging a war of aggression, recruiting, training and financing mercenaries, terrorism and others, according to the Azeri prosecution.