Category: 2023

Pan-Armenian Council of Western USA

LOS ANGELES — The Pan Armenian Council of Western United States, the largest coalition of Armenian American community organizations in the United States, calls on the Biden administration to take all measures necessary to end Azerbaijan’s illegal blockade of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) which has endangered the lives of 120,000 men, women, and children for over eight months. Time is running out.  
 
Azerbaijan has cut off 120,000 Armenians from desperately needed food, medicine, energy resources and other urgently needed supplies since December 12, 2022, willfully creating a humanitarian crisis against innocent civilians who simply want a life of peace, freedom and security on their ancestral lands. 
 
International human rights observers agree that the people of Artsakh have weeks to live. Since June 15, 2023, the dictatorial regime of Illham Aliyev has even restricted the delivery of humanitarian assistance by the International Committee of the Red Cross.
 
Despite countless public condemnations of Azerbaijan’s genocidal policy against Artsakh by the international community, and a February 22, 2023 preliminary measure by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordering Azerbaijan to “take all measures at its disposal to ensure the unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin corridor in both directions” (which was reaffirmed by ICJ on July 7, 2023), Azerbaijan continued to escalate the crisis by installing an illegal check-point on the Lachin Corridor on April 23, 2023.  This is in direct violation of the November 9, 2020 trilateral ceasefire statement signed following the 44 days of a war of aggression waged against the Armenians of Artsakh in the Fall of 2020.
 
Azerbaijan’s crimes against humanity and premeditated intent to commit genocide and ethnic cleansing were further demonstrated in late July and early August 2023, when Aliyev’s forces who have been illegally blockading the Lachin Corridor kidnapped 68-year-old Vagif Khachatryan and 61-year-old Artsakh resident Rashid Beglaryan, as they were being transported to Armenia by the ICRC for emergency medical care.
 
With the lives of 30,000 Armenian Children, 20,000 elderly, and 9,000 persons with disabilities hanging in the balance, we demand affirmative action by President Biden and the U.S. Department of State, to prevent a new Armenian Genocide at the hands of the Aliyev regime by:
 

1. Ensuring the immediate re-opening of the Lachin Corridor by introducing and facilitating the passage of a UN Security Council Resolution requiring Azerbaijan to adhere to the February 22, 2023, preliminary measure of the ICJ ordering Azerbaijan to open the Lachin Corridor;
    
2. Immediately halting all U.S. military assistance to Azerbaijan in light of the illegal humanitarian blockade imposed on the Armenians of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), consistent with Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act;
    
3. Sanctioning members of the Aliyev regime under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act for ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated by individual members of the Aliyev regime;
    
4. Delivering $100 million in USAID humanitarian assistance to Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) through the Lachin Corridor to ensure the survival of the 120,000 civilians who have been completely blockaded since June 15, 2023;
    
5. Introducing a UN Security Council resolution to establish a United Nations Mission in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) [UNMINK] consisting of 5,000 international military personnel to ensure the physical security of the population.
    
   Failure to immediately respond to this humanitarian crisis will result in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) joining the ranks of Halabja, Rwanda, Darfur, and Srebrenica —events in world history that define modern evil and stain our collective conscience.
    
   Mr. President and Mr. Secretary of State: 
    
   Resolute action is needed now to prevent a second Armenian Genocide. We ask that you lead the international community in fulfilling its global obligation to protect the 120,000 Armenians of Artsakh, and ensure the unquestionable and inalienable right of Artsakh Armenians for self-determination based on the principle of remedial secession.

The Pan-Armenian Council of the Western United States of America was founded in Burbank, California in 2019 and is comprised of 25 of the largest religious, political, cultural and professional organizations leading the Armenian community. Through the Council, these entities strive to fulfill the organization’s mission statement, which is to implement and realize projects of a pan-community nature; to encourage and assist projects which advance the collective interests and the rights of Armenian communities across the Western United States; to undertake steps to resist actions and efforts which are contrary to the collective interests and rights of Armenians; to gather and apply the Armenian community’s resources for the benefit of the community’s interests as well as the welfare of the Republics of Armenia and Artsakh; to always be mindful of the collective health and protection of the Armenian community.

The UN Security Council meets to discuss Azerbaijan's blockade of Artsakh on Aug. 16

Yerevan Urges UN Security Council Members to Prevent Genocide

BY ARA KHACHATOURIAN

It is unclear what impact will be of the United Nations Security Council session addressing Azerbaijan’s blockade of Artsakh and the acute humanitarian crisis that has resulted. However, official Yerevan took the opportunity to urge the countries represented at the Security Council to prevent another Genocide.

Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan attended the Wednesday’s emergency UN Security Council session, during which and overwhelming majority of the country representatives called on Azerbaijan to lift the blockade of the Lachin Corridor and ensure the flow of humanitarian assistance to Artsakh.

There was a caveat: Most country representatives emphasized the importance of the peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan, with the humanitarian crisis in Artsakh almost taking a back seat to the conversation, whose main purpose was to address what the former prosecutor general of the International Criminal Court called a genocide in progress by Azerbaijan.

Some speakers also opted to advance Baku’s scheme of an alternative route for the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Artsakh — one that completely cuts off Armenia from Artsakh. Baku’s more ardent allies, such as Albania, highlighted the Aghdam-Stepanakert road as a viable option, parroting Azerbaijan’s insistence that a blockade is not —and has not been — underway.

Of course, this is the manifestation of the current global geopolitical climate, which is dominated by the countries’ posturing on the Russia-Ukraine war and overshadows any legitimate humanitarian issue anywhere around the world, unless it fits with that narrative.

Armenia was represented by its foreign minister, Ararat Mirzoyan, whose presentation provided a factual look at the events leading up to Wednesday’s session. He did urge the UNSC member-states to utilize their influence to prevent a genocide.

Below are excerpts from his speech.

So, today I am here to seek your support to address issues of very humanitarian nature and we expect from this Council:

• to condemn the use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, prohibited by international law;
• to condemn the unlawful denial of humanitarian access and depriving the civilian population in Nagorno-Karabakh of objects indispensable to their survival, including willfully impeding relief supply and access for responses to conflict‑induced food insecurity;
• to demand full compliance with obligations under the international humanitarian law, including those related to the protection of civilians, in particular women and children, and critical civilian infrastructure;
• to call for the immediate restoration of freedom and security of movement of persons, vehicles and cargo, in line with the previously reached agreements, through the Lachin corridor;
• to ensure full cooperation of the parties in good faith with the International Committee of the Red Cross and safe and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian assistance;
• to dispatch an independent inter-agency needs assessment mission in Nagorno-Karabakh and provide humanitarian assistance to the affected population.

These humanitarian issues clearly need to be resolved with the international community’s strong intervention before the negative consequences result in ethnic cleansing of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. According to the elected representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh, “This is a deliberately engineered crime, driven by evident genocidal intent. The Azerbaijani authorities purposefully instigated the blockade of the Lachin corridor, with the knowledge that it would subject the entire population of Nagorno-Karabakh to a gradual demise, yet chose to persist with this course of action.”

At the same time, the report of International Criminal Court former prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo reflects that it is already a genocide that is happening in Nagorno-Karabakh. According to Mr. Ocampo, “The blockade of the Lachin corridor by the Azerbaijani security forces impeding access to any food, medical supplies, and other essentials should be considered a Genocide under Article II, (c) of the Genocide Convention: “Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction. Starvation is the invisible Genocide weapon. Without immediate dramatic change, this group of Armenians will be destroyed in a few weeks.”

Distinguished Council, the prevention of such a catastrophe is a core duty of the United Nations and this Council. I do believe that this distinguished body, despite of geopolitical differences, has capacity to act as genocide prevention body and not as genocide commemoration, when it might be too late.

What Mirzoyan did not put forward was urging the UN Security Council to send a fact-finding mission to Artsakh.

The United States, which is chairing the Security Council this month, agreed to bring Armenia’s request to a debate. The State Department has called on Azerbaijan to lift the Lachin blockade. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. Ambassador to the UN who was chairing the meeting, reiterated that. But the American policy on this issue has not been to take concrete steps, but rather to push Armenia and Azerbaijan to sign an agreement at all costs.

The meeting began with a briefing by Edem Wosornu, the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Director of Operations and Advocacy, who said the there is no first hand perspective on the situation on the ground. She did not emphasize that Azerbaijan has not allowed for the UN and international bodies to visit Artsakh since the 2020 war.

The session ended with the representatives of the Azerbaijan and Turkey essentially having the final word.

Ruben Vardanyan, Artsakh’s former State Minister summed up the reality of Wednesday’s so-called emergency meeting.

“The UN member states lack a precise understanding of the situation due to their inability to access Nagorno-Karabakh. Consequently, they may not fully comprehend the gravity of the circumstances. While calls are significant, tangible actions are required to avert any further deterioration,” Vardanyan said in a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

“I implore the UN to dispatch a mission to witness the reality on the ground. I am confident that following this firsthand experience, they will be resolute in taking definitive actions to counter Azerbaijan’s genocidal policy,” he added.