Fears prompt ethnic Armenians to flee Nagorno-Karabakh Shepparton News
Day: September 25, 2023
Armenian Americans joined with faith-based and human rights groups in demanding the Biden administration stop the Armenian Genocide of 2023 at a White House protest organized by the AYF D.C. Ani Chapter
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Armenian Youth Federation – Youth Organization of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (AYF) Washington, D.C. “Ani” Chapter organized a protest outside the White House demanding that the Biden Administration directly intervene to stop Azerbaijan’s genocide against the 120,000 indigenous Armenians of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), sanction Azerbaijan for its war crimes and take immediate measures to ensure the safety and security of Artsakh residents.
The protest came just two days after Azerbaijan launched a brutal attack against Artsakh, killing over 200 and forcing tens of thousands from their homes. The genocidal onslaught followed nine months of Azerbaijan’s blockade of the Berdzor (Lachin) Corridor, the only road that connects Artsakh to the rest of the world, leaving the people of Artsakh without food, medical supplies and energy resources.
AYF D.C. Ani chapter member Matt Girardi implored protesters to “remember how futures are built…who we are…and [to] never stop fighting for a truly free, independent and united Armenia.”Matt Girardi, a member of the AYF Washington, D.C. “Ani” Chapter, opened the protest with a powerful indictment of Azerbaijan’s actions. “Let us be clear: this is genocide. It has been, and it continues to be. It is the echo of 1915 that should haunt the world.”
Girardi voiced the Armenian American community’s clear demands of the Biden administration. “Going forward, we need our government to act. We need it to protect the people of Artsakh’s sacred right to self-determination. We need a U.N. mandate for international administration to immediately protect the population of Artsakh. We need this administration to finally hold Aliyev and all his goons accountable for the war crimes and genocide they have promulgated. We need immediate deliverance of humanitarian, development and reconstruction assistance, and to secure the safe return of all those indigenous Armenians displaced by Azerbaijan’s campaign of aggression,” stated Girardi.
In the face of one of the darkest moments in Armenian history, Girardi called for Armenians everywhere to “remember how futures are built…who we are…and [to] never stop fighting for a truly free, independent and united Armenia.”
An audio and photo collage of Girardi’s speech is available here.
AYF D.C. Ani Chapter member Sune Hamparian stresses Armenian American solidarity with the people of Artsakh during powerful remarks at the White House protest
Following chants demanding concrete U.S. action to stop the Armenian Genocide of 2023, fellow AYF “Ani” Chapter member Sune Hamparian stressed that the work of Armenians and their allies in the interfaith and human rights communities must continue in the face of the lack of a global response to Artsakh’s plight. “Where is your morality? Where is your humanity, your sympathy? Where is your heart?” she asked.
Hamparian affirmed that the Armenian American community remains “in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Artsakh; in faith with the generations that came before us; in tribute to those who fell in this struggle; in service to those generations that will follow.”
“Artsakh’s fate is not yet written,” and “America’s role is not yet over,” she stressed, reminding protesters of the Armenian American community’s decades-long battle to end U.S. complicity in the denial of the Armenian Genocide of 1915. “We broke the longest-lasting foreign gag rule in American history. We must now do the same for Artsakh, putting America on the right side of self-determination, of genocide prevention, of human rights,” concluded Hamparian.
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AYF DC “Ani” Chapter
Founded in 1942, the AYF Washington DC “Ani” and “Sevan” chapters work to unite Armenian youth and organize activities in the DC, Maryland and Virginia area. The chapter has a Senior (“Ani”) and Junior (“Sevan”) chapter. The Washington DC “Ani” chapter sets out to achieve its goals and objectives throughout the year and hosts events like joint meetings between DMV juniors and juniors in Armenia, protests and other forms of political activism, an annual chapter anniversary dinner and fundraisers to benefit the homeland. The AYF-YOARF’s five pillars (athletic, cultural educational, political, social) guide the chapter and help keep its membership active and at the forefront of the Armenian cause at all times.
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“We will forever rise”
“We can never trust and must never allow genocidal Azerbaijan to rule over the free people of Artsakh.” – AYF D.C. “Ani” Chapter member Sune Hamparian offering powerful remarks at the White House protest for Artsakh
Remarks offered at White House protest on September 20, 2023, demanding the Biden administration take immediate action to stop Azerbaijan’s Artsakh Genocide.
I will, today, speak through my tears.
Tears for Artsakh’s mothers and children. Her saints and soldiers. Her holy churches and sacred lands.
We have, each of us, seen the devastation visited upon Artsakh—the genocidal destruction, the thousands killed, the anguish of mothers unable to feed their families, the grief of children left without parents.
We have felt in our own hearts the fear of families hiding in bunkers, felt our world shake as bombs shattered lives, families with deep roots in Artsakh’s rich soil.
We are gathered here today to scream at the world, to demand the global community stop turning a blind eye, to ask: Where is your morality? Where is your humanity, your sympathy? Where is your heart?
We cry to the heavens but know our work remains here on earth, for our fight is far from over.
We remain in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Artsakh—in faith with the generations that came before us; in tribute to those who fell in this struggle; in service to those generations that will follow.
It is in this spirit that we will show the world that we will forever rise and never be silenced. Relentless when knocked down. Defiant when pushed around.
We dust ourselves off, stand up straight, roll up our sleeves and get to work, to show ourselves and all the world that America is better than it treated Artsakh—better than abandoning 120,000 Armenians; better than both-siding Azerbaijan’s one-sided genocide; better than arming and abetting a corrupt and cruel oil-rich dictator.
Artsakh’s fate is not yet written, and America’s role is far from over.
Through long years of hard struggle, we lifted America from the depths of Armenian Genocide denial, broke the longest-lasting foreign gag rule in American history.
We must now do the same for Artsakh, putting America on the right side of self-determination, of genocide prevention, of human rights.
That starts with America honoring our signature on the U.N. Genocide Convention, recognizing that we can never trust and must never allow genocidal Azerbaijan to rule over the free people of Artsakh.
On this and all our policy priorities, we stand united, here at the White House, in the halls of Congress, at the United Nations and all across the world.
With renewed resolve, we close our protest today ready for another day, a better day for Artsakh and all Armenians.
Author information
Sune Hamparian
Sune Hamparian is a junior member of the AYF DC “Sevan” Chapter. She’s been a member of the AYF for over six years and was recently elected to serve as chair. Sune is in the eleventh grade and spends her summers in Armenia with her family. She enjoys volunteering at the ANCA and learning about the world of politics.
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Washington, D.C. AYF “Ani” chapter member Matt Girardi delivers powerful remarks to the crowd
Remarks delivered at the AYF Washington, D.C. protest at the White House on September 20, 2023.
Yesterday, September 19, 2023, the government of Azerbaijan ruthlessly and shamelessly escalated its attack on the people of Artsakh and struck at the soul of an ancient nation.
Women, children and young men alike lay dead, and many more wounded. Civilians have been relocated. The Artsakh Defense Forces have agreed to set down their arms. Today is a sad day, but it did not start nor does it end here. Nine months ago, the Aliyev regime, aided and abetted by enablers across the globe, set up an illegal checkpoint on the Lachin [Berdzor] Corridor—the only road connecting the indigenous people of Artsakh to the outside world. In defiance of the ceasefire agreement of 2020, in a mockery of international law, and devoid of basic human decency, the government of Azerbaijan weaponized food, medicine and energy for months on end, waging a slow campaign of extermination.
Time and time again, the people of Artsakh, the Armenian community around the world, and people of conscience both near and far implored the international community to act. We implored our government—our president—to use the awesome power entrusted to him to put an end to the suffering. We watched in horror as sham environmental protestors, waving dead
pigeons painted white as doves for peace and dressed in fur coats, were allowed to stop tens of thousands of tons of supplies from reaching the coldest of villages in the depths of winter. Our stomachs turned as Azeri soldiers openly erected a barricade across that same road, and we saw images of women and children—sentenced to starve for the crime of being Armenian—faint in breadlines. And yesterday, our hearts broke as Azerbaijan’s slow campaign of starvation became a wanton and unequivocal strike of barbarity. Let us be clear: this is genocide. It has been, and it continues to be. It is the echo of 1915 that should haunt the world. Moreover, it is a tragedy.
Let us be clear: this is genocide. It has been, and it continues to be. It is the echo of 1915 that should haunt the world.
You see, tragedy, my friends, is not simply heartbreak. It is a catastrophe that could have been prevented. It is a willing and eager hubris, unmoored from the responsibilities of one’s time. It is, and it has been, the story of America’s Artsakh policy. When this administration treats Azerbaijan and its chief enabler, Turkey, as if they can be reliable partners, it either deludes itself or sacrifices the moral foundation upon which America has built its global leadership. When Erdogan and Aliyev deny the occurrence of the Armenian Genocide while proudly exalting its architects, we know that these are men of neither dignity nor morality. After all, we have seen the fate of Armenian lands being placed under domination of tyrants and of genocidal mad men. Nakhichevan—with its storied and ancient Armenian roots—has been emptied of 99-percent of its Armenian heritage, according to Cornell University.
Moreover, we have seen escalations of violence that are sickening to the core: torture of POWs, mutilation and sexual assault of women, mass murders and beheadings all unrepentantly filmed by Azerbaijan’s armed forces and allowed to circulate as a campaign of psychological terrorism on the Armenian people.
When all these went without recourse, when Azerbaijan’s invasion of sovereign Armenian territory last year went without consequence, when each stage of this blockade was met with silence by the international community, that silence broadcast a point deafeningly: that
Azerbaijan would not act in good faith if the United States sat on its hands and continued to treat a campaign of annihilation as a simple quarrel between two misunderstanding parties. Statements of both-sideisms, rushed and coerced peace talks, and toothless diplomacy have failed America, and they have failed the people of Artsakh. They have allowed genocide.
Going forward, we need our government to act. We need it to protect the people of Artsakh’s sacred right to self-determination. We need a U.N. mandate for international administration to immediately protect the population of Artsakh. We need this administration to finally hold Aliyev and all his goons accountable for the war crimes and genocide they have promulgated. We need immediate deliverance of humanitarian, development and reconstruction assistance and to secure the safe return of all those indigenous Armenians displaced by Azerbaijan’s campaign of aggression. We need the Biden administration to act tomorrow, at the United Nations, like justice, freedom and human rights are on the line—because they are.
Today, however, we gather neither to mourn Artsakh nor to understate the danger of the moment. For Artsakh is not dead and we will not allow it to die, because above all, Artsakh is not just Armenia. Armenia is Artsakh. How we respond to the call of our brothers and sisters in Artsakh is indicative of who we truly are and who we will be. Will we devolve into factionalism, division and cowardice, or will we choose action? Will we choose to blacklist fellow Armenians from their own homeland, or will we write, do we lobby, do we protest, do we come together to call the eyes of the world to injustice and not let it look away for even a moment?
My friends, we have been handed a legacy that has been passed down from generation to generation that is hardy, proud and unyielding. It is a beautiful dance set to the heartbeat of lions and that follows the steps of heroes. It is a sacred hymn that has echoed through mountains, which defeated countless armies but bound a people through millennia. For we are survivors. We are our mountains. We are immovable. We are Armenians. And like our ancestors before us, we stand upon the shoulders of giants below us and now hold the weight of destiny above. Now is not the time for half-measures, half-truths, and half-heartedness in the face of calamity. It is a time for a solidarity that will ring across oceans and continents that says we will never leave our brethren behind, for ours is a singular struggle for a common good and a shared destiny. It is a time for determination to stand in proud defiance of a world that believes we are a people whose battles have all been fought and lost, whose history is over, and whose time is past to rise and laugh and love once more.
But most of all, it is a time for that strangest of all manners: courage. You see, courage is not a reckless charge headlong. It is not fearlessness, especially when there is much to be feared. But it is pushing forward in the face of fear. It is putting one foot in front of the other, knowing that there is danger around the corner and with ice running through our veins, because it is the right thing to do. It is Armen Garo and Vahan Cardashian. It is Zabel. It is Andranik. It is Tatoul. It is Monte. It is the mother in Stepanakert holding her child as the air raids sound above, and it is the serviceman defending his homeland, and it must be us. Let us remember how futures are built. Let us remember who we are. And let us never stop fighting for a truly free, independent and united Armenia.
Author information
Matthew Girardi
Matthew Girardi is a resident of Washington, DC and a proud member of the AYF DC “Ani” Chapter. He serves as a political and communications organizer for the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689. He graduated from the George Washington University Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelors of Arts in Political Science and International Relations and a Masters of Professional Studies in Legislative Affairs.
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