Day: September 29, 2023
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As of 6 p.m. local time on Friday 97,735 forcibly displaced persons from Artsakh have crossed into Armenia since the mass exodus began on Sunday, following Azerbaijan’s large-scale attack on Artsakh last week.
Legal experts are calling this forced exodus of Artsakh Armenians a war crime, while other international organizations are accusing world leaders of being complicit in Azerbaijan’s genocide of Armenians.
The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention criticized the United States for what it called Washington’s “reckless bothsideism” and its instance that the genocidal regime of President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan can engage in dialogue in good faith.
The Lemkin Institute reacted to State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller’s recent statement on Nagorno-Karabakh that the US has done its best “to find a diplomatic solution, but at the end of the day, we must not forget that there are two sides here that simply have differences.”
“Demonstrating that it has learned nothing from the genocide currently being committed by Azerbaijan against the Armenians of Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabakh, the United States continues to enable the perpetrator with its reckless ‘bothsidesism’ and its delusional belief that the genocidal regime of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev can engage in good-faith talks or negotiations,” the Lemkin Institute said in a social media post on Thursday.
“Genocide is not a matter of ‘simply [having] differences.’ Furthermore, suggesting that the US has played no role in enabling Aliyev’s impunity to commit genocide is mendacious at best. The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention warns world leaders that they are behaving in ways that leave them open not only to charges of complicity in genocide but also to charges of aiding and abetting the crime,” the post added.
Several international legal experts believe the mass flight fits the legal definition of a war crime.
The International Criminal Court’s founding documents say that, when referring to forcible transfer or deportation, “the term ‘forcibly’ is not restricted to physical force, but may include threat of force or coercion, such as that caused by fear of violence, duress, detention, psychological oppression or abuse of power against such person or persons or another person, or by taking advantage of a coercive environment.”
Such a “coercive environment” was created in Nagorno-Karabakh before the offensive by Azerbaijan’s obstruction of essential supplies, international lawyer Priya Pillai and Melanie O’Brien, visiting professor at the University of Minnesota and president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars told Reuters.
“So the fear/apprehension of the population – due to the coercive environment created by the months-long blockade and the recent armed attack – would meet the threshold for this crime,” Pillai said, adding that it would be a more severe ‘crime against humanity’ if considered to be part of a widespread attack.
O’Brien told Reuters that the blockade — which Baku claimed was needed to prevent weapons smuggling — was in effect the start of a genocide because it was implemented with the aim of “deliberately inflicting conditions of life designed to bring about the physical destruction of the targeted group.”
The first prosecutor of the ICC, Luis Moreno Ocampo, agreed with O’Brien’s argumentation, noting that a ruling of genocide did not require mass killings.
“For me, it’s obviously a genocide,” he said.
Meanwhile Armenia’s Finance Ministry has established a treasury account for donations to meet the needs of the forcibly displaced persons Artsakh residents.
“Due to the crisis situation, numerous compatriots and organizations, both within Armenia and abroad, have expressed their willingness to offer assistance and donations to meet the basic needs of people who have been forcibly displaced from Nagorno Karabakh to the Republic of Armenia. A treasury account was opened in the Armenia’s Ministry of Finance in order to accept the donations and direct them to the socio-economic needs of the displaced persons,” an announcement on Friday said.
Individuals may make bank transfers in Armenian drams to the treasury account number 900005002762, or conduct online card transfers (in any currency) using an e-payment system. https://www.e-payments.am/en/state-duties/step3/service=5425/
The United Nations will send a mission to Nagorno-Karabakh for the first time in about 30 years, scrambling to address humanitarian needs after Azerbaijan attacked Artsakh last week triggering a mass exodus, a spokesman has said.
“The government of Azerbaijan and the UN have agreed on a mission to the region. The mission will take place over the weekend,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters on Friday.
The announcement came on the heels of a request by Armenia to the International Court of Justice to order Azerbaijan to withdraw all its troops from civilian establishments in Nagorno-Karabakh so that the UN have safe access, the court said on Friday.
The ICJ, in February ordered Azerbaijan to ensure free movement through the Lachin corridor to and from Artsakh.
In a request for provisional measures submitted on Thursday, Armenia asked the court to reaffirm the orders it gave Azerbaijan in February and to order it to refrain from all actions directly or indirectly aimed at displacing the remaining Armenians from Artsakh.
Some international experts have said the exodus of from Artsakh meets the conditions for the war crime of “deportation or forcible transfer,” or even a crime against humanity.
“We haven’t had access to there about 30 years,” said Dujarric, due to the “very complicated and delicate geopolitical situation.”
“So, it’s very important that we will be able to get in,” he continued, adding that the mission would do so by air from Azerbaijan.
A team of about a dozen people led by the UN’s humanitarian affairs department will assess the needs of people who have remained in the territory and those who are on the move, he added.
“And of course, it bears reminding of the need for everyone to respect international law and especially international human rights law,” he said.
Calls on White House and Congress to cut all military aid and sanction Azerbaijan; provide humanitarian assistance to Artsakh victims
WASHINGTON — Armenian National Committee of America Government Affairs Director Tereza Yerimyan issued a powerful call for the Biden Administration to be held accountable for their continued support and arming of genocidal Azerbaijan, and urging immediate U.S. action to cut all military aid and sanctions on Azerbaijan for the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh’s 120,000 indigenous Armenian Christian population.
Yerimyan’s remarks, shared in full below, were offered during a press conference on Capitol Hill on Friday dedicated to Artsakh and other persecuted Christian communities, hosted by Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) and organized by In Defense of Christians, For the Martyrs, and the 120,000 Reasons Coalition, including the ANCA.
Remarks by ANCA Government Affairs Director Tereza Yerimyan
September 29, 2023
Capitol Hill Press Conference
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen –
I want to thank our host, Congressman Brad Sherman, and our organizer and coalition partner, In Defense of Christians, for bringing all of us together for a day of advocacy on human rights issues affecting all of our persecuted brothers and sisters.
Today, as Americans, we are rightfully, righteously angered that our government – the Biden Administration – has armed and abetted – aided and emboldened – Azerbaijan’s oil-rich Aliyev regime, which is today committing real-time genocide against Artsakh’s 120,000 indigenous Armenian Christians.
As you all know, Azerbaijan’s aggression, with the solid backing of Turkey, has caused immense suffering and has violated international law – including Articles II(b) and II(c) of the Genocide Convention.
We gather here today to hold our government accountable.
To save all that can be saved.
And to rededicate ourselves to the proposition that this must never happen again – to those remaining on the ground in Artsakh, those living in fear today in Armenia, or any people anywhere around the world.
President Joe Biden’s recent words at the United Nations General Assembly ring all too hollow:
“If we abandon the core principles of the United Nations to appease an aggressor,
can any member state of this body feel confident that they will be protected?”
There is truth in his words, but no action to follow them up.
Our State Department recently vowed before Congress that it would not “tolerate” any Azerbaijani attacks on Artsakh – and then did just that.
We have seen no American leadership at all against Ilham Aliyev – this generation’s Saddam Hussein.
Only empty promises for Armenians.
Arms for Azerbaijan’s military.
Flowers for Artsakh’s funeral
A betrayal of the very principles we claim to champion.
As the granddaughter of a Genocide survivor – with family and friends driven from Artsakh this very week – it is hard to hear the U.S. proclaim “never again.”
While we ship arms to the side doing it – again and again.
While blocking U.S. aid to Artsakh, during nine long months under blockade.
The record shows that the Administration did not lift a finger to break Azerbaijan’s blockade.
No airlift.
No cut-off of military aid to Baku.
No sanctions on Aliyev.
A shameful abandonment of our moral duty.
A dangerous signal to the authoritarians of this world.
A green light for the next genocide.
Even at this late date, after more than half of Artsakh has been forcibly ethnically cleansed, President Biden refuses to enforce the U.S. law restricting aid to Azerbaijan – refuses to enforce Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act.
This is a message of weakness, not strength.
Of surrender to the forces of intolerance.
Of a betrayal not only of our values but our interests.
Because Azerbaijan is not our ally.
They bust our sanctions and blockade starving children.
The Aliyev family runs an oil-rich dictatorship.
Their children own hundreds of millions of dollars of property across Europe and the Middle East.
They do not need – and surely do not deserve – our American tax dollars.
We can stop that aid today. President Biden can enforce Section 907, or our Congress can roll back the President’s authority to waive this law.
It’s that simple. If the political will exists.
We are blessed to stand today in solidarity with our partners – in support of persecuted Christians in Artsakh, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Nigeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, and around the world.
We must, for all these at-risk faith communities, demand American leadership – American action.
For Artsakh, that begins with calling out Azerbaijan’s genocide against Artsakh – then cutting off military aid to Azerbaijan, enforcing sanctions against its dictator, and sending robust U.S. humanitarian aid to more than a hundred thousand homeless refugees.
Here in Washington, that means holding the Biden Administration accountable for its complicity.
For absent such accountability – for as long as genocide remains good for business – we create the conditions for more genocide.
And that we cannot – and will never accept.