Artsakh Movement Marks 30th Anniversary

“That was the day we lost Martakert and lost many of our men,” he continued solemnly, referring to the Azeri capture of the largest town in the region on July 4, 1992. “I said I would rather die here than anywhere else.”

Richard Sarajian, Esq. recalled how quickly the American-Armenian community mobilized upon learning about the first demonstrations in Stepanakert and the subsequent pogroms against Armenians in the Azerbaijani town of Sumgait.

“In 1988 there was no Internet, no cell phones, no email blasts,” said Sarajian, former ARF Eastern Region Central Committee Chair. “But in less than 24 hours of the first pogrom, we began demonstrations at the Soviet Mission in New York City.”

He observed the unity of the churches and organizations that came together for demonstrations, numbering up to 3,000 people outside the Soviet Mission to pass on messages to then-leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev. With the onset of the tragic earthquake in Armenia a few months later, Sarajian said it was a “time of major cooperation.”

“There is no question the people in Artsakh truly benefited by the work done here by all these organizations and groups to help build infrastructure,” said Sarajian. “That’s why we are here to continue that work.”

Zaven Khanjian, chairman of the Armenian Missionary Association of America, recounted a humanitarian trip to Armenia when for the first time he heard, through the public radio, that the Parliament in Stepanakert had declared union between Artsakh and Armenia.

“It was a moment of reckoning and really made an impression on my mind,” said Khanjian.

Along with the AMAA, he soon entered Artsakh in the early 1990s with humanitarian aid and started camps, schools and after-school centers. He recalled one momentous day when the roads were closed in Martakert and Gandzasar so they had to take an alternative route through the mountainous roads and villages.

“Nowhere in my life had I seen such beautiful nature,” said Khanjian, reinforcing the importance of protecting the lands.

“We have a free and independent Artsakh and our top priority as a nation should be to sustain the people and populate the land,” said Khanjian. “A safe and secure Artsakh is a safe and secure Armenia.”

Reporting from Artsakh as a freelance journalist during the war, Antranig Kasbarian spoke about the effects of the Artsakh Movement on the Armenian community, for him personally, and for the Armenian nation.

As the editor of the Armenian Weekly in the 1990s, Kasbarian spent late nights translating news that arrived from Armenia’s news agency Armenpress, but he wanted to become more immersed in the cause.

“I was accustomed to being active from afar,” said Kasbarian, “But I really thirsted for on-the-spot involvement.”

That thirst led him to Artsakh for periods of time between 1990 and 1993, where he got to “witness things up close.”

Kasbarian remarked that up to the late 1980s, the community was divided along political and church lines, but Artsakh was “one of the instrumental moments to bring our community together.”

“We finally got beyond the labels and got to know each other and realized what brings us together is stronger than what divides us,” said Kasbarian, a trustee of the Tufenkian Foundation.

He emphasized the significance of lending aid not only during times of crises but to also focus on long-range development work, which ACAA has been working on during peacetime.

“There is a need for wounded soldiers, demining and safeguarding the liberated territories, which are the most historically ancient Armenian lands,” said Kasbarian, noting that there are fourth-century Armenian churches in the Lachin Corridor, which provides a passage between Armenia and Artsakh. “Without the Lachin Corridor, Artsakh becomes an island.”

Kasbarian spoke about the current efforts being made to resettle and develop the strategic borderlands of Artsakh, which “require massive investment in resettlement and economic development so it can never be given back or n