Karabakh Armenians Are Facing Direct Threat of Genocide: An Appeal to Presidents of Russia, USA, and France

The historical persecution of the Armenian people because of their unique role and mission to become Christians in the non-Christian region, today continues in connection with the expansion of the regional role of Turkey as its return to the orbit of the ambitions of the Ottoman Empire; Azerbaijan plays a key role in this project.

After the Azerbaijani-Turkish war against the lawfully self-determined Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) in the fall of 2020, and then the massive attacks in September 2022 with the occupation of the border territories of Armenia by the Azerbaijani armed forces, Armenia does not show the ability to effectively and fully protect the interests of its people in Nagorno-Karabakh, while Azerbaijan proposes a “solution” of the Karabakh conflict which is typical for non-democracies, with no reference to human rights and freedoms. By blocking the Lachin corridor and making Armenians suffer from hunger and cold, Azerbaijan is going to solve the Karabakh conflict within the formula ”No Armenians, no problem”. Accordingly, the rightful solution of the Karabakh conflict cannot and should not be the subject of an agreement only between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The conflict itself and the post-war settlement are structural elements of the wider regional security system and stability in Eurasia, directly affecting the interests of the Russian Federation, the United States, and the European Union, and are to continue being a topic of negotiations between these international actors involved into the Co-chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group. Accordingly, the future relationships between Armenia and Azerbaijan with the priority on the rights of the people living in the conflict zone and continuously threatened by Azerbaijan, are to be a subject of International Law.

We consider it our professional and civic debt to urge the resumption of negotiations among the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs as the most appropriate platform for the search for effective ways to resolve the Karabakh conflict through joint efforts through the harmonization of the interests of national, regional, and global security priorities based on the norms of International Law. Attempts by Azerbaijan to exclude the Karabakh conflict resolution from the OSCE Minsk Group agenda through discrediting the OSCE and its previous efforts, unleashed Azerbaijani authorities’ new war and aggression against Artsakh and Armenia, resulting in thousands of deaths, and the deportation of the Karabakh Armenians from the territories of their original residence.

The constructive search for solutions over the Karabakh conflict as part of the strategic dialogue between the collective West and Russia on the platform of the OSCE Minsk Group from 1997-2018 is highly needed today.  Throughout its post-Soviet independence, Armenia has always tried to serve as a unique platform for strategic dialogue between Russia and the collective West (including the EU and the USA). The resumption of the consensus dialog between the United States, the EU, the Russian Federation on the regional security, including the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement with priority of human rights, is necessary without linking the decisions on Karabakh to the current misunderstanding between the leading powers over Ukraine. Armenian civilians of the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) locked by Azerbaijan blockading the Lachin corridor, should not become hostages of other regional conflicts, including the Ukrainian one.

Besides the OSCE Minsk Group platform, any other format bridging the interests of Russia, the United States, and the European Union in the global and civilizational context must be applied to the ongoing conflicts threatening international order, including the Karabakh and the Ukrainian ones. Among the platforms demonstrated their effectiveness along with political decision-making, is a dialogue of religious leaders aimed at peaceful settlement of conflicts, where the Armenian Apostolic Church has played its visible role.