Students Across the World Condemn Lachin Blockade and Lack of International Action

In addition to threatening Armenians physically, Azerbaijan has continuously engaged in hateful rhetoric, calling for the destruction of all Armenians and referring to them as parasites, dogs, savages, and terrorists. President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, has publicly expressed his hatred of Armenians on countless occasions. In November 2020, he proudly declared: “We did, we brought [the Armenians] to their knees, and they are on their knees now! There is hardly anyone [Pashinyan] didn’t call over the past 40 days, begging for help and humiliating himself. We have disgraced him, and we were absolutely right in doing so. When he danced drunk on Jidir Duzu in the sacred city of Shusha, he should have thought that this day would come. He would receive his punishment. Now he hides like a mouse as he takes this document and signs it in tears. We showed him his place. We taught him a lesson. We chased them out of our lands like dogs. I said that we would chase them, that we would chase them like dogs, and we chased them, we chased them like dogs. He is now signing this document out of fear, knowing that we will come to Aghdam, Kalbajar and Lachin. No-one can stop us. Everyone sees our strength; everyone understands what our iron fist is like.”

The language Aliyev uses to describe and address the Armenian people has influenced colleagues, major media corporations, and everyday civilians. Other examples include: Hajibala Abutalybov, former Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan: “Our goal is the complete elimination of Armenians. You Nazis eliminated the Jews in the 1930s and 40s, right? You should be able to understand us.”

Habil Aliyev, founder and editor-in-chief of the Gundelik Baku local newspaper stated: “I consider the Armenians my eternal enemies. Wherever I see Armenians, I will cut their tongues off and will call them perverts. Even if I am torn into pieces, I will always hate them…If I go to war again, I will not pity even the Armenian children.”

An Azerbaijani citizen in a Facebook post declared: “We must drink the blood of these bastard Armenians, regardless of age and sex.”

American media and politics has neglected this crisis for far too long. The ethnic Armenian students and leaders from Armenian Student Associations (ASAs) on these 11 campuses therefore took it upon themselves to spread awareness within their respective communities. Columbia, George Washington University, Northwestern, University of Buenos Aires, and the London cohort held signs in public spaces on campus that advertised the devastating impacts of Azerbaijan’s actions. Villanova hosted a discussion on Azerbaijan’s recent violations of the trilateral peace agreement. Harvard Law and Cornell students stationed themselves at tables and engaged in dialogue with passersby. Princeton engaged in a week-long poster initiative to continue drawing attention to the issue. The participating schools all asked their attendees to sign a joint petition condemning Azerbaijan’s actions. They also shared organizations to donate to and ways to contact Congresspeople to urge them to take action.

The skirmishes in September and the current blockade both occurred in direct violation of the 2020 Trilateral Statement. Our protest strove to shed light on all the human rights abuses that Azerbaijan has committed against Armenians over the past two years, in addition to the innumerable violations they have perpetrated for decades. The events of the last few months have placed Armenians in danger. If not held accountable, Azerbaijan will continue engaging in such illegal and inhuman behavior.