Bishop Mesrop Urges President to Help Free Artsakh Detainees

You are well aware of the ongoing plight of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabagh, also known as Artsakh.  A full-scale military attack by Azerbaijan in the fall of 2020 had catastrophic consequences for the region and for the Republic of Armenia, including the loss of some 5,000 Armenian lives.  Subsequent Azerbaijani attacks continued, in violation of peace agreements, for three years afterwards—culminating in the ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabagh of its Armenian population in 2023.  As a result, today, 120,000 refugees are uneasily settled in the Republic of Armenia.

As Artsakh’s Armenians were fleeing from home for their lives, Azerbaijani forces arrested more than a dozen officials of the independent Armenian government of Nagorno-Karabagh and sent them to prison in Baku to await trial.  For two years they have languished in conditions that human rights organizations have condemned as cruel and inhuman.  The trials themselves are not open to public scrutiny, and the Armenian defendants have been denied the basic rights of due process, including a clear articulation of the charges brought against them.

We are deeply distressed by this situation, Mr. President.  And we know that it has also been a matter of grave concern for your administration.  Armenian Americans were greatly encouraged by your bold statement last year, in which you condemned Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing of Artsakh’s Armenian Christians, and called for the restoration of peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan.  The same statement emphasized the right of indigenous Armenians to return to their homeland of Artsakh.

As our countrymen in Armenia endure the crushing realities described above, our plight has become a matter of concern shared by Christian peoples across the globe—many of whom live under state, ethnic, and religious persecution.  The same cause has been embraced by leading Human Rights organizations.

We are hopeful, President Trump, that a clear signal from the United States would put an end to the ongoing cruelty against the Armenian detainees in the hands of Azerbaijan, avert further bloodshed, and permit a just and humane outcome to prevail in the region.

A high-level, unambiguous message from the United States at this time, to President Aliyev of Azerbaijan, condemning the ongoing situation, and advocating for the release of the detainees—as well as Armenian prisoners of war still held in inhuman conditions, in contravention of the terms of agreed treaties—would be a significant and meaningful advancement in establishing genuine peace in the region.