Guest Opinion | Natalie Avakian: Another Crime

As attacks on historical Armenian land strike, the Armenian genocide of 1915 casts its distressing and dreadful shadow on the Armenian people.

For the past four weeks, the people of the Armenian Republic of Artsakh, more commonly known by its Soviet name, Nagorno-Karabakh, have been victims of the attacks on civilian territories by Azeri forces, including the destruction of the historic Holy Savior Cathedral, also known as Ghazanchetsots Cathedral.

This has left Armenians crying out for international condemnation against the violence. Azerbaijan has launched terrible attacks killing soldiers and civilians in Artsakh, bombing the region using cluster munitions which are banned under international humanitarian law, as they are dangerously using them to attack civilian territories. The fighting continues to escalate as Armenians have pleaded with the U.S. government to step in and condemn this aggression, to call upon Azerbaijan to halt all its offensive use of force, and to cut off U.S. military assistance to Baku, the oil-rich capital of Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan does not need American military aid and Armenians have asked that all American military assistance, particularly the sales of arms and military technologies, be discontinued. Over the past week, the US negotiated a ceasefire to placate Armenians and move closer to peaceful negotiations. Although the ceasefire was signed on Oct. 26 it was violated less than 24 hours later. The U.S. needs to step in with stronger measures to end the fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh. 

Azerbaijan invaded Artsakh in September to retake territory it lost in Artsakh’s war of independence in 1988–1994.

Armenians call Nagorno-Karabakh Artsakh, which is the historic and accurate name of this region. Artsakh is an Armenian-populated region in the South Caucasus and has been a part of the Armenian homeland since its existence. It is an early cradle of Christianity with holy sites dating back to the first century. 

Over the last few weeks, Artsakh has suffered a deadly bombardment of attacks from Azerbaijani rockets, artillery, and drones, with strong support from Turkey. The attack by the Azerbaijani government is due to their claims to have a right to Artsakh, even though it is mostly populated by Armenians. Azerbaijan believes they have a right to Artsakh because Joseph Stalin abducted these historical Armenian lands and gifted them to Azerbaijan back in the early days of the Soviet Republic in 1920. The Armenian region of Nagorno-Karabakh was incorporated into Azerbaijan by Stalin as part of his “divide and rule” Soviet communist policy on national minorities.

Of course, this is no legitimate claim to Artsakh’s status or sovereignty. Artsakh has been fighting for autonomy and to exercise the same rights that we enjoy here as Americans — a democracy based on liberty, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, as well as the right to live in peace, and independence. Azerbaijan, on the other hand, heading in with the idea that the Armenian people of Artsakh are already “conquered people,” has attacked the civilian areas of the region and is doing a reckless land grab of Artsakh’s territory. 

Over the past few decades, they have terrorized the people of this region by destroying churches, launching attacks, including the massacres of the late 1990s, and oppressing the people that live in Artsakh. In fact, Artsakh was the only region in the Soviet Union not allowed to have functioning churches. It wasn’t until the freedom referendum in 1988, that Armenians in Artsakh voted overwhelmingly for independence from Azerbaijan. It was only then that Moscow allowed the churches to open back up and Armenians started to renovate and stabilize this region. 

Turkey continues to, “stand with the friendly and brotherly Azerbaijan with all its facilities and heart,” President Erdogan of Turkey has announced. As a result, Turkey stands in full support and encourages Azerbaijan to continue the use of force on the largely populated Armenian region of Artsakh. Erdogan continues to supply arms to an already armed Azerbaijan and is administering pro-Erdogan fighters into the region where they are just pouring fuel on the fire, escalating the tensions in Artsakh. As a member of NATO, President Erdogan of Turkey is now receiving antagonism from fellow NATO members, as he continues to promote war and violate his responsibilities. 

According to the Washington Post, Turkey has denied sending Syrian fighters to aid Azerbaijan, its longtime ally. But relatives of two fighters — Najjar and his nephew — said in interviews that monthly salaries were promised by the Turkish-supported militias and that the fighters flew to Azerbaijan from southern Turkey.

Meanwhile, the strong diaspora of the Armenian community has been demonstrating, fundraising, and protesting to call attention to the violence. This includes demonstrations that have been held across Southern California in recent weeks, growing nationwide and now globally. In spirit, they join their fellow Armenians in their homeland who are defending their rights to live in a free, peaceful, democratic, and secure land. 

Turkey’s long-ruling President Erdogan, an Islamist and neo-Ottoman, has made no secret of his vision to resurrect the role of the Ottoman Empire, matching its historic prominence of the past, which later became what we know today as Turkey. In line with this, Turkey and Azerbaijan have declared their partnership as one nation, two states. Armenia, specifically Artsakh, stands in the way of this vision. 

Turkey’s persecution of the Armenians has extended beyond its borders. According to Genocide Watch, Azerbaijan uses laser-guided drones from Turkey, Russia, and Israel to attack Artsakh’s defenders, who are mostly Artsakh civilian volunteers. Azerbaijan is using Syrian mercenaries against Armenian soldiers as young as 18 who have volunteered to fight heroically to protect their nation. Turkey’s tentacles extend throughout the Eastern Mediterranean, the Middle East, and into the Caucasus. Turkey currently has Jihadists in Iraq and in Syria seeking to disrupt whatever semblance of stability there is.

According to an op-ed in the LA Times, the governments of France and Russia have accused Turkey of recruiting fighters and of paying and transporting thousands of jihadist mercenaries from Syria to Azerbaijan. Therefore, Turkey’s motive for sending jihadist soldiers, on Turkey’s payroll of course, into Artsakh, occupied almost entirely by Christian Armenians, is nothing more than an attempt to expel the remaining Armenians from that region. In current days, it is reported that more than 50 percent of Artsakh’s population has been forced to flee. A person of Armenian heritage is forbidden from entering Azerbaijan and if it reoccupies Nagorno-Karabakh, it could forcibly deport all Armenians from Artsakh, committing a crime against humanity.

As historical places such as the Holy Cathedral of the Savior have been attacked, injuring journalists, the world must send a crystal-clear message to Turkey that historic sites, let alone heritage sites, are not to be regarded as spoils of war. More importantly, the Armenian Christian community in Artsakh should not be considered “conquered people,” as that seems to be what Turkey and Azerbaijan seek to do.

As Azerbaijan and Turkey deny the encouragement of hate speech, violence and hate against Armenians, the support from Turkey for Azerbaijani’s attacks sparks fear of a second genocide. This is part of a long history of what Turkey seeks to do in the region. Armenia, as a Christian minority, views these current attacks as an attempt to continue the despicable crimes of the Armenian genocide of 1915 — when the systematic killing and deportation of Armenians by the Turks of the Ottoman Empire resulted in Armenians being raped, pillaged and brutally slaughtered, totaling deaths up to 1.5 million in an attempt to completely eliminate and exterminate Armenians. While many countries including the US have recognized the genocide, Azerbaijan and Turkey continue to deny current and past crimes. 

So as the issues of democracy, peace and independence are prevalent in Artsakh, the underlying threat of these attacks becomes an existential crisis for the Armenian people to fight and survive for their right to merely exist.

Natalie Avakian is a Pasadena resident and teacher