Genocide Warning:
Nagorno Karabakh
Letters and Statements
CSI, Baroness Cox ask President Biden for a humanitarian airlift for Karabakh
17 January 2023
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Today, the Baroness Cox of Queensbury and John Eibner, the president of Christian Solidarity International, wrote a letter to President Joe Biden, urging him to seek a resolution at the United Nations Security Council to end Azerbaijan’s blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh, a region home to 120,000 Armenian Christians.
If Azerbaijan does not comply, they wrote, the resolution should authorize a humanitarian airlift into the region.
“You are the first American president to recognize the Armenian Genocide,” Eibner and Cox wrote to Biden. “We urge you not to allow another Armenian Genocide to occur on your watch.”
On December 12, Azerbaijani activists and soldiers closed the Lachin corridor, the only road connecting the Armenian-majority region of Nagorno-Karabakh to the Republic of Armenia, and thus to the outside world. Azerbaijan has also moved to cut off electricity, gas, and internet access to the region.
As a result, food, fuel and essential medicines are running out in Nagorno-Karabakh. Moreover, with electricity and fuel for heating increasingly scarce, many people, especially the poor and the elderly, are at risk of dying from cold in the freezing winter temperatures.
The blockade follows an unprovoked attack by Azerbaijan on the Republic of Armenia in September 2022, and a 44-day war of aggression by Azerbaijan and its ally Turkey against the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh in Sept-Nov 2020. In both wars, Azerbaijani forces committed well-documented war crimes against Armenians, and the 2020 war resulted in the ethnic cleansing of tens of thousands of Armenians from their homes.
Azerbaijan’s 1989-1994 ethnic cleansing campaign against Armenians in the region also began with a blockade of the region.
On December 19, Christian Solidarity International (CSI), the Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART) and seven other NGOs issued a Genocide Warning for the Armenian Christians of Nagorno-Karabakh.
“Failure to act will have world-historical consequences,” Cox and Eibner warned. “If Azerbaijan succeeds in conquering Nagorno-Karabakh, ethnic cleansing on a mass scale will take place, a priceless part of humanity’s common cultural heritage will be destroyed, and dictatorships everywhere will see that aggression is rewarded in today’s international order.”
Contact: Joel Veldkamp | joel.veldkamp@csi-int.org
Save Karabakh Coalition calls on Switzerland to act at UN Security Council
16 May 2023
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ZURICH - Today, the Save Karabakh Coalition called on Ignazio Cassis, the Foreign Minister of Switzerland, to use Switzerland’s presidency of the UN Security Council to help the besieged people of Nagorno Karabakh.
For over five months - since December 12 - this region, home to an ancient community of 120,000 Armenian Christians, has been under siege by Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has blocked off the region from all air or land transport, and cut its electricity and gas lines. Azerbaijani snipers regularly attack Armenian farmers trying to grow food locally.
Food, fuel, and medical supplies in Nagorno Karabakh have dwindled to dangerous lows because of the blockade, and many prominent observers have warned that a humanitarian crisis is imminent. On December 19, a group of ten human rights organizations issued a collective Genocide Warning for Nagorno Karabakh, due to Azerbaijan’s blockade and the exterminationist rhetoric directed at Armenian Christians by Azerbaijan’s leaders.
In an open letter to Cassis, the Save Karabakh Coalition called on the Foreign Minister to “use the few weeks remaining in [his] Presidency of the UN Security Council to guide through a resolution” to “protect the vulnerable Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh” and recognize their right to self-determination.
In February, the Coalition’s letter noted, the Foreign Affairs Committee of Switzerland’s Council of States adopted a resolution calling on Switzerland to work at the UN Security Council for a resolution that would force an end to the blockade and provide for an international humanitarian airlift to Nagorno Karabakh.
The Coalition urged Cassis to use the Foreign Affairs Committee’s resolution as a “policy framework” for action at the UN Security Council.
Switzerland was elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the first time in 2023. It holds the presidency of the council for the month of May.
The Save Karabakh Coalition was launched in January in response to Azerbaijan’s deadly blockade of the Nagorno Karabakh.
The following members of the coalition signed the letter to Foreign Minister Cassis: Christian Solidarity International (whose worldwide headquarters are in Zürich), the Baroness Caroline Cox and Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust in the United Kingdom, and in the United States, Genocide Watch, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, In Defense of Christians, the Philos Project, American Friends of Kurdistan, the Hellenic American Leadership Council, the Armenian Assembly of America, the Armenian National Committee of America, the Armenian Bar Association, Justin Murff of the Anglican Office for Government and International Affairs, David L. Phillips of Columbia University, and Sheila Paylan, an international human rights lawyer.
Contact: Joel Veldkamp | joel.veldkamp@csi-int.org
Keep up the struggle for Nagorno Karabakh, Baroness Cox urges Armenians
20 June 2023
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Zurich, 20 June 2023
Press release
Keep up the struggle for Nagorno Karabakh, Baroness Cox urges Armenians
Baroness Caroline Cox, a member of the UK House of Lords and long-standing friend of Armenia, has sent a video message to the Armenian people urging them to stand firm in support of their homeland despite the political powers arrayed against them.
Lady Cox is the founder president of Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART), a strategic partner of Christian Solidarity International (CSI).
Cox says she is “deeply saddened” by reports that the Republic of Armenia is being pressured by international powers to accept Azerbaijan’s sovereignty over Nagorno Karabakh, or Artsakh.
“In return for a so-called peace treaty and trade agreement, the people of Artsakh – who have already endured so much suffering – would be expected to surrender their international right of self-determination. Over 120,000 indigenous Armenians would become citizens of an anti-Armenian authoritarian state, with an appalling track record of human rights violations.”
Since 2020, Azeri military forces have advanced into the sovereign territories of the Republic of Armenia, Cox says, and there are frequent reports of new military incursions.
With the blockade of the Lachin corridor in December 2022, a humanitarian catastrophe is being played out within Nagorno Karabakh, she says, and its indigenous Armenian Christian population faces the increasing possibility of ethnic and religious cleansing from their historic lands.
“…We must face the disturbing possibility that the Armenian Genocide never ended. There are those who want to complete it, and those who are unable – or unwilling – to stop it. It is quite possible that what is done to Artsakh will also, in time, be done to the Republic of Armenia,” Cox warns.
“If the treaty now being negotiated between Azerbaijan and Armenia results in the surrender of Artsakh – then lasting peace cannot be guaranteed.”
Referencing her first visit to Armenia over 30 years ago, she says that the struggle for Nagorno Karabakh became the catalyst for independence of the Republic of Armenia. “To this day, it remains an important symbol of hope and unity among all Armenians, across every part of the nation and diaspora.”
“At this critical moment in your great nation’s history, it is my hope and prayer that all Armenians – across every part of the nation and diaspora – will continue to uphold the struggle for Artsakh as a symbol of unity.
“My dear friends, thank you for holding a frontline of faith and freedom for the rest of the world.”
Baroness Caroline Cox and John Eibner, International President of CSI, are the authors of Ethnic Cleansing in Progress: War in Nagorno Karabakh. This report on the last attempt by Azerbaijan to drive the Armenian Christians of Nagorno Karabakh out of their ancient homeland as the Soviet Union collapsed is based on historical research and on-the-spot fact-finding between 1990 and 1994.
About CSI
Christian Solidarity International is an international human rights group campaigning for religious liberty and human dignity.
Contact: Joel Veldkamp | joel.veldkamp@csi-int.org
Eibner, Cox letter to Lavrov
22 June 2023
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Zurich, 20 June 2023
Press release
Keep up the struggle for Nagorno Karabakh, Baroness Cox urges Armenians
Baroness Caroline Cox, a member of the UK House of Lords and long-standing friend of Armenia, has sent a video message to the Armenian people urging them to stand firm in support of their homeland despite the political powers arrayed against them.
Lady Cox is the founder president of Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART), a strategic partner of Christian Solidarity International (CSI).
Cox says she is “deeply saddened” by reports that the Republic of Armenia is being pressured by international powers to accept Azerbaijan’s sovereignty over Nagorno Karabakh, or Artsakh.
“In return for a so-called peace treaty and trade agreement, the people of Artsakh – who have already endured so much suffering – would be expected to surrender their international right of self-determination. Over 120,000 indigenous Armenians would become citizens of an anti-Armenian authoritarian state, with an appalling track record of human rights violations.”
Since 2020, Azeri military forces have advanced into the sovereign territories of the Republic of Armenia, Cox says, and there are frequent reports of new military incursions.
With the blockade of the Lachin corridor in December 2022, a humanitarian catastrophe is being played out within Nagorno Karabakh, she says, and its indigenous Armenian Christian population faces the increasing possibility of ethnic and religious cleansing from their historic lands.
“…We must face the disturbing possibility that the Armenian Genocide never ended. There are those who want to complete it, and those who are unable – or unwilling – to stop it. It is quite possible that what is done to Artsakh will also, in time, be done to the Republic of Armenia,” Cox warns.
“If the treaty now being negotiated between Azerbaijan and Armenia results in the surrender of Artsakh – then lasting peace cannot be guaranteed.”
Referencing her first visit to Armenia over 30 years ago, she says that the struggle for Nagorno Karabakh became the catalyst for independence of the Republic of Armenia. “To this day, it remains an important symbol of hope and unity among all Armenians, across every part of the nation and diaspora.”
“At this critical moment in your great nation’s history, it is my hope and prayer that all Armenians – across every part of the nation and diaspora – will continue to uphold the struggle for Artsakh as a symbol of unity.
“My dear friends, thank you for holding a frontline of faith and freedom for the rest of the world.”
Baroness Caroline Cox and John Eibner, International President of CSI, are the authors of Ethnic Cleansing in Progress: War in Nagorno Karabakh. This report on the last attempt by Azerbaijan to drive the Armenian Christians of Nagorno Karabakh out of their ancient homeland as the Soviet Union collapsed is based on historical research and on-the-spot fact-finding between 1990 and 1994.
About CSI
Christian Solidarity International is an international human rights group campaigning for religious liberty and human dignity.
Contact: Joel Veldkamp | joel.veldkamp@csi-int.org
Baroness Cox writes to Alicia Kearns, MP
12 January 2023
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Today, the Baroness Cox of Queensbury and John Eibner, the president of Christian Solidarity International, wrote a letter to President Joe Biden, urging him to seek a resolution at the United Nations Security Council to end Azerbaijan’s blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh, a region home to 120,000 Armenian Christians.
If Azerbaijan does not comply, they wrote, the resolution should authorize a humanitarian airlift into the region.
“You are the first American president to recognize the Armenian Genocide,” Eibner and Cox wrote to Biden. “We urge you not to allow another Armenian Genocide to occur on your watch.”
On December 12, Azerbaijani activists and soldiers closed the Lachin corridor, the only road connecting the Armenian-majority region of Nagorno-Karabakh to the Republic of Armenia, and thus to the outside world. Azerbaijan has also moved to cut off electricity, gas, and internet access to the region.
As a result, food, fuel and essential medicines are running out in Nagorno-Karabakh. Moreover, with electricity and fuel for heating increasingly scarce, many people, especially the poor and the elderly, are at risk of dying from cold in the freezing winter temperatures.
The blockade follows an unprovoked attack by Azerbaijan on the Republic of Armenia in September 2022, and a 44-day war of aggression by Azerbaijan and its ally Turkey against the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh in Sept-Nov 2020. In both wars, Azerbaijani forces committed well-documented war crimes against Armenians, and the 2020 war resulted in the ethnic cleansing of tens of thousands of Armenians from their homes.
Azerbaijan’s 1989-1994 ethnic cleansing campaign against Armenians in the region also began with a blockade of the region.
On December 19, Christian Solidarity International (CSI), the Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART) and seven other NGOs issued a Genocide Warning for the Armenian Christians of Nagorno-Karabakh.
“Failure to act will have world-historical consequences,” Cox and Eibner warned. “If Azerbaijan succeeds in conquering Nagorno-Karabakh, ethnic cleansing on a mass scale will take place, a priceless part of humanity’s common cultural heritage will be destroyed, and dictatorships everywhere will see that aggression is rewarded in today’s international order.”
Contact: Joel Veldkamp | joel.veldkamp@csi-int.org
Letter from John Eibner to Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan (Armenian)
01 June 2023
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TRANSLATION (original in English)
Հայաստանի Հանրապետության վարչապետ
Պարոն Նիկոլ Փաշինյանին
Կառավարական տուն թիվ 1
0010 Երևան
Հայաստանի Հանրապետություն
Հունիսի 1, 2023 թ
«Խաղաղությո՜ւն, խաղաղությո՜ւն, երբ խաղաղություն չկա» (Երեմիա 6։14)
«Խաղաղության պատրվակով… նոր ցեղասպանություն և հայրենազրկում»
(Գերագույն Հոգևոր Խորհուրդ, Հայ Առաքելական Եկեղեցի, Մայր Աթոռ Սուրբ
Էջմիածին, 23 մայիսի, 2023 թ.)
Հարգելի պարոն վարչապետ,
Միջազգային քրիստոնեական համերաշխության կազմակերպության
աջակիցներն ամբողջ աշխարհում կիսում են Արցախի (Լեռնային Ղարաբաղ) մոտ 120
հազար հայ քրիստոնյաների խորը անհանգստությունը՝ կապված Ձեր կողմից
հրապարակայնորեն հայտարարված պատրաստակամության հետ՝ որպես
փոքրամասնություն իրենց իրավունքների վերաբերյալ Ստեփանակերտի և Բաքվի
միջև երկխոսության չճշգրտված երաշխիքների դիմաց Հայաստանի և Ադրբեջանի միջև
խաղաղության պայմանագրով Ադրբեջանի ինքնիշխանությունն իրենց և իրենց հողերի
նկատմամբ ճանաչելու մասին։
Մեր անհանգստությունը խորանում է Լեռնային Ղարաբաղի բնակչության
ինքնորոշման իրավունքի վերաբերյալ՝ Ձեր համաժամանակյա լռությամբ: Այդ
իրավունքն արտահայտված է 2007թ. ԵԱՀԿ Մադրիդյան սկզբունքներում և 2008թ.
նոյեմբերի 2-ին Ադրբեջանի և Հայաստանի նախագահներ Իլհամ Ալիևի և Սերժ
Սարգսյանի համատեղ հայտարարության մեջ: Երկու նախագահները հայտարարել են.
«Լեռնային Ղարաբաղի վերջնական իրավական կարգավիճակը կորոշվի
պլեբիսցիտի միջոցով, որը ԼՂ բնակչությանը ընձեռում է կամքի ազատ և իրական
արտահայտում»։
Ձեր միակողմանի զիջումից հետո Ադրբեջանի ծայրահեղ ազգայնական
բռնապետը անցակետ է տեղադրել Լաչինի միջանցքում և վերսկսել բռնության
սպառնալիքները ոչ միայն Լեռնային Ղարաբաղի, այլև հենց Հայաստանի
Հանրապետության դեմ։
Գարեգին Բ Ծայրագույն Պատրիարք և Ամենայն Հայոց Կաթողիկոսի
նախագահությամբ՝ Հայ Առաքելական Եկեղեցու Գերագույն Հոգևոր խորհուրդը
դատապարտելի և անընդունելի է համարում խաղաղության պատրվակով
«հիմնավորվող» միակողմանի զիջումները, Լեռնային Ղարաբաղի հայ ժողովրդի
նկատմամբ Ադրբեջանի ինքնիշխանության կամայական ընդունումը՝ համոզված
2/2
Christian Solidarity International (CSI)
International Headquarters, Zelglistrasse 64, 8122 Binz, ZH, Switzerland
լինելով, որ դա «Արցախի (Լեռնային Ղարաբաղի) մեր քույրերին ու եղբայրներին
անխուսափելիորեն կկանգնեցնեն նոր ցեղասպանության և հայրենազրկման առջև»:
Հաշվի առնելով Ադրբեջանի կողմից նախկինում և ներկայումս ուժի կիրառումը
Լեռնային Ղարաբաղի ժողովրդի և Հայաստանի Հանրապետության հանդեպ, ներառյալ
հակահայկական հակաքրիստոնեական լայնածավալ էթնիկ/կրոնական զտումները և
19-րդ դարի վերջից ի վեր ցեղասպանական գործընթացը, Հայ Առաքելական Եկեղեցու
ղեկավարության դիրքորոշումը կրում է մարգարեական իսկության կնիքը։
Միջազգային քրիստոնեական համերաշխությունը կոչ է անում Ձեզ՝
վերահաստատել Հայաստանի Հանրապետության հանձնառությունը՝ աշխատելու
Մադրիդյան սկզբունքների, այդ թվում՝ Լեռնային Ղարաբաղի ժողովրդի ազատ
ինքնորոշման իրավունքի իրացման ուղղությամբ, և վերահաստատել նախագահ Ս.
Սարգսյանի հանձնարարականը Հայաստանի արտաքին գործերի նախարարությանը՝
ԵԱՀԿ-ի շրջանակներում հասնելու Ադրբեջանի հետ համապարփակ խաղաղության
համաձայնագրի՝ հիմնված Մադրիդյան սկզբունքների վրա, որին և՛ Հայաստանի, և՛
Ադրբեջանի նախագահներն արդեն տվել են իրենց համաձայնությունը։
Ներկայիս ձախողումը մեծացնելու է Լեռնային Ղարաբաղի հայերի
էթնիկ/կրոնական զտումների և Հայաստանի Հանրապետությունը «Արևմտյան
Ադրբեջանի» վերածելու՝ նախագահ Ալիևի պաշտոնապես հայտարարված
նկրտումների իրականացման վտանգը։
Հայաստանի Հանրապետությունում ժողովրդավարության վերականգնումը հայ
ժողովրդին և միջազգային հանրությանը Ձեր խոստման կարևոր դրույթն էր, երբ Դուք
ստանձնեցիք վարչապետի պաշտոնը 2018 թվականին: Ադրբեջանի հետ Ձեր կողմից
ստորագրված ցանկացած պայմանագրի վավերացման համար հանրաքվեն կլինի այդ
խոստման հաստատումը:
Միջազգային քրիստոնեական համերաշխությունն աջակցել է Լեռնային
Ղարաբաղի ժողովրդի ինքնորոշման իրավունքին և մարդասիրական օգնություն է
տրամադրել ադրբեջանական ագրեսիայի զոհերին՝ սկսած Լեռնային Ղարաբաղի
առաջին պատերազմի մութ օրերից։ Արցախցի քաջարի խաղաղ բնակիչների հետ
Ստեփանակերտի խոնավ ու ցուրտ նկուղում ապաստանելու անձնական
հիշողությունը, երբ Ադրբեջանը Շուշիի իր ռազմական հենակետից «Գրադ»
հրթիռներով հարվածներ էր հասցնում քաղաքին, հավերժ կմնա իմ սրտում և իմ
մտքում:
ՄՔՀ-ն կշարունակի աջակցել Լեռնային Ղարաբաղի ժողովրդի ինքնորոշման
իրավունքի իրացմանն այնքան ժամանակ, քանի դեռ նրանք կունենան այն իրացնելու
կամքն ու պատրաստակամությունը: Կոչ ենք անում Ձեզ՝ անել նույնը։
Հարգանքով՝
դոկտոր Ջոն Էիբներ
«Միջազգային քրիստոնեական
համերաշխություն»
կամզակերպության նախագահ
Eibner, Cox letter to Blinken
22 June 2023
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The Hon. Antony Blinken
Secretary of State
United States Department of State
Washington D.C. 20520 June 22, 2023
Dear Mr. Secretary,
As we write, Azerbaijan’s aggression against the people of Nagorno Karabakh and the
Republic of Armenia intensifies. The ethnic/religious cleansing of 120,00 Armenian Christians
of Nagorno Karabakh becomes increasingly likely.
Yet another grim prospect also looms ever larger. The Caucasus is in danger of
becoming a second front in what Pope Francis perceptively refers to as World War III
conducted in a “piecemeal” manner. This cannot be in the interest of the people of the
region, regardless of their ethnic and religious identity. Nor can it be in the interest of the
people of the member states of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
(OSCE), including the United States.
The United States holds a mandate from the OSCE to serve as a co-chair of the Minsk
Group, together with France and the Russian Federation. The Group’s declared purpose is to
lead a peace process with the goal of settling the long running conflict over the future of the
former USSR Autonomous Oblast of Nagorno Karabakh. The agreed Madrid Principles, on
which this process is based, are: The Non-Use of Force or Threat of Force, Territorial integrity
and the Equal Rights and Self-Determination of Peoples, as found in the Helsinki Final Act of
1975.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan continues to commit with impunity acts of aggression and to
openly threaten the people of Nagorno Karabakh and the Republic of Armenia. These acts of
aggression include Azerbaijan’s illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor and military incursions
into Armenia.
The Minsk Group co-chair countries have manifestly failed to undertake robustly
their mandate since Azerbaijan again resorted to war against Nagorno Karabakh in
September 2020. The process they have been commissioned to lead has been wound down
and is now at a virtual standstill to the detriment of global security. Brute force now prevails
over solutions based on the Helsinki Final Act not only in Ukraine, but also in Nagorno
Karabakh and the Republic of Armenia.
We urge you to reinvigorate the Minsk Group by instructing Ambassador Andrew
Schofer to call an emergency de-escalation meeting of the heads of delegation of the Minsk
Group, and to reaffirm a commitment to search collectively for a political solution to the
existential crisis now facing Nagorno Karabakh and the Republic of Armenia based on the
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Christian Solidarity International (CSI), Zelglistrasse 64, 8122 Binz, ZH, Switzerland
Madrid Principles, including the Right to Self-Determination for the endangered people of
Nagorno Karabakh. This appeal is also being dispatched to the foreign ministers of the other
Minsk Group co-chair countries.
It is not too late to defy the grisly logic of conflict escalation and return to the
constructive statecraft that produced the now endangered Helsinki Final Act of 1975 and the
foundation of the OSCE. But de-escalation will require exceptional political wisdom and
courage.
Respectfully,
Dr. John Eibner The Baroness Cox
International President Founder President
Christian Solidarity International (CSI) Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART
Baroness Cox, John Eibner write to the UK Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly
13 December 2022
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Today, the Baroness Cox of Queensbury and John Eibner, the president of Christian Solidarity International, wrote a letter to President Joe Biden, urging him to seek a resolution at the United Nations Security Council to end Azerbaijan’s blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh, a region home to 120,000 Armenian Christians.
If Azerbaijan does not comply, they wrote, the resolution should authorize a humanitarian airlift into the region.
“You are the first American president to recognize the Armenian Genocide,” Eibner and Cox wrote to Biden. “We urge you not to allow another Armenian Genocide to occur on your watch.”
On December 12, Azerbaijani activists and soldiers closed the Lachin corridor, the only road connecting the Armenian-majority region of Nagorno-Karabakh to the Republic of Armenia, and thus to the outside world. Azerbaijan has also moved to cut off electricity, gas, and internet access to the region.
As a result, food, fuel and essential medicines are running out in Nagorno-Karabakh. Moreover, with electricity and fuel for heating increasingly scarce, many people, especially the poor and the elderly, are at risk of dying from cold in the freezing winter temperatures.
The blockade follows an unprovoked attack by Azerbaijan on the Republic of Armenia in September 2022, and a 44-day war of aggression by Azerbaijan and its ally Turkey against the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh in Sept-Nov 2020. In both wars, Azerbaijani forces committed well-documented war crimes against Armenians, and the 2020 war resulted in the ethnic cleansing of tens of thousands of Armenians from their homes.
Azerbaijan’s 1989-1994 ethnic cleansing campaign against Armenians in the region also began with a blockade of the region.
On December 19, Christian Solidarity International (CSI), the Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART) and seven other NGOs issued a Genocide Warning for the Armenian Christians of Nagorno-Karabakh.
“Failure to act will have world-historical consequences,” Cox and Eibner warned. “If Azerbaijan succeeds in conquering Nagorno-Karabakh, ethnic cleansing on a mass scale will take place, a priceless part of humanity’s common cultural heritage will be destroyed, and dictatorships everywhere will see that aggression is rewarded in today’s international order.”
Contact: Joel Veldkamp | joel.veldkamp@csi-int.org
Letter from John Eibner to Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan (English)
01 June 2023
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The Prime Minister
Government House 1
0010 Yerevan
Republic of Armenia
Ch ti st ian Solidarity I nter nation a I
June 1,2023
ttPeaceo peace, when there is no peace.t' (Jeremiah 6:14)
ooUnder the pretext of peace ... a new genocide and depatriation" (Supreme Spiritual
Council, Armenian Apostolic Church, Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin,May 23,2023)
Prime Minister,
Christian Solidarity International (CSI) supporters around the world share the deep
dismay felt by the 120,000 Armenian Christians of Nagorno Karabakh upon learning of your
publicly declared readiness to recognize Azerbaijan's sovereignty over them and their land in
a peace treaty in return for unspecified guarantees of dialogue between Stepanakert and Baku
regarding their minority rights.
Our unease is compounded by your simultaneous silence over Nagorno Karabakh's
right to self-determination, as expressed in the OSCE Madrid Principles of 2007 and in the
joint statement issued by the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia, Ilham Aliyev and Serzh
Sargsyan, on November 2,2008. The two presidents declared:
o'The final legal status of Nagorno Karabakh will be determined through a plebiscite
allowing the free and genuine expression of the will of the population of Nagorno
Karabakh."
Following your unilateral concession, Azerbaijan's ultra-nationalist dictator
established a military checkpoint on the Lachin Corridor and has renewed threats of violence
against not only Nagomo Karabakh, but also against the Republic of Armenia itself.
The Supreme Spiritual Council of the Armenian Apostolic Church, presided over by
His Holiness, Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, condemned
your arbitrary acceptance of Azerbaijani sovereignty over the Armenian people of Nagomo
Karabakh "under the pretext of peace" in the belief it "will inevitably confront our brothers
and sisters in Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) with a new genocide and depatriation".
Given Azerbaijan's past and current use of force against the people of Nagorno
Karabakh and against the Republic of Armenia, including extensive anti-Armenian Christian
ethnic/religious cleansing and the process of anti-Armenian genocide since the end of the 19th
century, the judgment of the leadership of the Armenian Apostolic Church carries with it the
seal of prophetic authenticity.
CSI urges you to reaffirm Armenia's commitment to work for the fulfilment of the
Ch risti o n Sol i d o rity I nte r n ati on o I (CS I )
lnternational Heodquarters, Zelglistrosse 64, 8722 Binz, ZH, Switzerland
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Madrid Principles, including the right to self-determination for the population of Nagorno
Karabakh, and to confirm President Sargsyan's instruction to Armenia's foreign ministry to
pursue within the framework of the OSCE a comprehensive peace agreement with Azerbaijan
based on the Madrid Principles to which the presidents of both Armenia and Azerbaijan have
abeady given their assent.
Failure now enhances the prospects of the ethnic/religious cleansing of Armenians
from Nagorno Karabakh and of the fulfilment of President Aliyev's declared aspiration to
transform the Republic of Armenia into "West Azerbaijan".
The restoration of democracy in the Republic of Armenia was a crucial element of
your pledge to the Armenian people and to the international community as you took office as
prime minister in 2018. A referendum in Armenia to ratifu any treaty you sign with
Azerba4an would be confirmation of that pledge.
CSI has supported the people of Nagorno Karabakh's right to self-determination and
has provided humanitarian aid to victims of Azerbaijani aggression since the dark days of the
first Nagorno Karabakh war. Personal memory of sheltering together with brave Karabakhi
civilians in a damp and cold Stepanakert cellar as Azerbaijan battered the city with Grad
missiles from its military stronghold in Shushi will forever be etched on my heart and mind.
CSI will continue to support the right of the people of Nagorno Karabakh to exercise
their right to self-determination as long as they insist on it. We appeal to you to do likewise.
Respectfully
Dr. Eibner
President
Solidarity International (CSf
Eibner, Cox letter to Colonna
22 June 2023
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Zurich, 20 June 2023
Press release
Keep up the struggle for Nagorno Karabakh, Baroness Cox urges Armenians
Baroness Caroline Cox, a member of the UK House of Lords and long-standing friend of Armenia, has sent a video message to the Armenian people urging them to stand firm in support of their homeland despite the political powers arrayed against them.
Lady Cox is the founder president of Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART), a strategic partner of Christian Solidarity International (CSI).
Cox says she is “deeply saddened” by reports that the Republic of Armenia is being pressured by international powers to accept Azerbaijan’s sovereignty over Nagorno Karabakh, or Artsakh.
“In return for a so-called peace treaty and trade agreement, the people of Artsakh – who have already endured so much suffering – would be expected to surrender their international right of self-determination. Over 120,000 indigenous Armenians would become citizens of an anti-Armenian authoritarian state, with an appalling track record of human rights violations.”
Since 2020, Azeri military forces have advanced into the sovereign territories of the Republic of Armenia, Cox says, and there are frequent reports of new military incursions.
With the blockade of the Lachin corridor in December 2022, a humanitarian catastrophe is being played out within Nagorno Karabakh, she says, and its indigenous Armenian Christian population faces the increasing possibility of ethnic and religious cleansing from their historic lands.
“…We must face the disturbing possibility that the Armenian Genocide never ended. There are those who want to complete it, and those who are unable – or unwilling – to stop it. It is quite possible that what is done to Artsakh will also, in time, be done to the Republic of Armenia,” Cox warns.
“If the treaty now being negotiated between Azerbaijan and Armenia results in the surrender of Artsakh – then lasting peace cannot be guaranteed.”
Referencing her first visit to Armenia over 30 years ago, she says that the struggle for Nagorno Karabakh became the catalyst for independence of the Republic of Armenia. “To this day, it remains an important symbol of hope and unity among all Armenians, across every part of the nation and diaspora.”
“At this critical moment in your great nation’s history, it is my hope and prayer that all Armenians – across every part of the nation and diaspora – will continue to uphold the struggle for Artsakh as a symbol of unity.
“My dear friends, thank you for holding a frontline of faith and freedom for the rest of the world.”
Baroness Caroline Cox and John Eibner, International President of CSI, are the authors of Ethnic Cleansing in Progress: War in Nagorno Karabakh. This report on the last attempt by Azerbaijan to drive the Armenian Christians of Nagorno Karabakh out of their ancient homeland as the Soviet Union collapsed is based on historical research and on-the-spot fact-finding between 1990 and 1994.
About CSI
Christian Solidarity International is an international human rights group campaigning for religious liberty and human dignity.
Contact: Joel Veldkamp | joel.veldkamp@csi-int.org
Media coverage
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12 January 2023
The life of a 9-year-old boy from Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) now depends on medicine that cannot be found in the region. As a result of Azerbaijan’s blockade of the only road connecting Artsakh to Armenia, regular shipments of food and medicine have stopped. Narine Danielyan, the mother of an ill child, worries that should her son’s condition worsen, he may be unable to receive proper treatment. -
Locals and officials say fresh fruit and vegetables were the first to go. Photos and video posted on social media last week show rows of empty supermarket shelves. Baby formula is nowhere to be found, locals say.
The territory also appears to be facing a severe shortage of diapers. One woman told CNN that her sister, a young mother with an infant, was setting an alarm several times a night so she could take her baby to the bathroom because of the lack of diapers. -
17 January 2023
On the ground, the situation appears increasingly dire for Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh who are stranded with limited food and other essentials, and cut off from family members who were in Armenia when the crisis began.
Ms. Azizyan said she recently braved a six-hour line at an A.T.M., and that things as simple as oranges, cheese or fever-reducing drugs have become prized possessions. Kindergartens are closed, she said, because of a lack of food.