The world celebrated World Peace Day, also known as the International Day of Peace, on September 21st. Unfortunately, this year’s celebration coincided with what Armenians are calling the Second Armenian Genocide, that is, the invasion of the majority Armenian Republic of Artsakh by the Azerbaijan military on 19 September, which has been followed by the terrorization of the Armenian inhabitants and their desire to leave Artsakh for safety in Armenia.
This catastrophe, which we believe constitutes genocide, could have been avoided, but unfortunately the Western world ignored over two years of warnings from the Lemkin Institute, Genocide Watch, the International Association of Genocide Scholars, former ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo, and many others. Experts were in virtual consensus about the threat of genocide against Armenians in Artsakh and predicated with accuracy what has come to pass. But the West’s strategic and resource interests in Azerbaijan and Turkey, as well as the Ukraine war, stood in the way of any clear thinking or effective action. Through its relentless pressure on Armenia to engage in “peace negotiations” with a state (Azerbaijan) that harbors genocidal aims against it, Western powers gave a green light the extremist Aliyev regime in Baku and emboldened not just Azerbaijan, but also Turkey and Russia, the latter of which increasingly sees its interests being served by closer relations with Azerbaijan and Turkey.
The 19 September invasion was the consequence of the impunity that the Western powers granted to Azerbaijan. For nine months Azerbaijan blockaded Artsakh, restricting the flow of goods and people between Artsakh and the outside world. On June 15, 2023, Azerbaijan imposed a total siege, allowing no humanitarian supplies to reach Armenians in Artsakh. The Armenians in Artsakh were on the brink of death by starvation. But the world continued to engage with Azerbaijan as a legitimate partner and trustworthy negotiator as it was committing genocide by attrition.
As predicted by prevention experts, the Azerbaijan army, finding itself entirely unhindered by international institutions, finally invaded Artsakh on 19 September and committed atrocities that are now being documented by human rights organizations on the ground in Armenia. As in 2016, 2020, and 2022, Armenians who have fallen into the hands of the Azerbaijani military have apparently been treated with maximal cruelty. We will understand the full horror of this genocide once the Armenians of Artsakh are able to flee — until September 25 they were being refused any exit routes and therefore were being held hostage by Azerbaijan without food, water, gas or electricity. Today was the first day that some Artsakh Armenians were allowed to pass through the Lachin corridor to safety in Armenia.The entire population is expected to flee out of fear after three years of unmitigated atrocity crimes committed by Azerbaijan.
The destabilizing ripple effect of this avoidable disaster should not be underestimated. Azerbaijan and Turkey are already making clear that they intend to force Armenia to give them control over a corridor that runs through the southern Syunik region of Armenia–and they are threatening Armenia with war if Armenia refuses. The so-called “Zangezur Corridor” would cut Armenia off from its important trading partner to the south (Iran) and would compromise Armenian sovereignty in favor of two countries whose leaders have gone on record many times asserting their desire to wipe Armenia off of the map and Armenians off of the earth. A war in the South Caucasus has a very high risk of drawing in regional and global powers (especially Iran, Israel, Russia, and NATO).
Apart from the risk of destabilization in the South Caucasus and the opening of a possible second front in the Ukraine war, the genocide in Artsakh threatens to undermine the key principles of the current world order: self-determination, equal sovereignty, and human rights. Over the past two years Azerbaijan has challenged the Western world to live up to its stated principles and has challenged the United Nations to defend its Charter and international law. The world powers’ tacit approval of Aliyev’s expansionism is a blow to multilateralism and has signaled to petty dictators all over the world that the new world order will be governed by “might makes right.” In the absence of visible commitment to multilateralism, we will see the peace of the graveyard not only in Artsakh, but also in many other conflict zones as well.
The Lemkin Institute is dismayed by the failure of the international community, particularly the European Union and the United States, to devise policies that would contain the existential threat posed by the Aliyev regime to the Armenians of Artsakh. By pursuing a “peace” process based on false premises, they ended up setting the stage for genocide — and they were warned about this by many individuals and NGOs with expertise in prevention.
This disaster has convinced us that our genocide prevention mechanisms, young as they are, are already broken. The Lemkin Institute therefore must strengthen its pursuit of new avenues of prevention that involve the engagement of the global grassroots to pressure our current governments, leaders, and institutions to prioritize and mainstream genocide prevention in everything that they do. We believe it is in the self-interest of the human species to do this, especially in the coming years as we face the increasingly challenging consequences of global warming.
Cross-posted with permission from the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
I just noted this in the other thread about Erdogan’s rainbow-phobia – that Turkey is to this century what Germany was to the last. I fear that Artsakh is Sudetenland and that Armenia will be the next Czechoslovakia. Given how Turkey has been acting against the Kurds outside Turkey, it’s obvious that they’ll have Iraq & Syria in their crosshairs, despite the agreement they signed w/ Russia and Iran
I also think that sooner or later, the Iranian regime will fall, but that once it does, the Iranian people won’t be free to choose their non-islamic future: Turkey and Azerbaijan will roll in, and try to conquer that country. After all, in medieval times, Iran was a part of various Turkic empires that connected Turkey w/ Turkistan – the Ghaznavids, Seljuqs, Qhwarezmids and Timurides. (I have even seen some Turks suggest that the Safavids, being Azeri, were Turkic as well, although they’re not as quick to accept that they should then follow the Twelver shi’a sect of islam.) It’s not just Armenia that has been breaking the contiguity of the Turkic empire: it’s Iran as well
If they pull that off, I can see them trying to reconquer the Arabs as well. Syria & Iraq can barely defend themselves, Russia is too distracted in Ukraine to pay attention there and has in fact been pulling military hardware from that region. In which case, I can see Turkey trying to overrun everything from Syria to Yemen to Libya. Oh, and Pakistan and Afghanistan would be only too happy to join this empire, especially if done in the name of islam
If all of that happens, what will NATO do? They don’t currently have a mechanism of expelling anybody, and if they try to, Turkey will block them: if they could blackmail Sweden & Finland, imagine what they can pull off when they actually are threatened. If NATO hasn’t been exposed enough already, it’ll be fully exposed as being incapable of addressing geopolitical threats in its neighborhood. I’m not expecting them to operate in the Indo-Pacific region (where it would be counter-productive): I’m talking about the Middle East and Central Asia
Good work, NATO, in never doing anything about Turkey, but just pretending that Russia is the Soviet Union
ElderlyZionist says
The Turks warred with the Persians for hundreds of years for control of al-Shams. Today, with Russia and NATO both bogged down in the Ukraine war, there is an opportunity for regional powers tp settle old scores, and do a little ethnic cleansing to ensure that they stay settled. Azerbaijan and Turkiye now demand a ‘corridor’ across southern Armenia. Who will stop them from taking it?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/aliyev-and-erdogan-look-set-to-insist-on-land-bridge-across-armenia-linking-azerbaijan-and-turkey/ar-AA1hgty1?rc=1&ocid=winp1taskbar&cvid=c3d5ab3d4e6548acdbe3c2a54ba3d773&ei=24
Meanwhile, the Serbs are ramping up conflict in Kosovo. After yesterday’s violent provocation, Vukcik is demanding that KFOR take control of northern Kosovo. If NATO refuses, perhaps the Serbs will take control themselves.
The stars are right. Dead Cthulhu is waking up in his house in R’lyeh.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
I’m all for Serbia retaking Kosovo. Or if not that, let them claim Srpska, which is
➤ Serb dominated
➤ Contiguous w/ Serbia (unlike Artsakh)
➤ Logically consistent w/ Serbia the way Kosovo is w/ Albania i.e. if Kosovo deserves to be pried out of Serbia, then Srpska deserves to be pried out of Bosnia-Hercegovina
I do hope that if the Iranian regime falls, the Turks get bogged down if they try to take advantage of that situation. Maybe, w/ any luck, what happened to the Soviets in Afghanistan will happen to the Turks in Iran
GreekEmpress says
On a previous post, I listed the United Armenian Fund as an institution supporting Armenian causes and culture. I just became aware that due to the passing of their primary benefactor, it has ceased operations.
I have researched another aid organization which is in operation to assist Artsakh victims and support Armenia. (I spoke to the National office this morning):
Armenian Relief Society
80 Bigelow Ave. Suite #300
Watertown, MA 02472
Tel.# 617-926-5892
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Thank you for doing what you can to help them. I fear that the Armenians may be this century what Jews were last century – victims of genocide, & totally cut off from any support
KoshsShadow says
Just from the headline, we need to call out the
Religion of Rest In Peace
(And that is if you are lucky; they desecrated Jewish graves)
Unknown guy says
Feeling sad for armenia 😭.
Unknown guy says
Israel supplies more than 60% of the Azerbaijan military’s arms. So it is not just turkey that is arming azerbaijan but also Israel, which is supposedly fighting against Islamic terrorism and protecting Judeo Christian values.
GreekEmpress says
Just saw this:
https://www.nbcnews.com/now/video/thousands-of-ethnic-armenians-flee-nagorno-karabakh-due-to-an-increase-in-violence-193847365870
It made the MSM— about time imo.