CSI International President John Eibner visits the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan in 2021. csi
Statement on the two-year anniversary of the ethnic cleansing of Nagorno Karabakh
Today marks two years since the armed forces of Azerbaijan launched an unprovoked attack on the Republic of Artsakh/Nagorno Karabakh, after a brutal nine-month siege. Within two weeks, virtually the entire Armenian population of nearly 120,000 fled the territory.
It was one of the most thorough ethnic cleansing operations in recent history, and it destroyed one of the world’s oldest Christian communities. It was also another stage in the Armenian Genocide process, motivated by the twin forces of Turkish hypernationalism and Muslim supremacy, which sought and still seek to eliminate the world’s first Christian nation from their midst.
Although Azerbaijan’s actions made a mockery of international human rights law, of rulings by the International Court of Justice, and of the stated commitments of powers like Russia, France, and the United States to preserve the Armenian community in Nagorno Karabakh, Azerbaijan has to date faced no consequences for this ethnic cleansing campaign.
On the contrary, Azerbaijan has received a series of rewards, from hosting COP29, to Armenia’s unilateral cession of disputed territory in the region of Tavush, to the dissolution of the Minsk Group, to the renewal of American military assistance to Azerbaijan, announced by President Donald Trump at the August 8 White House summit.
This is the case even as Azerbaijan doubles down on its campaign to expunge the memory of Karabakh’s Armenians – demolishing neighborhoods and entire villages, and erasing the region’s Christian heritage.
It is the case even as Azerbaijan subjects kidnapped Armenians from Nagorno Karabakh to a series of farcical show trials and blocks the ICRC from visiting them.
It is the case even as Azerbaijan continues to occupy hundreds of square kilometers of territory of the Republic of Armenia itself, from which it regularly bombards Armenian border villages.
It is the case even as the Azerbaijani government officially promotes the narrative that all of the Republic of Armenia is actually “Western Azerbaijan,” to which Azerbaijanis must “return.”
It has now become mundane for Western diplomats to travel to ethnically-cleansed Nagorno Karabakh on official visits, and for Western companies to invest in “reconstruction” projects there. At international bodies such as the UN Human Rights Council, NGOs, international organizations and member states alike find themselves under extraordinary pressure to refrain from even referring to the existence of Nagorno Karabakh. CSI itself has been the subject of a series of intimidating complaints from Azerbaijan’s UN delegation, who accuse us of referring to parts of Azerbaijan’s territory with “fictious names” – that is, Nagorno Karabakh.
CSI welcomes the steps taken towards a bilateral peace between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan in recent months. A return to war will benefit no one. But we warn that attempts to build a lasting peace on ethnic cleansing and appeasement of aggression are unlikely to succeed. If the world continues to reward Azerbaijani intransigence and aggression, it should expect more of the same. Even now, the finalized peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan remains unsigned, due to Azerbaijan’s continuing demands for further Armenian concessions.
It is not too late to choose a different course. The Swiss government has been mandated by the Swiss parliament to hold a peace forum between Azerbaijan and the representatives of the forcibly displaced population of Nagorno Karabakh, at which the implementation of the Armenians’ internationally recognized right to return to their homeland can be negotiated.
This Swiss Peace Initiative for Nagorno Karabakh, if it receives the necessary international support, will enhance and strengthen the Armenian-Azerbaijan peace process. Successfully returning the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh to their homeland in peace, security, and freedom will create lasting incentives for both Armenia and Azerbaijan to preserve the peace.
On this September 19, CSI remembers the thousands of victims of Azerbaijan’s armed aggression. We recommit ourselves to solidarity with the displaced people of Artsakh/Nagorno Karabakh – to ensuring their right to return to their homeland, to securing freedom for those Armenians still held captive by Azerbaijan, and to preserving Karabakh’s priceless Christian heritage.
We urge Christians and people of goodwill across the world to join us.
Dr. John Eibner
President, Christian Solidarity International
