John Eibner held a meeting in Los Angeles with the Armenian Catholicos of the Holy See of Cilicia, Aram I. ANCA-WR
The Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region (ANCA-WR) has awarded Christian Solidarity International (CSI) its prestigious “Human Rights Champion” Award for its work in amplifying the plight and defending the rights of the forcibly displaced Armenian population of Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh).
CSI President Dr. John Eibner – a human rights defender whose advocacy on behalf of Nagorno Karabakh stretches back more than three decades – accepted the award at a gala banquet hosted in Los Angeles on October 26.
Recognition of CSI’s human rights commitment
“This recognition honors CSI’s steadfast and courageous advocacy for the Armenian people of Artsakh, particularly in the face of Azerbaijan’s ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing, cultural erasure, and anti-Christian agenda,” ANCA-WR said in a statement.
“CSI has provided direct humanitarian assistance to displaced Armenians from Artsakh, including emergency shelter, medical care, income-generating aid, and psychological support,” the statement noted.
The statement highlighted CSI’s “Stop the New Armenian Genocide” campaign, launched following Azerbaijan’s military offensive against Nagorno Karabakh in September 2023, as well as Dr. Eibner’s participation in the July 2025 Capitol Hill briefing to promote the Swiss Peace Initiative.
“Christian Solidarity International has stood firm when many looked away,” ANCA-WR Chairman Oshin Harootoonian commented. “Their principled commitment to human rights and religious freedom has given voice to the suffering of Artsakh’s Armenians and strengthened the global demand for justice. We are proud to honor them with our 2025 Human Rights Champion Award.”
In his acceptance speech, Eibner warned that following the Azerbaijani invasion of Nagorno Karabakh, the Armenian Republic itself now faces an existential threat. Yet, he said the solidarity of those around the world who stand with Armenia offers “hope in this David vs Goliath struggle”.
The full text of his speech is printed below.
John Eibner’s address to the ANCA Gala
I must begin with a big thank you to Oshin Harootoonian, Kervork Hagopian, Garen Jinbashian. They have been wonderful hosts. I must also express a heartfelt word of appreciation to Aram Hamparian and his great ANCA team advocacy team in Washington. They do a fantastic job.
ANCA is a unique Armenian-American institution. It is one with deep roots in the community here in the USA and strong historic bonds with Armenia. It’s therefore a great honor to stand before you today – an honor for me and for the exceptional international institution over which I have the privilege to preside. That is Christian Solidarity International – otherwise known simply as CSI.
CSI’s special relationship to Armenia goes back to the collapse of the Soviet Union. What is now the 2nd Republic of Armenia was just coming into existence. But the euphoria surrounding that development was tempered by the ethno-religious cleansing of Armenian Christians from Sumgait and Baku and the beginning of the same grisly process in Artsakh. There, as opposed to Sumgait and Baku, Armenian resistance was strong.
At this time, I providentially met Lady Caroline Cox at a conference in what was still Leningrad. I asked her to join a CSI fact-finding visit to Artsakh. She had already been there on a visit organized by the Andre Sakharov circle in Moscow, which included Zori Balayan. Thereafter, she always carried the people of Artsakh in her heart, and still does today notwithstanding health challenges.
We undertook in 1991 the first CSI mission to Artsakh, then under blockade by the USSR, Turkey and Azerbaijan. We found there no UN, no Red Cross, no USAID nor any other state sponsored humanitarian relief organizations. The people of Artsakh were left alone. Dr. Martirossian, the surgeon at the hospital in Stepanakert had to amputate the limbs of the wounded with only the local brandy to diminish the pain. Many perished from gangrene. The largely ruined hospital did not even have aspirin.
We spent hours in the cellars of Stepanakert, together with the local population, as Azerbaijan bombarded the city with Grad missiles.
Distressed by the human suffering we witnessed, but uplifted by the strong spirit of the people, CSI and Lady Cox returned time after time. Lady Cox and I wrote an extended report entitled Ethnic Cleansing in Progress: War in Nagorno Karabakh. It placed the ethno-religious cleansing of Artsakh in the context of an ongoing process of Armenian Genocide, one that did not end with the First World War.
What began as human rights fact-finding and advocacy visits turned into repeated humanitarian aid missions, with a special emphasis on medical support. The outstanding Lady Cox Rehabilitation Centre, once in Stepanakert, but now serving the displaced people of Artsakh in Yerevan, stands as a monument to those early CSI humanitarian initiatives.
The ethno-religious cleansing of Artsakh came to an end with the ceasefire of 1994. It seemed Artsakh could stand on its own two feet. But it was not to be. In 2020, the ethno-religious cleansing resumed and was finally completed in 2023 following a nine-month blockade. The blockade was designed to starve the population into submission. Seeing Artsakh again facing an existential threat, CSI again stepped into the breach to put Christian solidarity into practice.
CSI continues to campaign for the right of the people of Artsakh to return to their homes and to live in peace and dignity with their human rights secured. We also continue to campaign for the release of the Armenian Christian hostages held by the Aliyev dictatorship in Baku.
While CSI initially engaged with the Armenian nation because of the existential crisis facing Artsakh, we now witness the tragic emergence of an existential threat to the Armenian Republic itself.
Azerbaijan occupies swathes of Armenia’s territory. It claims ownership rights of the whole of Armenia which it openly calls West Azerbaijan. It demands changes to the Armenian constitution. It insists on the submission of the Armenian Apostolic Church, which it openly accuses of standing as a barrier to peace.
One by one we see Azerbaijan’s demands being met as preconditions for the signing of a capitulation treaty. Among the most disturbing of the recent concessions to Azerbaijan’s demands are the arrest and imprisonment of archbishops Bagrat and Mikhael, Bishop Mkrtich, the lay patron of the Church, Samvel Karapatyan and others.
Make no mistake about it. What we witness today is nothing short of the forced Azerbaijanization of Armenia and its integration into the converging authoritarian neo-Ottoman and pan-Turkic worlds, not the frequently proclaimed pivot to the democratic West. Nor does it mark the onset of a new era of peace, prosperity and freedom for the Armenian nation. The ongoing gross violations of fundamental human rights and human dignity that accompany the process of Azerbaijanization of Armenia bear witness to this grim reality.
At this time of renewed national crisis, we should keep in mind the words of the Prophet Jeremiah. When ancient Israel faced an existential threat, Jeremiah proclaimed: “They offer superficial treatments for my people’s mortal wound. They give assurances of peace when there is no peace.” (Jeremiah 6:14).
Tom Barrack, the US Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy for Syria seems to agree. He has recently proclaimed when speaking about the broader neo-Ottoman world that “When we say peace, it’s an illusion… somebody has to submit.” In this case it is defeated Armenia that must submit. The peace on offer is based on the religious and ethnic cleansing of Armenians and political repression, coupled with the illusion of economic prosperity as the “superficial treatment for the Armenian people’s mortal wound.”
Let us take the Biblical words to heart. But let us not become despondent at this celebratory Gala. Yes, the challenge is enormous. But be of good cheer. There is hope in this David vs Goliath struggle; hope in the eternal spirit of Armenia, the first Christian nation; hope in the steadfastness of the ANCA; hope in the many faithful non-Armenian Christians around the world who continue to stand in solidarity with that nation; hope in the mysterious power of our Christian faith. May the Almighty – the supreme authority over the powers and principalities of the world – guide our collective efforts and bless and sustain the first Christian nation in these times of trouble.
