{"id":30724,"date":"2020-10-06T12:37:14","date_gmt":"2020-10-06T16:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=30724"},"modified":"2020-10-06T12:38:56","modified_gmt":"2020-10-06T16:38:56","slug":"aahr-calls-for-an-immediate-end-to-aggression-against-artsakh-nagorno-karabagh-and-armenia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=30724","title":{"rendered":"AAHR CALLS FOR AN IMMEDIATE END TO AGGRESSION AGAINST ARTSAKH (NAGORNO-KARABAGH) AND ARMENIA"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

PRESS RELEASE<\/b><\/span><\/h1>\n

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AND DISTRIBUTION<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n

OCTOBER 3, 2020<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Armenian Americans for Human Rights (AAHR) *
\n<\/b><\/span>Belmont, MA 02478
\n<\/b><\/span>USA<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

aahumanrights@yahoo.com<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

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AAHR CALLS FOR AN IMMEDIATE END TO AGGRESSION<\/b><\/p>\n

AGAINST ARTSAKH (NAGORNO-KARABAGH) AND ARMENIA<\/b><\/p>\n

We strongly condemn the latest aggression by Azerbaijan against the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabagh) and the Republic of Armenia.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On Sunday morning, September 27, 2020, Azerbaijan flagrantly violated a negotiated ceasefire by launching a massive, unprovoked attack on Artsakh and Armenia.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Azerbaijan, NATO member Turkey has deployed and is using its own armed forces and advanced arms, including American-supplied weapons such as F-16 jets, to attack Artsakh\/Armenia.<\/span><\/p>\n

Using American-supplied weapons for other than self-defense is a grave violation of American law for which the United States must bear full responsibility.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Azerbaijan and Turkey have been deliberately targeting innocent civilians, schools, and homes in Artsakh, resulting in hundreds of deaths and injuries, including those of children.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Turkish President Erdogan and his country have no business intruding into this conflict \u2014 particularly on the side of the aggressor.<\/span><\/p>\n

For years, Israel has been selling billions of dollars in armaments, including advanced attack drones, to Azerbaijan for use against Armenians.\u00a0 Israeli personnel have even fired such weapons against Armenians.<\/span><\/p>\n

Israel is now resupplying these weapons to Azerbaijan.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is not surprising because Israel, which demands worldwide acknowledgement of the Holocaust, has always refused to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide committed by Turkey from 1915-1923.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Leading Jewish American organizations (ADL, AJC, AIPAC, and others) had long colluded with Turkey and Israel to deny\/diminish the Armenia Genocide and\/or actively defeat Armenian Genocide resolutions in the U.S. Congress [NOTE 1].\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For years, Israel has also been guiding Jewish writers to publish falsehoods about Armenia, Artsakh, and Armenians.<\/span><\/p>\n

The American people and the international community will ultimately not tolerate such hypocrisy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Consistent with American interests and values, for nearly 30 years America and the American people have\u00a0 generously provided economic, charitable, and political support to Armenia and Artsakh, which also have excellent relations with the European Union.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Armenia participates in NATO\u2019s Partnership for Peace and has supported the U.S. in Afghanistan.<\/span><\/p>\n

America, the European Union, and NATO must act now, not merely talk, to stop Azeri\/Turkish aggression.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Artsakh and Armenia are democracies.\u00a0 Azerbaijan is headed by dictator Ilham Aliyev, and, like Turkey, imprisons political opponents and journalists.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

America is now energy independent.\u00a0 It need not sell itself to corporate interests whose only goal is profiting from Azerbaijan\u2019s gas and oil deposits.<\/span><\/p>\n

Azerbaijan has threatened to bomb Armenia\u2019s Metsamor nuclear power plant, a crime against humanity that would spread radiation throughout the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

Turkey has now sent jihadist terrorists from Syria, Libya, and elsewhere to Azerbaijan to fight against Armenians [NOTE 2].\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Former ISIS commander<\/span> Sayf Balud is going to Azerbaijan, courtesy of President Erdogan [NOTE 3].<\/span><\/p>\n

This continues Turkey\u2019s practice of supporting terrorist organizations such as ISIS [NOTE 4].<\/span><\/p>\n

The U.S. State and Defense Departments as well as Congress should be embarrassed that they have long turned a blind eye to Turkey\u2019s support for terrorists \u2013 thereby making a mockery of America\u2019s \u201cGlobal War on Terror.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the early 1990s, Azerbaijan deployed Afghan Mujahedin, Chechen militants, Turkish Grey Wolf neo-fascists, and others to fight Armenians.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps not surprisingly, given his financial investments in Turkey and deep ties to the corrupt Erdogan family, President Trump is ignoring Turkey\u2019s support for terrorist factions, aggression against Armenians (and others), and illegal use of American-supplied weapons.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Similarly, the Democratic Party and its presidential nominee Joe Biden have said little about Turkish and Azeri aggression against Artsakh\/Armenia.\u00a0 This implicitly aligns Mr. Biden and Democrats with President Trump with whom they allegedly disagree on issues involving Turkey and Erdogan.<\/span><\/p>\n

Artsakh is Armenian<\/b><\/p>\n

In 1921, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin and Bolsheviks used \u201cdivide and rule\u201d tactics to place Artsakh inside Azerbaijan, even though Artsakh was Armenian and Armenians constituted 95% of the population.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1988,\u00a0Artsakh\u00a0freed itself from over 60 years of repression, economic underdevelopment, and periodic massacres: It\u00a0democratically\u00a0voted\u00a0to\u00a0secede from Azerbaijan\u00a0in accordance with Soviet law.\u00a0 When the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, Artsakh voted for independence.<\/span><\/p>\n

As these events were taking place, Azerbaijan\u2019s authorities responded with massacres of Armenians in Sumgait and Baku in 1988 and 1990.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1921, Stalin also put the Armenian territory of Nakhichevan under Azerbaijan\u2019s jurisdiction. Azerbaijan subsequently drove out all of Nakhichevan\u2019s Armenians and has destroyed its ancient Armenian cultural heritage [NOTE 5].<\/span><\/p>\n

Azerbaijan had continuously attempted to do the same to Artsakh.\u00a0 That is why Artsakh voted for self-determination and freedom.<\/span><\/p>\n

Azerbaijan was, in actuality, cobbled together only in 1918.\u00a0 Prior to that, no such country ever existed nor did any \u201cAzeri\u201d identity.<\/span><\/p>\n

Though the population of Armenia and Artsakh is at most 3 million compared to the combined 92 million populations of Azerbaijan and Turkey, Armenians are fighting valiantly against the aggressors.<\/span><\/p>\n

From 1915-1923, Turkey committed genocide against Christian Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks.\u00a0 And Turkey has for years threatened Armenia with a new genocide.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The international community is not helpless.\u00a0 It must act.<\/span><\/p>\n

Armenian Americans for Human Rights<\/i><\/b> makes the following calls:<\/b><\/p>\n