09/22/2023
Many of our coworkers’ (Artur, Pavel, Nara, Karina, and Marina) relatives live in a mountainous region called Nagorno-Karabakh where Armenians have lived for millenia, and from what he can determine, his relatives and everyone in that region are hiding in the forest right now, trying to stay alive.
They may not even still be alive.
There are reports coming out that Azerbaijani soldiers are killing Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh in order to take the land, as they have been trying to do for decades. And the reports say that the killings are not in nice ways (is it ever in nice ways?), but by cutting off ears, heads, eyes, ra**ng women and killing children. (This is so hard to write, oh my god....)
Artur cannot talk to anyone there to find out what's actually happening and whether his relatives are still safe and alive. Azerbaijan bombed communications systems so that people won't be able to communicate with the outside world. For three days now, Artur's been trying to call relatives there day and night and the calls don't go through. The first day, he did get through once, talking with one of his cousins at 2am by WhatsApp (the cousin said they were given power for a very short time, and that was probably before it was bombed), but since then he's had no information. The only thing he knows for sure is that one of his cousin's sons, who has three daughters of his own, was killed. The father is unable to bury his son because they don't know where his body is and there's no way to go looking without putting oneself in grave danger.
This is in contrast to the official reports from Azerbaijan, which alternately talk about wanting peace, and about "being attacked" by Armenians. But why would Armenians attack them? The Armenians in the Nagorno-Karabakh region number 120,000 and don't have access to weapons, whereas Azerbaijan is an oil-rich country of 10 million people with a large military that they've employed against Nagorno-Karabakh in repeated wars since the country of Azerbaijan was created in 1918 at the close of WWI.
Currently, Israel and Turkey are selling weapons to Azerbaijan, which Azerbaijan is using to kill Armenians.
Why would Isreal *of all countries* not understand what is it to experience genocide, and so to stop selling weapons to Azerbaijan?
As for Turkey, they still do not admit the Armenian Genocide in 1915, when the Ottoman Empire marched many millions of Armenians off their land - land which used to be Armenia and is now part of Turkey. In 1915 and 1916, Ottomans killed 1.5 million Armenians, and again, in terrible ways.
It was much like the Trail of Tears that America inflicted on five Native American tribes in Southeastern USA between 1830 and 1850, but on a much bigger scale, and in a much condensed timeline. Most troublingly, *it is still a crime in Turkey to call it a genocide*. Due to this inability or unwillingness to own up to committing genocide, it is not a surprise to Armenians that Turkey is selling weapons to Azerbaijan.
The President of Azerbaijan just went on the news saying that they are "making a paradise for Armenians" in the region, and I have to wonder: is that a statement of a Paradise on Earth, or a Paradise in heaven?
Russia used to be Armenia's defender, but they're angry with Armenia for supporting Ukraine in their war of sovereignty. The Nagorno-Karabakh region has been under blockade by Azerbaijan and Russia for 9 months already (it is a landlocked and mountainous region, and there's only one road into it from the rest of Armenia, which has been closed these 9 months: https://press.un.org/en/2023/sc15384.doc.htm), so that people in this region have not been able to get food, medicine, electricity, gas, or supplies of any kind since December 2022. This current crisis comes during a time of great duress overall, when people there were already starving.
America and many other countries have been talking about how "concerned" they are about all of this, and they've warned Azerbaijan that the blockade needs to be lifted. The warnings have been getting increasingly serious. But still nothing has happened to lift the blockade, and now, it has become so much worse.
Armenia doesn't have oil so it is not rich and powerful, but Armenians are very skilled workers, and a gentle, protective people. They're the first Christians in the world, and are surrounded by Muslim countries. In 2018 in Armenia, there was a completely peaceful revolution that brought a President to power who helped rid the country of corruption. It's really cool to read about: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43948181
Please help spread the word about what's going on. Armenians need our help.
The photo is of Artur with his two sisters, Marina and Karina.
