19 Armenian Children were Terrorized by Azerbaijan’s Special Military Forces as Russian peacekeeping forces in the Area Stand by
After 38 consecutive days of heart-breaking separation from their parents, 19 Armenian children were loaded into an armored vehicle in the middle of the night and escorted by Russian armed troops to reunite them at last with their anguished parents in Artsakh. First, however, the children had to pass the high-tension border of Armenia and Artsakh through a narrow 5km Lachin Road of Life where the Russian peacekeeping forces are to monitor and sustain “unhindered” transport of people, goods, and anything else needed by People of Artsakh. This was under the infamous November 9 cease-fire deal lead by Russia during the Artsakh 2020 War.
Artsakh was a province of the Kingdom of Armenia, a name bestowed upon this ancient land by its original custodians; a name still referenced by many Armenians. During the Persian occupation, they called it Karabakh and when the Soviet Union invaded, they renamed it “Nagorno-Karabakh,” a name currently used by the International Community.
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Artsakh’s story spans thousands of years in Armenian history traced back to the ancient people of Urartu from the biblical Kingdom of Ararat. At its peak Armenian lands reached from the Black Sea coast to the Caspian Sea, and from the Mediterranean Sea to Lake Urmia (presently in Iran). Today Armenia is a shadow of its former self compared to the mighty Kingdom of Armenia.
Armenian history starts with it being one of the world’s most ancient civilizations and it comes filled with trials and tribulations. Along the way they become the world’s first victims of Genocide which is a word coined to specifically describe the Armenian Genocide of 1915; this was a painful event where “race-killings” of millions of Armenians, Greeks, and Assyrians took place. Systematic efforts were made to purge these Christian Communities who have long lived peacefully side by side even before the invasion of the Ottomans who renamed the region the Ottoman Empire, modern-day Turkey.
Thanks to the dirty Russian dealings, the Ottomans eventually gained control of Western Armenia from the death grip of the Armenian Genocide victims. Some Armenian Genocide Survivors made their way to Eastern Armenia and Artsakh seeking to rebuild their shattered lives without ever being able to visit the final resting place of their massacred loved ones.
Peace is something that has long eluded the Armenians, for what came next was another death blow to these Genocide survivors. In 1921, Communist Stalin reversed 1920 Russia’s Promise to reunite Artsakh with Armenia. Worse yet Stalin stripped ancient Artsakh of all surrounding vital territories that offered any kind of self-defense capabilities and strategic support. Stalin’s final crippling blow to Artsakh was encircling it with a 3-year-old country called Azerbaijan with the Lachin Road of Life as a sole umbilical cord connecting Artsakh to Armenia for bare survival. From its inception in 1918 Azerbaijan immediately set upon re-victimizing the Armenian Genocide survivors next door to the utmost satisfaction of their common Turkish Muslim brothers. One crucial aspect to keep in mind is that Artsakh was incorporated into Azerbaijan with a special status of “Autonomous” Region which means that Artsakh people have the right to “self-govern” themselves; that is precisely what they have been doing to this present day. Since Azerbaijan has broken that agreement through the use of deadly force against Artsakh the International Community must step up to the plate to correct Stalin’s injustices and get involved in reuniting Artsakh with Armenia.
Any elected politician must weigh the high-risk factor that Azerbaijan will carry out systematic race-killings of Christian Armenians on Artsakh soil and displace the surviving ones from their ancient homes.
Just this Tuesday we saw horrific images of multiple Azerbaijan officials (reportedly reaching upwards of 20 personnel) violently board the Russian armored vehicle with 19 Armenian children trapped inside with nowhere to go. While the Russian peacekeeping forces stood by the Azerbaijani grown men began to storm toward the children in a Nazi like fashion and got razor close to them. The Azerbaijani officials glared at these Christian children in a threatening manner and continued to cowardly terrorize them to such a high level of duress that one child was unable to cope and lost consciousness. Azerbaijan’s Government sponsored terrorism is evident in this force-filmed video which was disseminated to show the Christian community of the world just how unsafe their children were in the presence of Azerbaijani personnel.
Regardless of your faith, the color of your skin, the sexual orientation of your preference, or the race you are born into at the end of the day we are all human beings and we do not deserve our children being starved, our infants prevented from getting baby formula and other vital necessities; we also don’t deserve to have our freedom of movement taken away as a result of which a person is killed while unable to seek even urgent medical care because he was born into an Armenian race.
The International Community cannot continue conducting business as usual with Azerbaijan; all immediate steps must be taken to resume the Stepanakert Airport operations to ensure the safe and unhindered movement of people and cargo between Armenia and Artsakh via air transport. Lachin Road of Life in the meantime must be a secondary form of unhindered transport of people and cargo between Armenia and Artsakh guarded by Artsakh Citizens with an International Monitoring Mission on site to document any false Azerbaijan narrative of escalation.
From this point on any politician who aligns with Stalin in calling Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan will be supporting a communist agenda. From this point forward any politicians who does not immediately begin sanctions against Azerbaijan’s Authoritarian Regime (ranked by Freedom House Organization as having the second worst democracy score) is signing a death warrant for 120,000 Christian Armenians of Artsakh of which 30,000 are children.
Suzanna Akopian
Malden, Massachusetts, United States
