Statement on the 108th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide
On 24 April, Armenians around the world commemorate the more than 1.5 million victims of the Armenian Genocide committed in the Ottoman Empire. In 1915-1923, the Young Turks and the Kemalist Government, in several stages, carried out mass atrocities and deportation of Armenians. The Armenian Genocide was part of the Pan-Turkist policy pursued by the leaders of the Ottoman Empire, which envisaged the occupation of new territories through massacres, turkisation or forced displacement of native Christian Armenians.
The inability to prevent the first Genocide of the 20th century and its impunity, unfortunately, subsequently led to new genocides. Even today, more than a century after this horrific crime, the Armenian people are again facing the threat of a new Genocide. The authoritarian regime of Azerbaijan, supported by Turkey, continues to pursue a genocidal policy against the Armenians. A clear proof of this is Turkey’s unconcealed support and direct participation in the military aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh in September 2020. During the 44-day war of aggression, a significant part of the territory of the Republic of Artsakh was occupied, numerous war crimes and gross violations of international humanitarian law were committed, including brutal murder of civilians and prisoners of war, beheadings, desecration of dead bodies and many other inhumane acts.
Continuing its plans of ethnic cleansing of Artsakh, Azerbaijan has been keeping the 120,000 people of Artsakh under siege for more than 4 months, putting them in a dilemma: to be exterminated or forced to leave their homeland. At the same time, in order to promote its genocidal policy, Azerbaijan continues to violate the fundamental rights of the people of Artsakh by all possible means in front of the eyes of the international community and in an environment of complete impunity and permissiveness.
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Since the Armenian Genocide in 1915, the international community has made a commitment and developed an appropriate toolkit to prevent Genocides and massive violations of human rights in order to prevent their recurrence. Today, it is imperative for the UN Security Council to use that toolkit to prevent the destruction of the people of Artsakh as such and to protect their fundamental rights.
Once again honouring the memory of the holy martyrs of the Armenian Genocide, we reaffirm our commitment to the struggle for the restoration of historical justice.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh
