As Armenians once again face genocide, the free world must act now […] bankruptcy / by Anouschka Agob

September 12, 2023

As Armenians once again face genocide, the free world must act now or declare moral bankruptcy

by Anouschka Agob

Armenians protest Azerbaijan’s blockade and Russia’s refusal to enforce the opening of the Lachin Corridor – © David Ghahramanyan

Every year on April 24 when the Armenian genocide is commemorated, Armenians all around the world pray that soon the day may come that the free world abides by its solemn promise of “never again” But recent atrocities committed by Azerbaijan against Armenians and the indifference of the U.S. and the EU, show that “never again” has become an empty platitude.

The Present through the prism of the past

The Ottoman campaign of systematic organized cleansing of its ethnic Christian minorities, lead to the progroms of 1894-1896 and the genocide of 1915-1917, resulting in the murder of millions of Armenians and 100.000s Assyrians. Afterwards, Russia, the U.S. and France declared that they would “never again” allow such an atrocity to happen. Then Stalin’s paranoia resulted in the Nagorno-Karabakh oblast to become part of Soviet-Azerbaijan in 1923, although the ethnic Armenians retained autonomous rule. When the Soviet Union collapsed, Armenians realized that living under Azerbaijani rule was not an serious option: the denial of the Armenian Genocide, the continuous Turkish and Azeri threats “to finish what our grandfathers started,” and the Azerbaijan state-sponsored pogroms of 1988-1990, pushed Armenians to declare the independence of the Republic of Artsakh with the Lachin corridor as the only lifeline to Armenia. The 1994 Karabakh War was won by Armenia and consolidated the ethnic Armenian rule over the oblast. For a while, Armenians relying on their newfound strength and close partnership with Russia, the U.S. and France, believed that they had a chance of survival in the region. But this believe was short-lived.

The Velvet Revolution that angered Moscow

Reminiscent of the 2014 ‘Orange Revolution” in Ukraine, Armenia went through a ‘Velvet Revolution’ in 2018. Armenians rejected the undemocratic remnants of Soviet-Armenia and realigned their foreign policy by forging stronger ties with western states. But despite Yerevan declaring that this move did not mean breaking ties with Russia, Moscow would soon show its displeasure. If Armenians thought that embracing democracy and the rule of law as the foundations of their state would bring them the much-craved security and prosperity, the refusal of any decisive Russian military aid to counter Azerbaijan’s 2020 war of aggression against Artsakh, shows that Moscow won’t let any such moves by former soviet states go unpunished.

History repeats itself

Moscow’s behaviour towards Armenians – “to survive, accept integration into Russia”- is thus not that surprising. But the indifference exhibited by the U.S. and the EU, in the face of an ongoing Azerbaijani genocidal campaign against Armenians, is far more disheartening. Since the cease-fire of November 2020, Armenians have endured acts of torture, decapitations, indiscriminate killings, sexual mutilation, kidnappings, bombings, cultural heritage destruction and incursions into the sovereign territory of Armenia by Azerbaijan.

And now, even genocide. In December 2022 Azerbaijan started its blockade of the Lachin corridor, obstructing the only lifeline of food, medical supplies, gas and other vital goods into Artsakh. Already Armenians have died either through malnutrition or miscarriages. And winter has yet to start. Azerbaijan’s objective here is two-fold: first it tries to enforce Armenians to submit to Azerbaijani rule, and second give ‘approval’ to forge a road through Armenia’s sovereign territory, uniting it with Türkiye. In August 2023, the founder and former lead prosecutor of the ICC, Ocampo issued a report designating the blockade as ‘an ongoing genocide.’ As have Genocide Watch, Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, several NGOs, and other political and civil society actors.

People are daily waiting hours in line for a loaf of bread in Artsakh, as shelves are getting emptier by the day © David Ghahramanyan

The chilling fact that the aggression and horrific atrocities come with the genocidal rhetoric reminiscent of Ottoman times, lends credence to the claims that Armenians face another genocide.

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in its latest review of Azerbaijan expressed “deep concern” over the incitement of racial hatred against Armenians by Azerbaijan officials at the highest level. Aliyev has said that Armenians are sick with a “virus,” and his officials have openly stated goals of ‘eliminating Armenians completely.’ Furthermore, Aliyev and his officials keep referring to Armenia, as “Western-Azerbaijan,” denying the ancient Armenian people’s history which goes back 3000 years. Historians, other civil and political actors have found these claims not only laughable, but also a clear sign of the occupational and genocidal intentions of Aliyev.

At the end of august 2023 France sent a humanitarian aid convey to Artsakh, but Azerbaijan refused entry. © Hayk Manukyan

The Reverend who is a Merchant

The current circumstances Armenians face are eerily similar to those that prefaced the Armenian Genocide. But instead of taking bold decisive action, as with Ukraine, the U.S. and the EU continue to produce verbal “condemnations,” while rejecting calls for a humanitarian airlift, sanctions, freezing of trade agreements with or end military aid to Azerbaijan.

Why have the leaders of the free world, who always invoke the principles of human rights and international law in response to Russia’s aggression, suddenly become blind and deaf? Simple: in this geopolitical chess game, where money and power rule moral and legal obligations to protect those in danger of genocide, Armenian lives have no value. Azerbaijan on the other hand, is of great strategic importance: besides providing the U.S. a launching pad for actions against Iran and in Afghanistan, its partnership with Azerbaijan also helps to counter Russian and the increasing Chinese influence in the Caucasus. As for the EU, since it sanctioned Russian gas and oil it had to find alternative sources for its industries, which will still depend on fossil fuels in the coming decades. Thus, in July 2022 the EU signed a gasdeal with Azerbaijan, with the EC president declaring Aliyev ‘a reliable partner’.

One can hardly oversee the irony and hypocrisy here: Azerbaijan has been classified as a dictatorship by leading human rights NGO’s, guilty of the same litany of human rights violations as Russia. It continuously ranks so low on any human rights and human freedom index, that HRW declared that “Torture, corruption and impunity is systemic and endemic in Azerbaijan.” No wonder Artsakh Armenians refuse to accept Azerbaijan rule.

But still the U.S. and the EU insist that the ongoing Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks will produce lasting security for Armenians. The Minsk peace talks, which did not deter Russia to invade Ukraine, beg to differ. Why would Azerbaijan, guilty of countless well-recorded grave human rights and international law violations, agree to a peace deal when its aggression and atrocities have gone unpunished? In fact, Azerbaijan’s current actions show it has no intention of signing any lasting peace deal which respects the lives and the rights of Armenians, as it continuously stalls the negotiations by adding demands that involve Armenia giving up parts of its sovereign territory. Azerbaijan’s disingenuous participation is thus mere strategy to uphold the veneer of cooperation, delaying any action by the U.S. and the EU until it can create ‘facts on the ground’ that are hard and too costly to undo. Indeed, the lack of any action or repercussions by the free world has forced Armenia to negotiate with a gun to its head, since it emboldened and enabled Azerbaijan to refuse obeying the binding provisional order of the ICJ that calls for the lifting of the blockade, while continuing its horrifying genocidal campaign against Armenians.

International Law

This double standard of the free world sends the distressing message that some aggression and atrocities are tolerated for the sake of geopolitical interests. But this violates international and EU law, and the very principles western leaders often tout to hit Putin within the face.

International humanitarian law designates any humanitarian blockade as genocide by ‘deliberate starvation.’ Since the U.S. and the EU are both signatories to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, they have the obligation to take measures to prevent genocide and punish perpetrators, including by enacting relevant legislation. But the Genocide Convention is also considered customary international law, thus binding on all states regardless of non-ratification. Considering the fact that the ICJ has clearly stated that, under article I states have extraterritorial obligations to act decisively to prevent genocide everywhere and punish the perpetrators, there can be no doubt that the current inaction of the free world is in violation of customary international law.

In addition, the EU also has obligations to prevent and protect under the TEU which covers its trade relations too. First, by virtue of art. 3(5) and 21 TEU, which establishes that a) the EU’s policies have extraterritorial effects, and b) in its external relations the EU has an obligation to uphold, promote and protect democracy, the rule of law, the universality and indivisibility of human rights and fundamental freedoms, respect for human dignity and the principles of international law. Second, in its judgment of Air Transport Association of America a.o. v Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change the CJEU specifically stated that the EU has an obligation in its trade relations to act consistently with art 2 TEU. Finally, the Strategic Framework on Human Rights and Democracy specifically lays out that the EU has the obligation to ‘integrate respect for human rights and principles of international law into all areas of its external relations.’

In conclusion

In 2021 the U.S. formally recognized the Armenian Genocide. But recognition also requires commitment and action to protect and prevent the threat of genocide Armenians have continuously faced since 1915. The legacy of the Armenian Genocide, the Holocaust and the Rwandan genocide, demands the free world to move beyond mere moral outrage and verbal condemnation, especially since the actions of Azerbaijan are part of a wider comprehensive genocidal campaign against Armenians in the Caucasus. It requires the prioritization of the moral imperative to uphold international law.

Thus immediate decisive action, to oblige by the responsibility to protect and prevent under the Genocide Convention regardless of geopolitical interests, must be taken. Any unwillingness to take the necessary measures, to end Azerbaijan and Turkey’s tireless efforts to ethnically cleanse the world of Armenians and thus prevent a second Armenian genocide, would signify the moral bankruptcy of the free world.

Anouschka Agob

Anouschka Agob was invited in our columns by the right of reply, following her grievances presented, and sent by email to the editor of Diva International Diplomat. International Diplomat Canada disclaims all liability by publishing the text here, but reserves the right to set its editorial position even posterior on the dies Observatory.