Simultaneous rallies took place in Stepanakert’s Revival Square and Yerevan Freedom Square on Tuesday with participants demanding the immediate lifting of Azerbaijan’s almost eight-month-long blockade of Artsakh and recognition of Artsakh’s right to self-determination.
Addressing the rally in Stepanakert, Bishop Vrtanes Abrahamyan, the Primate of the Artsakh Diocese said that the current challenges being confronted by the people of Artsakh suggests that the Artsakh Liberation Movement is still ongoing. He urged the participants to make that a way of life—“a mission, an ideal and a struggle.”
“During the Artsakh movement, thousands of Armenians became heroes and became immortal. We should become a united front and we should bring this movement to its fruition— to have a free, independent Artsakh,” said Abrahamyan said and conveyed the support of His Holiness Karekin II, the Catholicos of All Armenians.
A video message from His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia was also broadcast during the rally, which was attended by Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan, Parliament Speaker Artur Tovmasyan and State Minister Gurgen Nersisyan.
The rally took place a day after President Harutyunyan declared Artsakh a “disaster zone.” During a press conference with Armenian and international media outlets on Monday Hautyunyan said he expected an urgent international response “through collective or individual security, political and humanitarian support.”
“Right now Artsakh [Nagorno Karabakh] is the only territory in the world to be in total isolation and under blockade, without any humanitarian aid or international presence,” Harutyunyan said, adding that Nagorno Karabakh could be considered to be a “concentration camp” if his disaster declaration fails to garner international support.
“Azerbaijan’s claims that the Artsakh issue is their ‘domestic concern’ reminds us of the justifications presented by Nazi Germany’s leadership during the Nuremberg trials when they were describing mass murder as a ‘domestic matter,’” Harutyunyan said
.
He called on the international community to take action and prevent genocide against the people of Nagorno Karabakh by Azerbaijan.
“Azerbaijan is deliberately creating the kind of conditions that are aimed at either partial or complete destruction of the people of Artsakh. This constitutes genocide under international law, and it provides for all members of the international community to take steps to prevent the crime of genocide,” added Harutyunyan.
He said the people of Artsakh are demanding that the signatories of the November 9, 2020 agreement — the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan — to implement the obligations outlined in that document, specifically underscoring the role Moscow should play in this regard.
Harutyunyan also demanded that Armenia respect the right to self-determination of the people of Artsakh “and refrain from any statement or action that would recognize Artsakh to be part of Azerbaijan.”
The Artsakh president called on the United Nations Security Council to take action to prevent Azerbaijan from carrying out a genocide and ensure that Baku complies with the orders of the International Criminal Court and European Court of Human Rights, both of which explicitly called for the immediate opening of the Lachin Corridor.
“I am demanding that Mr. [UN Secretary General Antonio] Guterres to launch, without hesitation and delay, a UN system to resolve this situation,” Harutyunyan said, adding that he’s ready to personally contact the Secretary General online and present the situation.
