System of a Down lead singer Serj Tankian has drafted an open letter urging stronger international intervention in ending Azerbaijan’s now more than seven-month-old blockade of Artsakh.
Musicians Peter Gabriel, Roger Waters, Tom Morello, and Stewart Copeland were among several artists signing on to the appeal. The letter was also signed by Atom Egoyan, Arsinee Khanjian, Eric Bogosian and Sebu Simonian.
In an exclusive interview with SPIN, Tankian detailed the worsening humanitarian crisis in Artsakh resulting from the blockade.
“Everyone is supporting opening the blockade, from the United States to the State Department to the European Union, but it’s all talk,” Tankian told SPIN. “But while people are starving, telling a dictatorial regime to open up an illegal blockade is not going to help them survive. They’re just words. There’s no actions, and that’s the issue.”
“Everyone has already condemned it, but no one is doing anything. For example, USAID [United States Agency for International Development] could easily tell Azerbaijan, we’re going to fly in supplies. They have an office in Armenia, and the Armenian government has supplies that have been sitting around. We’ve been trying to reach out to [USAID administrator] Samantha Power to get her attention on the issue, and she’s aware of it, because she posted about it on Twitter,” added Tankian.
The musician told SPIN that Russia’s war in Ukraine has complicated matters and has destabilized the region.
“Alliances have re-aligned between Russia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey,” Tankian said. “Once the war started, Russia looked to Turkey and Azerbaijan as a way of surviving because their oil is being funneled through Azerbaijan pipelines. Turkey is then playing both sides between NATO and Russia to their benefit, and that has even become a stumbling block for Finland and Sweden’s NATO membership. They’ve basically been blackmailing NATO to get what they want, which is the arrest of Kurdish activists living in Europe. In the long run, these changes might be great for Armenia, because Armenia has definitely been pivoting towards the west since the 2018 peaceful revolution, but right now, I don’t think things are changing for the better.”
“Most people read about Ukraine everyday in the press but don’t know that this is even happening,” Tankian said of the situation in Artsakh.
“[Ukrainian president] Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Twitter praised Azerbaijan and their corrupt, fascist dictatorial leader Ilham Aliyev for helping Ukraine with energy supplies. So be it, but at the same time, the same dictatorial leader has put a chokehold on these people in Armenia and has invaded our proper, United Nations-recognized territories. He’s taken about 150 kilometers and his soldiers aren’t backing up. We’re being hypocritical as an international community, because we can’t sacrifice one country for another. It’s not right,” Tankian pointed out.
“We, the undersigned, join Amnesty International and the UN’s International Court of Justice in calling upon the government of Azerbaijan to open the Lachin corridor to all movement and cease from the oppression of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh,” Tankian’s appeal letter said.
The SPIN article also provides links to Armenian National Committee portals in the U.S., U.K. and Canada for individuals interested in contacting elected officials.
