In 2016, my wife and I visited Hadrut, a beautiful town in Artsakh where every house has a rose garden, where Armenian churches have stood for at least 1,000 years, and where two sisters invited us into their home, fed us breakfast, and inscribed a book of their father’s poetry for us.
In the past week, international investigators have confirmed that invading Azerbaijanis have executed at least six Armenians in Hadrut. One victim was a disabled man in his own home, holding up his hands to shout, “Don’t shoot!” One victim was exactly my age. One was exactly my grandmother’s age. Videos shared widely on Azerbaijani social media show how these two were tied up, beaten and murdered by a hail of bullets.
In less than three weeks, at least 700 Armenians have died defending against this invasion, under indiscriminate cluster-bombing of residential neighborhoods and targeted strikes on churches, hospitals, and schools. Armenian losses are already higher, as a proportion of population, than the American death toll in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan combined.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan refers to Armenians as “remnants of the sword” and declares that Turkey and Azerbaijan are “fulfilling the mission of their grandfathers” against the Armenians. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev boasts that he is chasing the Armenians out of their homes “like dogs.”
The way to stop this unfolding genocide is heartbreakingly simple. It would not require any military intervention. All it would take is halting military aid to the aggressor countries, demonstrating that their behavior will not be tolerated. But even this simple step seems to be too much for our leaders.
And what truly breaks every Armenian’s heart is that simply speaking up seems to be too much for the vast majority of our non-Armenian friends. We are begging you to help. Please show your support in any way you can. Even if we personally mean nothing to you, please take a small stand for humanity.
The situation is hopeless if no non-Armenians help. But together, people of conscience can move mountains.
Hagop Toghramadjian
Latest posts by Hagop Toghramadjian (see all)
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You are asking people to help but you are not showing them how. Give them a sample message and the links on how to send the message to the President, Secretary of State Pompeo, and their Senators. ex:
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Dear Mr. President, Dear Secretary Pompeo
On September 27 Turkey and Azerbaijan unleashed an attack on Armenians with the aim of eradicating them from their native lands, where they lived for thousands of years. Mr. President, it is time that we stop appeasing Turkey and its pupets who have a goal of creating a new Ottoman empire by invading, ethnically cleansing, and occupying their neighboring countries. We have seen the Turkish actions with invasions it in Northern Syria, Northern Iraq, Cyprus, Libya, in the Balkans, northeastern Greece, the Aegean Sea, and now Armenia. Turkey is even fermenting terrorism in Europe as we have seen in France this week, and has turned against NATO and our allie Israel, Egypt, Greece, Cyprus, France, Austria, the Netherlands, and directly against the United States with the purchase and use of the Russian S400s.
Mr. President, Impose an arms and an economic embargo on Turkey as dictated by the CAATSA (Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act). Turkey has stopped being an ally long ago and is directly attacking the United States interests and the United States.
———-
https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
https://register.state.gov/contactus/contactusform
https://www.senate.gov/senators/contact
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Please , in the name of Jesus , stop this carnage.
Writing letters to any particular U.S. President/Secretary of State (both of whom are always controlled by the combination of the Israel and Turkish lobbies), never achieves anything for the Armenian people. Between September 27th and now, perhaps over a million letters have been sent to the White House and Secretary of State; and what did that achieve for Artsakh? The answer is nothing! Trump and Pompeo, have made it perfectly clear that the USA has no intention of recognizing Artsakh’s independence. What are they doing to stop the attempted genocide of Artsakh’s Armenians by Azerbaijan and Turkey? Again, the answer is nothing! Those two insensitive jerks haven’t even once condemned Aliyev and Erdogan for their huge war crimes against the Armenians; nor have they shown the slightest bit of criticism towards Israel (who is enormously guilty in all of this) for supplying the Azeris with so many highly sophisticated military arms, which are being used to assist them in completing an all-out genocide against the Armenians of Artsakh.
At the highest possible level, I condemn the White House and its pompous Secretary of State for doing absolutely nothing to try and stop the attempted genocide of Artsakh’s Armenians.
other than writing to the president, secretary of state, the senators, and congressmen/congresswomen when can we do? Do you have any suggestions ?
The only other things are
1) people can make contributions to fundraisers to help the victims,
2) or they can travel there and fight,
but will either of these two help?
Yes, those two things certainly help. The more money that goes towards providing humanitarian assistance to the victims of the attempted genocide against Artsakh’s Armenians, as well as assistance for the soldiers of the Artsakh Defense Army, is a huge help.
And the more Armenians we have on the soil of the Homeland, the stronger it will be. Therefore, diasporan Armenians who wish to come over and be a part of the Armenian homeland’s defense is also helpful.
What about protests? That can also be helpful, if it’s powerful enough to persuade the U.S. government to take action in support of the Artsakh Republic. Sadly, up to now, regardless of all the massive pro-Artsakh protests that have been taking place throughout the USA, no sort of legislation has been passed in support of recognizing the independent Artsakh Republic.
Another thing that would be helpful for the Artsakh Cause, is to make it a habit of never purchasing products that are made in Turkey, Azerbaijan and Israel.
Much thanks to the author and these commenters for great inspiration. To defeat despair we must keep coming together, working harder, and demanding action such as embargoes. Since world news has failed utterly to cover our crisis, we could even consider that local actions such as a boycott-protest (grocery/Trader Joe’s?) could open doors to coverage of the greater issues. The lively discussion here can lead to concerted media campaigns and meaningful political action.