On Monday night, over 75 attendees participated in a webinar on COP29 hosted by the AYF-YOARF Central Hai Tahd Council (CHTC). The webinar highlighted the ongoing efforts led by the ANCA and AYF to spotlight Azerbaijan’s human rights abuses and ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Armenian population of Artsakh ahead of the global climate conference. The webinar was moderated by CHTC Chair and ANCA Eastern Region Director of Legislative Affairs and Community Relations Nairi Diratsouian who was joined by ANCA Policy Director Alex Galitsky and ANCA Grassroots Director Gev Iskajyan.
The webinar opened with Iskajyan explaining the function and purpose of the COP conference: a global convening of nations through the United Nations for the purpose of mitigating the effects of climate change. This year, the conference is being hosted in Baku, Azerbaijan. For multiple reasons, Iskajyan explained that the choice of host has prompted controversy. Namely, Azerbaijan is a petrostate, ranked one of the most authoritarian regimes on earth, and, perhaps most objectionably, has recently committed genocide against the indigenous Armenians of Artsakh.
Thereafter, Galitsky broke down Azerbaijan’s strategy of greenwashing. Greenwashing, he explained, is a rhetorical and propaganda strategy used to normalize and justify otherwise unacceptable actions — human rights abuses, war crimes, obscene economic stratification, attacks on civil rights and suppression of civil society — all in the name of ecological progress.
Following that playbook, Galitsky said, has allowed Azerbaijan to credit its genocide of indigenous Armenians to clearing the path for potential development and international investment in now depopulated areas in green energy production. Should the international community go along with the Aliyev regime’s mental gymnastics, he argued, it would effectively normalize and institutionalize the Artsakh genocide.
Then, steering the conversation back to the advocacy of the ANCA and AYF, Iskajyan outlined five main pillars upon which the organizations base their advocacy: (1) releasing POWs, civilian hostages and political prisoners; (2) calling out the Aliyev regime’s human rights abuses; (3) ensuring the safe right of return for all Artsakh Armenians; (4) urging participating delegations not to visit territories captured by force; and (5) publicly repudiating efforts to greenwash.
“If COP is a ship,” Iskajyan elucidated, “we are the wind in the sails.” Already, the ANCA, AYF and other allied organizations have created immense pressure and reframed the conversation around COP29. This has been achieved through sustained outreach and relationship building between human rights and environmental justice advocates while engaging the Armenian community internationally.
In particular, Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) and Congressman Frank Pallone (D-NJ) brought attention to Azerbaijan’s human rights abuses ahead of the conference through a letter to the Biden administration signed by over 60 representatives and senators. Due to such efforts, COP29 is set to have a significant decrease in attendance from previous years both by U.S. administration high-ranking officials as well as heads of state from countries across the globe.
In fact, advocacy led by the global ANC and AYF networks, pro-Armenian elected officials and grassroots activists has been so effective that Aliyev, the Azerbaijan’s parliament and government spokespeople have all trotted out vast conspiracy theories and attempted to deflect, pronouncing that “there is no place for human rights at COP.”
To continue this momentum, Galitsky said, advocates must continue to make it a toxic public relations move for any brand or government to do business with or invest in Azerbaijan. Whether ensuring that tax dollars do not aid in redeveloping occupied Armenian lands or businesses further enriching the Aliyev regime, turning Azerbaijan into the pariah it deserves to be should be a goal for Armenian, pro-human rights and pro-environmental advocates alike.
To conclude, Galitsky and Iskajyan took a few questions from participants. They clarified that Azerbaijan was set to host COP only because of a deal with Armenia in exchange for release of prisoners. Relationship building initiated by the ANCA has yielded great dividends for the Armenian cause, and disruption and people power are advocates’ best hope in combating Azerbaijan’s caviar diplomacy, they added.
Diratsouian then encouraged all participants to share news on social media, get involved with their local ANCs and sign up to become ANCA rapid responders to strengthen the movement and disrupt Azerbaijan’s plans for COP.
Learn more by visiting protestcop29.org.
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