#we need to demand a ceasefire. we need to stop the mass genocide that is happening

[theveryattacheduser]

18,000+ killed

And about 8700 of them are children

I think it's very clear that it's not a conflict. It's not a war. It's a fucking genocide.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Christopher Mathias at HuffPost:

A coalition of 185 social justice and religious groups published an open letter Monday expressing support for the campus protest encampments sweeping the country in opposition to Israel’s siege of Gaza, and calling on university administrators to end the brutal crackdowns of the student-led demonstrations. “We commend the students who are exercising their right to protest peacefully despite an overwhelming atmosphere of pressure, intimidation and retaliation, to raise awareness about Israel’s assault on Gaza — with U.S. weapons and funding,” the letter states. “These students have come forth with clear demands that their universities divest from corporations profiting from Israeli occupation, and demanding safe environments for Palestinians across their campuses. ” Groups that signed the letter include Gen-Z for Change, Working Families Party, IfNotNow Movement, Young Democrats of America Black Caucus, Movement for Black Lives, Sunrise Movement, MPower Change, Jewish Voice for Peace, Palestine Legal, and the Unitarian Universalist Association.

Some 900 students have been arrested during anti-war encampments and demonstrations at American universities in the last 10 days, per a tally from Al Jazeera — a tumultuous period that mirrors volatile demonstrations against the Vietnam War in 1968, when police arrested at least 700 students. The open letter Monday represents one of the largest shows of support among progressive groups for the burgeoning student protests, and makes clear the divide between establishment Democratic figures and social justice groups when it comes to U.S. support for Israel. President Joe Biden has refused so far to condition the sale of weapons to Israel. “Our communities have been horrified to see the militarized and violent response to students protesting an ongoing genocide funded and supported by our government, and our coalition of organizations join millions of our members across the country in standing in solidarity with the students’ efforts in support of the people of Gaza,” Yasmine Taeb, one of the main organizers of the letter, told HuffPost. Taeb is a human rights lawyer and political director at MPower Change, a Muslim social justice group.

“Instead of attacking young people mobilizing for Palestinian human rights, President Biden needs to listen to the majority of Americans who have been calling on him to stop funding and supporting the atrocities committed against the people of Gaza,” Taeb said.

[...] Israel has killed over 33,000 Palestinians since Oct. 7, when the Gaza-based militant group Hamas launched an attack in which nearly 1,200 Israelis were killed. In January, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s siege of Gaza — which has displaced 85% of the population and put the occupied territory on the cusp of famine — left Palestinians at risk of experiencing a genocide. Last week, health officials in Gaza said medics had discovered mass graves at hospitals raided by Israeli troops. “We join [the students] in calling for an immediate and lasting ceasefire and an end to the U.S. government’s and institutions’ role in the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza,” Monday’s letter states. “As we stand in solidarity with the students protesting in encampments across the country, we reaffirm our commitment to amplifying their voices, condemn the university administration officials’ violent response to their activism, and demand that universities remove the presence of police and other militarized forces from their campuses,” it continues.

[...] Meanwhile, Republican Party officials and right-wing media figures have accused the demonstrations of antisemitism, falsely equating criticism of Israel with bigotry towards Jews. Although there have been scattered reports of actual antisemitic incidents at or near the encampments, many were not perpetrated by students but by interlopers. Many of the student protesters across the country are Jewish. Far-right agitators, including Christian nationalist activists, have also targeted the encampments, with MAGA pastor Sean Feucht leading hundreds of Christian and Jewish Zionists on a march around the Columbia campus on Thursday. The rally ended with pro-Israel demonstrators yelling through the gate at pro-Palestinian Columbia students. “Go back to Gaza!” they screamed.

More than 185 groups, including IfNotNow, Jewish Voice For Peace, MPower Change, and Working Families Party, signed a letter in support of the campus protests against Israel Apartheid State's genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

[unveilandresist]

i keep hearing over and over the word steadfast, that the people of palestine are a steadfast people. so i have this going around in my head when i started seeing messages calling on people to mass call/email/fax their reps to keep the pressure on about palestine.

And I thought, y'all i am stubborn as hell. if you are stubborn as hell, or petty as hell and don't let shit go...we need you now. We need to alchemize these traits into steadfastness.

i am calling my representatives to let them know that this will not stand. that palestine will be free. that they are complicit in genocide and i am not gonna forget it and i am not gonna let the people around me forget it either. that tens of thousands of innocent civilians have died and the blood is on their hands. there are far better ways to do activism and movement work, but we all gotta start somewhere and i'm a chronically ill bedbound person so i am doing what i can from here. all our tiny actions add up. we can only change things together. we cannot say we are not complicit, we cannot turn away. we demand a real and lasting ceasefire. we demand an end to the genocide.

there can be no more business as usual. we have to ride this wave and see where it takes us (a lot of places, did you know that palestinians are being surveilled by the same tech used to monitor the US border for example?). All struggle for freedom is connected.

We cannot let this stand.

please, send emails, faxes, calls to your representatives. They are counting on us all having a holiday and buying some shit and forgetting all about the Palestinian people.

yesterday I saw a video of a child saying how beautiful it was to be outside without the hum of drones. According to the video description, Gaza has not been without predator drones buzzing overhead in 17 years. This kid has never heard what it is to just be outdoors without their constant presence.

Today I am taking every step i can for him. If you can go out and join an action physically, do so. If you can't, call and email and share information wherever possible. Educate your friends and family. Now is the time to decide the kind of person you want to be in the face of genocide and settler colonialism.

[opencommunion]

Dispatch from the Palestinian Youth Movement

“The foremost demand to anyone inside the West, inside the imperial core, is to oppose the genocidal drumbeat waged by Zionist and Western leaders alike. The Palestinian people of Gaza have asked for the bombing campaign to stop, the blockade to end once and for all, and for humanitarian aid to enter. But also and more broadly, what we are asking those who wish to be in solidarity within the West is threefold. First, struggle through organizations and your workplaces and your communities and in the streets to demand an end to both the current genocidal campaign and for an end to the entire system of settler colonialism that has strangled Palestine for the last century. Second, go on the offensive: demand sanctions against Zionism; no more weapons, no more money, no more cultural or institutional cover. We want the total anti-normalization of a Zionism that has once again shown its face to the world. Finally, understand Palestinian resistance as fundamentally just and as a means of survival for our people; it will not stop in the weeks and months to come, and you must be prepared not to waver again.

The Western governmental response has been military and economic carte blanche and material support. These nations have withdrawn much of their foreign aid to the Palestinian people at a moment of utter crisis; leaked documents suggest that the US State Department has instructed its bureaucrats to avoid issuing calls for de-escalation or ceasefire. Secretary Blinken visiting the Philadelphia-born prime minister of the Zionist entity while he is initiating genocide of Palestinians is an affirmation of total US government support and a guarantee of intelligence and military resources to be placed at the Zionists’ disposal. EU leaders, too, have embraced the death merchants of the “Second Nakba” in a lurid display of global settler phantasmagoria. Students and activists are being rounded up from the streets and campuses for their brave defenses of the Palestinian resistance. Germany is leading mass arrest campaigns and seeking to ban the Palestinian prisoners’ movement from their country; England and France are seeking to ban symbols and expressions of Palestinian solidarity. Your voices and your bodies are needed now.”

[gveret-fic]

Re: prev ask

something that I’ve noticed that western leftists like to do is pretend to be more radical in order to have the “moral high ground”, to be more woke and be a better leftist than other people. in doing so they both succumb to right wing framing, center themselves on issues that really don’t affect them in the bigger picture, and cause unnecessary infighting.

the reality is that in order to cause positive change we need to unify by not fighting on the minutiae of ideological issues/hypotheticals and instead focusing on pushing for policy that will mitigate the current problems at hand. ie: the majority of Americans including a spectrum of people with different views on I/p currently want a ceasefire and a hostage deal.

do not let politicians forget that what we are really discussing is the very real issue of dying babies in Palestine.

also nazis are bad. do not let nazis pretend to be allies of brown people when their main contention with Jews is the fact that they aren’t “white enough”

It may surprise you to learn that a majority of Israelis also support a hostage deal, which de facto means a ceasefire. In fact, thousands of people have been marching in the street every single week (and several dozen, every single day) for months now demanding a hostage deal.

And do you know what happens when a fundamentalist, extremist, criminal, anti-democratic government is elected, and there are mass protests in the streets? Nothing. Because they don't care, because this isn't a democracy, because public opinion can't sway a government that isn't serving the public.

That's what Amricans are courting with Trump.

As to the effectiveness of mitigation strategies in general, there's plenty of debate over that, so I wouldn't accept it as fact. But there's no doubt that nothing short of overwhelming unified majority can stop an actual war. Even that might not be enough. This is absolutely the time to be pragmatic and solution-oriented and stop daydreaming of decolonial revolution.

I agree that Nazis are bad, but your phrasing here is incorrect and misleading. There's no "main contention" with Jews, it's pure irrational genocidal antisemitism. And the reason behind it certainly isn't that Jews aren't "white enough". Nazis considered Jews our own separate, inferior race, completely disctinct from other races, distinct enough that we aren't even considered human and should be exterminated about it. Like there's a whole Nazi racial theory you can easily google and I encourage you to do so.

[fuzzbraiin]

just a reminder it’s just 1 petition asking to renew our flag means death but numerous petitions asking for help to stop genocides!! AND you can sign ALL these petitions. you can do both! why not support anyone and everyone? (list of petitions i’ve signed and additional resources to browse below) 👇

took some time to sign the renewal campaign? did you know it takes the same amount of time to sign for a ceasefire?

instead of typing hate tweets and clicking tweet… why don’t we click to help generate donations to Palestinian people.

more petitions! this one only has 166 signatures?! let’s get that goal of 200 signatures

tech exploitation. sounds horrific? it is. it is the exploitation of children to the dangers of mining for tech companies to make tech such as apple iphones and microsoft computers (which you may be using right now).

and those are just the ones i, myself signed this morning, there is definitely more resources i will look into further, and so should you!

[toshidou]

Just in case what I posted got cut off with a long note, I'm posting it separately too.

Please, please, please do not be silent about what is happening in Palestine. If you are in America, call your local councillors, spam call the white house, share posts of what's happening, speak on this, do not be silent. We cannot afford to be quiet when the governments of this world are allowing a mass ethnic cleaning to happen in broad fucking daylight.

Israel have just bombed Gaza's communication network. They can no longer reach anyone from inside or outside their prison. If Israel was so bold to openly carpet bomb them for all the world to see, what will they do when the world is blind to their actions?

Do not forget the Palestinian people, scream their name and their cause from the rooftops, demand your governments call a ceasefire, do not let them forget that every single life taken in Palestine is on their heads, that their hands are irrevocably stained with their blood, that they snuffed out over 8,000 peoples hopes, dreams, and lives.

This does not need to be stated, but if you support what Israel is doing, if you are "remaining neutral", if you are claiming that you can't look or deal with what is happening, I urge you to educate yourself using the master list link here. Nothing is more important than stopping Israel and holding them fully accountable for their mass and disgusting, putrid, vile war crimes.

If this is something you refuse to change your stance on, you are a reprehensible idiot and a supporter of genocide.

[violexides]

the clip makes me nauseous and i don't want this post to blow up because i've had to block enough people as is on this site and grit my teeth through some of the things i've seen people i love reblog (like holy shit guys) but all i have to say is: you're not going to act like Harris is good for Palestine right now. i don't care if you're voting blue, or third, or if you're not voting, you are NOT going to act like Harris is good for Palestine. if you want to vote for her look to all those other reasons that you think Democrats are good or whatever but you're not going to fucking gaslight people into thinking that because Harris said she wanted a ceasefire like twice, disregarding her recent statement at a Detroit event AND how she called protestors pro-Hamas, that she's going to be good for Palestine. not to mention her silence in the last months during Biden's administration (you guys flip flop fast as to whether you think elected officials are able to launch america into tyranny in under a year or if they are unable to do literally anything ever in politics and just have to sit there sadly). you are ALSO not going to act like this is the best we can do in American politics. the lack of political imagination is absurd. i'm not even saying don't vote for Harris because God knows i get it but at the very fucking LEAST start applying pressure for her to be more explicit in calling for an end to the genocide. contact her office, or raise awareness. i am genuinely physically ill over the fact that so many people are saying "what more do you want for her? this is the best we're going to get for Palestine!'" NO political imagination. How can you mansplain the basics of American politics to everyone by saying "third parties aren't going to win you fucking idiot" but you can't understand that you should at least TRY. TO LEVERAGE YOUR VOTE. INSTEAD OF UNCONDITIONALLY VOWING YOUR SUPPORT. There is always going to be a big bad candidate. There is always going to be an unsavory republican versus a tolerable democrat (this should be deeply terrifying to you). there, too, is always going to be a mass of people who can use the power of their voice, or something something "civics" if you need a buzzword here, to DEMAND better out of our officials & that process starts before they get in office. I'm glad you guys are so anti trump that you're saying Harris and Waltz are like BRAT mom and dad or whatever the fuck but I need you guys to give a shit about Palestinians for two seconds and stop memeing them with some white Brit woman's song. The genocide is still going on. footage was released of a Palestinian man getting gang raped by Israeli soldiers and there were riots demanding the release of the soldiers. the Israeli media is upset that this got leaked, not outraged that a man was brutalized in that way. NOBODY in western media is talking about this, they want it to blow over. but they still purport the claims that have been debunked about Hamas.

i don't know who this might upset but you don't just twiddle your thumbs and wait for politics to change once you get a Democrat. you're supposed to demand things, you're supposed to express yourselves. leftists have done a lot of legwork since the start of the genocide across college campuses but it's not even a fraction of the amount that we need to get justice for our brothers and sisters and siblings over the seas. elected officials are accountable to you when they want your vote. Harris is not going to do anything if you guys just keep acting like she could kill a man in front of you and you're still 100% willing to jump into her arms. She clearly does not know how to navigate this pressure if she's saying stupid fucking shit like she did in Detroit so put on pressure. and unfortunately i dont have the capacity to baby you through how to do that pressure because brown folks are already trying to tell you and you're ignoring it, and if you know enough about american politics to try to mansplain it to the PEOPLE WHO ARE GETTING GENOCIDED BY AMERICAN TAX DOLLARS, you can surely figure out how to send a fucking email.

im not Palestinian i am an insanely privileged teenager living in America so i cannot even comprehend a fraction of the pain being suffered by the Palestinian people & the diaspora but what i will say is none of you "vote blue no matter what, this is the best we're going to get" folks are ever going to help my close friend's treatment prices lower. None of y'all are ever going to take a stand to keep my best friend from risking going to prison just for standing outside. None of y'all would have said SHIT when my people were getting killed in the Iraq war. And if you think "no that's wrong, i did or i would or i think i might have-" then start saying shit now. Keep saying shit. I'm sorry if this doesn't feel easy to you, I'm sorry if it feels uncomfortable to shake away the idea that Harris is going to save politics and save Palestine just autonomously. But you don't have to take care of her. and maybe you could afford to take care of your own comfort a lot less. she's a woman with immense privilege and you are a person with privilege and the Palestinian people are still being killed. Sorry if this is ineloquent or whatever i don't fucking care. I just need you guys - mostly the people who follow me - to know where im at with this. Because yall keep rbing shit like "if u dont vote for Kamala u vote for trump" as if your white asses are at risk when the uncommitted movement LARGELY COMPOSED OF FOLKS OF COLOR are actually just demanding that their people dont die. Nobody wants trump. nobody wants genocide either. maybe you don't see how Kamala can ruin your life if she continues with her current rhetoric but i can see it crystal clear. Ive been seeing it for months. A lto of us have.

[theivorybilledwoodpecker]

Washington, DC – More than 500 former campaign staffers who helped elect Joe Biden in 2020 have called on the United States president to work towards a ceasefire in Gaza and end the violence that has killed more than 10,800 Palestinians. The letter released on Thursday adds to the growing calls from sources close to the Biden administration to push for an end to the war. "As President of the United States, you have significant influence in this perilous moment,” the letter, first reported by Vox, said. “You must call for a ceasefire, hostage exchange, and de-escalation, and take concrete steps to address the conditions of occupation, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing at the root of the horrific violence we are witnessing now.” While the Biden administration and Congress remain steadfast in their support for Israel, staff members, grassroots organisations and activists have been expressing growing opposition to the war. The American Postal Workers Union, which represents US Postal Service employees, also backed calls for a ceasefire on Thursday. “We call on our government, which is the primary foreign benefactor of the Israeli government, to use all its power to protect innocent lives and to help bring about peace in the region, and not use our tax dollars for more war,” the union said in a statement. “We join the calls for an immediate ceasefire, the release of hostages, and urgently needed massive humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. The cries of humanity demand nothing less.” Growing calls The two statements follow earlier efforts from within the government to push for an end to hostilities. Last week, employees at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) circulated a letter calling for an immediate ceasefire, and by Wednesday, it had surpassed 1,000 signatures. Hundreds of Congress staffers also staged a walk-out on Wednesday to demand an end to the war. Thursday’s letter by people who worked on Biden’s campaign highlighted the mounting death toll in Gaza and the mass displacement of residents in the territory’s northern reaches, noting that scholars have raised alarm about the risk of genocide in the conflict. The Democratic staffers also said they were “horrified by the devastating Hamas attack against Israeli civilians on October 7″. United Nations agencies and rights groups have also urged a ceasefire, with UN chief Antonio Guterres warning that Gaza is becoming a “graveyard for children”. But early Thursday, Biden ruled out any definitive stop to the conflict. When reporters asked about the possibility of a ceasefire in Gaza, the US president said, “None, no possibility.” Biden has voiced unconditional support for Israel and requested more than $14bn in additional assistance for the country since its war in Gaza started on October 7, angering US progressives, Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims. Last month, the US president sparked outrage among Palestinian rights supporters when he cast doubt over the death toll in Gaza, saying that he has “no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using”. Rights experts and fact-checkers defended the numbers, which are released by the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza based on hospital and morgue records. They explained that, in previous conflicts, the Health Ministry’s numbers matched the findings of independent researchers. A senior State Department official also said on Wednesday that the actual Palestinian death toll may be even higher than the official numbers. “In this period of conflict and conditions of war, it is very difficult for any of us to assess what the rate of casualties are,” Barbara Leaf, assistant US secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, told lawmakers. “We think they’re very high, frankly — and it could be that they’re even higher than are being cited.”

[proffittproductions]

Bad news: I noticed protectpalestine.org was taken down yesterday, and now it's forbidden for me (I dunno if it's the same for other US citizens though).

Good news: It is still entirely possible to support Palestine!

*Donate to Palestinians and/or organizations that raise donations.

*Spread awareness and continue to educate yourself with trusted blogs and other sources. (NOTE: if you can, save articles and photos to your phone so they can be preserved and presented should mass censorship prevail and the need arise.)

*Say it with me- DON'T STOP TALKING ABOUT PALESTINE! Continue to post about it, tell your friends and family (if it's safe to do so, and email/call your representatives to demand a ceasefire! Look up scripts if you need to!

We won't let a little speedbump like this stand in the way of freeing Palestine from oppression and genocide!

[44cowboycryptid44]

Tumblr is definitely a site that I find harder to navigate for low-energy activism activities but that certainly doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be advocating for humanity like I do elsewhere. It may look different here, but I have the energy right now so:

Do NOT stop talking about Palestine. This is a genocide. People’s lives are being destroyed. I can’t put into words how horrifying it is that we just watch this happen. That this is happening at all.

If you enjoy my posts about house md, Merlin, and neurodivergent joy: everyone in Palestine is being deprived of that joy.

If you enjoy my posts about spirituality: if you can believe that there is good in the world and in the universe, and you can work to draw it to yourself, HELP BRING IT TO VICTIMS OF GENOCIDE. And no, I don’t mean manifest a ceasefire, I mean DEMAND one. Go donate to families.

And if you enjoy my posts about disability and chronic illness: if you can understand or even conceptualize in any capacity the pain of disability, fight against a mass disabling event. Fight against genocide.

I have “free Palestine” in my bio because I truly know that what Israel is doing is wrong, not because opposing genocide is a social badge that doesn’t take any work. Put. The. Work. In. However that can look for you, do it.

If you don’t know where to start, this family is really close to their goal. I don’t know if go fund me is the best crowdfunding site but it is what we have. If you can, please donate.

[armeniaitn]

Azerbaijan and Turkey must be held responsible for bringing paid killers and fanatic jihadists to our region – Armenian President

New Post has been published on https://armenia.in-the.news/politics/azerbaijan-and-turkey-must-be-held-responsible-for-bringing-paid-killers-and-fanatic-jihadists-to-our-region-armenian-president-63090-15-10-2020/

Azerbaijan and Turkey must be held responsible for bringing paid killers and fanatic jihadists to our region – Armenian President

Azerbaijan and Turkey should be held responsible for bringing paid killers and fanatic jihadists to our region thus making achievement of peace even more complicated, Armenian President Armen Sarkissian said in an interview with Kuwaiti daily Arabic-language newspaper Al-Jarida.

“The civilized world should stop this. It is a shame for the 21st century to still have mercenaries who are paid for killing civilians or creating human disasters,” the President said.

The full text of the interview is provided below:

Who started the military actions in Nagorno-Karabakh and in which political context it occurred? Are we witnessing a proxy war? Or another battlefield for energy wars?

Nagorno-Karabakh is a region which was historically part of the Armenian lands and Armenians have been living there for thousands of year. Historically, Nagorno-Karabakh or Artsakh was always a part of Armenia. It is a nice mountainous beautiful region where Armenians, as an indigenous people, were inhabiting those lands for thousands of years and they still live there. Only under the Soviet regime, Nagorno-Karabakh, as an autonomous region, was given by Stalin to Soviet Azerbaijan for 70 years. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, we got the first war and almost 30 years of negotiations. The Azeri side is that it has a legitimate right to free those lands. But free from whom? There are ethnic Armenians 100% living there, and they have been there always. Why one should leave his/her own home just because a newcomer wants to? This is called aggression followed by ethnic cleansing. They want that land without Armenians. For the Azeri side, controlling those lands and justifying their aggression is part of an identify-building narrative, while for the Armenian side, it’s a struggle for life, for cultural heritage and historic memory. It a fight for their houses, parents and children who live there, but who now became direct targets of Turkish drones and Azeri missiles.

So, they started a full war while there is a clear agreement of a cease-fire established since 1994. This is a real war which Azerbaijan and Turkey prepared seriously and long ago. The Azeri sides wants to break the status-quo and impose its will. And Turkey militarily and politically backs this dangerous venture of Azerbaijan pushing the region to the brink of a human disaster. We, Armenians, never challenged any energy infrastructure. Instead, according to some arrangements, Armenia could even export electricity to Turkey as it does for Iran and Georgia. As for your question about a proxy war, I can tell you that Turkey is using Azerbaijan to expand its dominance in the region. By doing so, it threatens the fragile stability in the South Caucasus.

With the regional tension all around, are you afraid the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh will create a new “Syria”?

Yes, I am, because if there is no a strong international reaction to Turkey’s deliberate and unlawful actions in the region, we can turn the region into a Syria-like nightmare. And then, everyone in the region and beyond will be affected. So, if Turkey is not stopped from being directly involved in military offensive activities, the conflict between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan may spiral out of control. We need to stop Turkey and Azerbaijan from levelling up the situation in magnitude, in complexity, and creating something that eventually will become another Syria of the Caucasus. Turkey is permanently recruiting and sending war mercenaries, mujahedin–terrorists, Islamic terrorists Azerbaijan to fight against the civilian population of Nagorno-Karabakh-Republic or Artsakh, as we say it. Different countries must interfere and put a strong and unequivocal pressure on Turkey to stop it from interfering in the region. If Turkey is restrained, then we have a chance of an effective ceasefire and negotiations, with a possibility of going back to the negotiation table. This Turkish involvement and the Azeri aggression which didn’t stop even under the declaration of ceasing hostilities for humanitarian purposes on October 10, 2020, give feeling to everyone not only in Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia but everywhere where are Armenians, and those people who are close to the Armenians, that Turkey wants to repeat something that happened 105 years ago-ethnic cleansings of Armenians from their homeland-and creating another genocide. We-Armenians, in Armenia, Artsakh and Diaspora-will never allow another genocide to happen. Enough is enough.

Azerbaijan authorities proclaimed that Armenians volunteers, especially from Syria and Lebanon, are joining the fight. Is that accurate? Are you afraid that this may increase religious dimensions of the conflict?

After the Genocide of Armenians perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire and never recognized as such by modern Turkish Republic, Armenians were spread world-wide, and became proud citizens of a number of countries: the US, Russia, France, Iran, Argentina, Lebanon, Australia, Syria, Georgia, Singapore, Poland, etc. They are effectively integrated into their home countries and societies, and a humble and law-abiding contributors in economy, politics, culture, sports, sciences, technology, education, etc. of the host countries. When there is an imminent existential threat, Armenians seek to get mobilized globally and they also can come to the Homeland and help their brothers and sisters on the ground. Azerbaijan and Turkey, not Armenia, should be taken responsible for bringing paid killers and fanatic jihadists to our region thus making achievement of peace even more complicated. The civilized world should stop this. It is a shame for the 21st century to still have mercenaries who are paid for killing civilians or creating human disasters.

As for the religious dimension, Armenians have nave showed any resentment and intolerance towards other religions. The religious dimension is just excluded from this conflict since the very beginning. Armenia and Armenians have a full respect for all religions and beliefs and thousands years of our history clearly demonstrated our attachment to human values including tolerance and respect for other religions, cultures, race, etc. I don’t know any Armenian having hatreds for representatives of other religions. We adopted Christianity in 301, officially the first in the world. During two millennia, the Armenian nation experienced wars, conflicts, exoduses, and even a genocide, but it never became a blind religious fanatic, as now we see many among those fighting against us on the Azeri side. But you will always find those who want to ignite hatreds and fuel new escalations, and they will say you there is a religious dimension which a non-sense.

Are you satisfied with the Arab gulf countries stance on the situation?

Since the very first day, when the Azeri side backed by Turkey started its unprecedented offensive against Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, I was in touch with heads of the Arab countries, such as the Sultan of Oman, the King of Bahrain, the Emir of Qatar, the President of Egypt, the King of Jordan, the Crown Prince of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, etc. In my letters and phone call I was expressing my deep concern over the spiraling situation stating that regrettably, Azerbaijan’s intermittent war against the people of Artsakh and the Republic of Armenia was nothing new and that for over three decades, Azerbaijan was trying to solve the Nagorno-Karabakh issue through military means and wipe out the Armenian population from its Homeland. And this is unacceptable.

What are Armenia demands for a ceasefire? How do you envision the political solution?

This is not the first time in about 30 years that Azerbaijan, enjoying the overt support of Turkey, perpetrated horrific aggression against Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, using a wide range of artillery and rocket munitions, including the banned cluster bombs to target the residential areas, situated far from the line of contact. It is important to remind that the routes of this conflict lied back in 1990-1991, when to the peaceful protests of the Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh Azerbaijan then-Soviet Republic responded with brutal military force, committing mass ethnic cleansings, and continued atrocities aimed to forcefully squeeze out the Armenian population. The Armenians then withstood the imposed war and enjoyed 26 years of de-facto independent and peaceful life on own Homeland amidst an enduring process of negotiations.

And now, the Turkish-Azerbaijan ongoing aggression the Armenians are facing now comes to expose the genocidal intentions of them, leaving no chance to the local population but to fight again to safe own homes, families, thousand-years old history and monuments.

Therefore, we are more than convinced that the international recognition of the Republic of Artsakh is the only option that might guarantee the security and the right of the Armenians living in here. So the political solution is clear: the only way to prevent the potential genocide and forced displacement of these people is the international recognition of their self-determination.

Are you optimistic about France and Russia and the United States upcoming meetings. Do you think the international intervention will help or complicate the situation?

The international mediation of OSCE Minsk Group that co-chaired by France, Russia, and the United States was one of the factors of lasting peace-oriented to a peaceful outcome, which was blatantly disrupted by Turkey and Azerbaijan blowing up the Caucasus region on 27 September, transferring mercenaries and radical jihadists to fight the Armenians.

Even though the joint statements of leaders of France, Russia and the United States to halt the violence immediately and back to the negotiation table, those were defiantly ignored not only by the Azeri government but first and foremost by Erdogan’s Turkey, who bears responsibility for instigating and militarily involving in Azerbaijan’s unleashed aggression against the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh. So, the only international intervention that not only complicated the situation but evoked an existential threat to the Armenians dramatically destabilizing the entire region is Turkey. And here is worth mentioning Turkey’s Foreign Minister Chavushoglu’s statement that his country will continue to stand by Azerbaijan on the ground and on the table, hence confirming Turkey’s military involvement in this war. This fact should inherently raise a concern among NATO members that their ally is an initiator of aggression against its Partnership for Peace partner. With this regard, to my understanding, the imperative for the international stakeholders, particularly to those who are interested in long-term peace or in the conflict resolution namely France, the United States, and Russia and others, is to refrain Turkey, making both Ankara and Baku accountable and responsible for provoking this horrible war.

Armenia is discontent with US over the use of F16 ,and with Israel over the weapon shipments to Baku ,and Russia was very cautious about showing support to you, are you concerned that Armenia will find herself alone?

The issue of Turkish F-16 in this war was raised by Armenia’s Prime Minister Pashinyan, who eventually stated that the United States may want to explain whether those fighter jets were delivered to Turkey for bombing Armenian civilians. It is also about NATO since Turkey is a NATO member and operates those F-16s. I have asked some NATO colleagues to look at this very carefully because we have a situation where a member of NATO-an organization, which has a clear mandate of what to do-is taking part or getting involved in a conflict of third parties, which are not NATO members. Does Turkey have an authorization or a green light from NATO? If yes, we should know that. If not, then I hope that our colleagues in NATO will make their voice heard and put pressure on Turkey that they should not get involved into this conflict because their presence here is not helping at all, it is escalating the situation dramatically.

On the other hand, the issue of Israel’s continued arming of Azerbaijan has long story, which remains confusing for the Armenian society. Even now, at times of the Turkey-Azerbaijan aggression against the Armenians, Israel’s government’s unchanged behavior in arming the aggressor is far from understanding for the Armenian side, who asks a simple question: since the Jewish State is a Genocide-survivor country, so why arming those who wage genocidal war against Armenia? Armenia and Artsakh are not anole, as we are on the side of truth. As for the position of Russia, the President Vladimir Putin made clear that Russia was and will keep its commitments as bilateral and multilateral security treaty ally of Armenia under the terms and conditions of a strategic partnership with Armenia. 

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