The first genocide of the modern era was the murder of 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turkey during WWI. Today, the ethnic cleansing of Armenians continues in Artsakh, a historic Christian Armenian homeland gerrymandered by Soviet Russia as an autonomous region within Soviet Azerbaijan.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Artsakh legally declared and maintained its independence until it was attacked by Azerbaijan in September 2020. Then, in September 2023, all 120,000 indigenous Artsakh Armenians were forced from their homes and out of their country by Azerbaijan’s government.
To help avert yet another war and to uphold the principles of freedom and democracy, the U.S. government needs to mobilize regional support for the Armenians’ right to self-defense and self-determination and advocate for the safe return of the Artsakh Armenians to their historic homeland.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. On How To Avert War In Armenia, 29 Dec. 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMcoxmJvMkI&t=160s
