The leaders of the church recently issued a warning to Armenian Christians about the potential risks that they may face to their existence in the country as a result of the 'religious cleansing' that is taking place due to the conflict that is currently taking place between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
War Between Armenia and Azerbaijan
Global Conflict Tracker stated that within the borders of what is now the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast was founded by the Soviet Union in 1923. Its population is composed of ethnic Armenians to a 95 percent degree. Even though Nagorno-Karabakh is technically a part of Azerbaijan, the regional assembly of Nagorno-Karabakh adopted a resolution in 1988 stating the region's wish to merge with the Republic of Armenia. During the time that the Soviet Union was in power, armed conflict between the two states, which have an extended tradition of racial and ethnic hostility, was controlled. But as the Soviet Union began to fall apart, the peace in the region also began to disintegrate. Nagorno-Karabakh formally declared its independence upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, just as Armenia and Azerbaijan were becoming independent nations.
The employment of assault drones, bombing, and special operations conducted by the Armenian and Azerbaijani military have led to intermittent conflicts since the two countries' mutual acceptance of a ceasefire in 1994. In addition, the ceasefire is nominally scheduled to stay in effect until September 2020. At the beginning of April 2016, the combat along the line of separation was the bloodiest it had been since 1994. As a result, hundreds of people lost their lives. After four days of fighting, the two opposing groups stated that they had agreed to end the war. Despite this, the negotiations eventually broke down, which resulted in both sides accusing the other of violating the truce, and emotions continued to be high.
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'Religious Cleansing' Threats on Armenian Christians' Existence
Recently, Armenian Bar Association published a report entitled "Religious Persecution and Ongoing Ethnic Cleansing in Artsakh 2023," discussing the systematic destruction of Armenian Christian landmarks and heritage in the world's oldest Christian nation caused by Azerbaijan. Based on an article from Persecution.org, the Armenian Bar Association is a non-profit organization in Los Angeles. Its purpose is to address the legal challenges the Armenian community faces by bringing together legal professionals of Armenian descent.
Accordingly, the Holy Savior Cathedral in Shushi, Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), also referred to as "Ghazanchetsots," can be seen in an aerial photograph that serves as the cover image for this report. It reportedly illustrates the destruction caused by two airstrikes that Azerbaijan carried out in October 2020 under the presumption that the Apostolic church was being utilized for military reasons. This conduct was referred to as a "possible war crime" by Human Rights Watch. On the other hand, Catholic News Agency reported that during a news event on Tuesday, Jun 20, former Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback, along with other Christian leaders, issued a warning that the current conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia poses an imminent danger to the existence of Christian communities in the near east.
Brownback, a Catholic, described Islamic Azerbaijan's invasion of Armenia and its continuous siege of the area known as Nagorno-Karabakh as the most recent attempt at "religious cleansing" of the Christian nation of Armenia. According to Brownback, Azerbaijan, with the support of Turkey, is in the process of really slowly suffocating Nagorno-Karabakh. What is taking place on the ground is that they are working toward making it inhabitable so that the Armenian Christians who live there will be compelled to leave the territory. He also mentioned that if the United States government does not step in, it will witness yet another historic Christian population being driven out of its country of origin. Furthermore, Brownback reportedly has advocated for the passage of a "Nagorno-Karabakh Human Rights Act" by the United States Congress to provide the population of Nagorno-Karabakh with fundamental assurances of safety.
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