An American priest of Armenian nationality, Gary Shahinyan, pastor of Charlton Federal Church, wrote an article on the pages of the American periodical Telegram & Gazette, excerpts of which we quote. “The Azerbaijani government, a highly repressive and tyrannical regime, has long promoted official Armenian hatred and has repeatedly threatened to forcibly occupy not only Artsakh, but also Yerevan and other parts of Armenia, which it claims to be “West Azerbaijan. “. Artsakh was arbitrarily ceded to Soviet Azerbaijan by Joseph Stalin in 1923. Stalin made this decision despite the fact that Artsakh has been Armenian for 2500 years. It is part of the historical Armenian homeland, 95% of whose population were native Armenians at the time it was handed over to Azerbaijan. On September 27, 2020, Azerbaijani armed forces attacked Armenian civilians in Artsakh. They were aided by the corrupt armed forces of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

For decades, Azerbaijan has destroyed the most sacred Christian sites in the region. It actively promotes the campaign of destruction of Armenian culture, as was done in Nakhichevan, where more than 50,000 Armenians lived in 1920, but where today there is no trace of Armenian heritage or population. Azerbaijani children are officially taught Armenian hatred in schools. Azerbaijani dictator Ilham Aliyev has made it clear that he wants the Syunik road to run through the sovereign state of Armenia and connect Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan, “whether Armenia wants it or not. If Armenia wants it, the problem will be solved more easily. If it doesn’t want to, then we will solve it by force.”

The siege of Artsakh could be the next step in the genocide of Armenians coordinated by the Turkish government. Azerbaijan clearly wants to uproot the Armenian population of Artsakh. This is a manifestation of genocide