{"id":11899,"date":"2023-09-22T18:38:57","date_gmt":"2023-09-22T14:38:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abcmedia.am\/news\/11899\/"},"modified":"2023-12-17T11:53:18","modified_gmt":"2023-12-17T07:53:18","slug":"ceghaspanuthyun%e2%80%a4-lernayin-gharabaghum-katarvogheh-anvanekh-ir-iskakan-anunov%e2%80%a4-luis-moreno-okampoyi-hodvatceh-the-washington-post-i-hamar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abcmedia.am\/en\/news\/11899\/","title":{"rendered":"The world must call the crime by its proper name: Genocide: Luis Moreno Ocampo\u2019s article for The Washington Post"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In 2021, President Biden recognized the 1915 removal of
\nArmenians from their lands in Anatolia, in today’s Turkey, as genocide. The
\nUnited States had been silent on the issue for more than a century, and its
\nsilence had grievous consequences. Today, Armenians need global leaders,
\nincluding Biden, to stop a new genocide — one that started this past winter and
\nis now evolving into a more brutal phase. Former Chief Prosecutor of the
\nInternational Criminal Court, assistant prosecutor in the Trial of the Juntas
\nLuis Moreno Ocampo wrote this in his article The Washington Post. <\/p>\n

<\/p><\/p>\n

The author notes that in return for stopping the bombing,
\nAzerbaijan demanded the surrender of Nagorno-Karabakh’s top leaders and the
\ndisarmament of all the armed forces of the Karabakh authorities. As
\nAzerbaijan’s victory became more apparent, scores of Nagorno-Karabakh’s
\nArmenian civilians gathered around the airport in Stepanakert (the enclave’s
\nbiggest city) looking to flee their ancestral lands.

<\/p><\/p>\n

As Ocampo writes, they have every right to fear the next
\nsteps Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev might take. Since December 2022,
\nAzerbaijan has blocked the Lachin Corridor, the only connection between Armenia
\nand Nagorno-Karabakh. On Feb. 22, the International Court of Justice, after
\nhearing arguments from both sides, ruled that the blockade produced a “real and
\nimminent risk” to the “health and life” of Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenian
\npopulation.

<\/p><\/p>\n

Ocampo notes that rather than comply with the court’s
\nbinding order to end the blockade, Azerbaijan security forces doubled down in
\nJune, sealing off the enclave entirely, preventing even the transfer of food,
\nmedical supplies and other essentials. Since then, Aliyev has repeatedly
\nignored calls from the U.N. secretary-general and the U.S. secretary of state
\nto comply with the court’s ruling. He correctly understood that Azerbaijan
\nwould bear no serious costs from the international community for its actions.

<\/p><\/p>\n

Azerbaijan’s defiance is ominous. In international law, the
\nGenocide Convention of 1948 makes it clear that one way to commit the crime is
\nby “deliberately inflicting on [a] group conditions of life calculated to bring
\nabout its physical destruction in whole or in part” (Article II c). By blocking
\nthe Lachin Corridor, Aliyev turned Nagorno-Karabakh into a vast concentration
\ncamp for 120,000 Armenians. This week’s military intervention added killing
\n(Article II a) and causing serious bodily and mental harm (Article II b) to the
\nledger.

<\/p><\/p>\n

“What happens next?” asks the author. He notes that because
\nNagorno-Karabakh authorities surrendered, the international community has urged
\nAliyev to guarantee the full rights of his Armenian citizens in the enclave.
\nAliyev’s government has said it is not committing ethnic cleansing and assured
\nthe world that “reintegration” will bring prosperity to the region.

<\/p><\/p>\n

But Ocampo notes that this rhetoric rings hollow given what
\nhas already been done. And Azerbaijan’s ambitions extend beyond
\nNagorno-Karabakh. Since 2010, Aliyev has regularly talked about Armenia itself
\nas “Western Azerbaijan,” echoing long-standing Azerbaijani claims that Armenia
\nas a whole is an illegitimate state. As recently as December,
\n<\/a>he said that “present-day Armenia is our land.”

<\/p><\/p>\n

“The world must call the crime by its proper name. Resistance
\nto using the term “genocide” has been a long-standing problem in international
\naffairs. In April 1994, most U.N. Security Council members refused to label the
\nmass killings in Rwanda as genocide. Little has changed in 30 years.

<\/p><\/p>\n

Today, as always, geopolitics explain the world’s reticence.
\nAzerbaijan is an ally with the West against Iran; it provides energy to Europe
\nand it spends millions on sophisticated Israeli weapons. But such exigencies
\nmust not get in the way of the world’s responsibility to stop what is happening
\nbefore its very eyes: the Armenian genocide of 2023,” Ocampo concluded.

<\/p><\/p>\n

\n<\/p>

<\/p><\/p>\n

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