Armenians Attacked by Azerbaijan: France Calls UNSC Meeting
Kanako Mita and Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
Armenian Christians in the embattled Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) face the endless encroachment of Azerbaijan. Ancient Armenian Christian churches, architecture, and even graveyards face the same destruction once areas come under the control of Azerbaijan.
In history, Armenians suffered endless pogroms in the 1890s at the hands of the Turks. Other Christian minorities – Assyrians and Pontic Greeks – would also be butchered in this period of history by the Turks and fellow Kurdish Muslim allies. Accordingly, this culminated in the 1915 Armenian Genocide – and the mass slaughter of other ethnic Christian groups by Muslim Turks and Kurds.
Naturally, the historical legacy – and with NATO Turkey supporting Azerbaijan to the tilt – the fear of ordinary Armenian Christians is understandable.
France 24 reports, “Azerbaijan on Tuesday launched a military operation against the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region, warning it would “continue until the end” in the territory, over which it has fought two wars with neighboring Armenia.”
France immediately condemned the attack by Azerbaijan. The Foreign Ministry of France said, “France condemns in the strongest terms the launch by Azerbaijan of a military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh, with the use of heavy weapons, including against civilian settlement. No pretext can justify such unilateral action, which threatens thousands of civilians already affected by months of illegal blockade and goes against the efforts of the international community to reach a negotiated settlement.”
France also called for an emergency meeting at the United Nations Security Council.
The Foreign Ministry of France said, “[France] is working closely with its European and American partners so that a strong response is provided to this unacceptable offensive, commensurate with the risks it poses to the security of the region.”
Azerbaijan told Armenian civilians to evacuate through “humanitarian corridors.”
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenian called on the Russian Federation and the UN to “take steps” and stem the crisis.
He also spoke to President Emmanuel Macron of France and Antony Blinken (US Secretary of State).
The Foreign Minister of France (Catherine Colonna) said the military operation by Azerbaijan is “illegal, unjustifiable and unacceptable.”
During the conflict in 2020, Macron lambasted NATO Turkey for sending Islamists from Syria to kill Christian Armenians.
Macron said (2020), “We now have information which indicates that Syrian fighters from jihadist groups have (transited) through Gaziantep (southeastern Turkey) to reach the Nagorno-Karabakh theatre of operations.”
Armenian Christians during the late stages of the nineteenth century – which culminated in the genocide of 1915 – face similar forces one hundred years later. Therefore, Armenian Christians face being uprooted from their ancient lands.
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