Armenians are once again being targeted, this time by Azerbaijan
In 1915, Armenian Bishop Krikoris Balakian was one of just sixteen survivors out of 250 intellectuals arrested and deported during the Armenian Genocide. His harrowing escape from the death marches into the Syrian desert is chronicled in Armenian Golgotha, a testimony that rebukes historical amnesia and warns of its deadly consequences.
This year marks the 110th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide of 1915. On April 24, Armenians around the world will gather to commemorate this tragedy. In 2015 the Armenian Church canonised the victims, officially declaring them saints. This moment of remembrance is not only about mourning the past, it is about confronting the present. The continuity between historical and continuing atrocities demands that we speak now, without equivocation.
Today, the descendants of those same Armenians are once again targeted – this time by Azerbaijan which, in 2023, completed the ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), forcing 120,000 ethnic Armenians from their ancestral homeland. Despite urgent warnings from human rights experts and international bodies, world leaders have yet again looked away.
Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous enclave with Armenian roots dating back to the 2nd century BC, and which I have visited, was blockaded for ten months by Azerbaijan, cutting off food, medicine and vital supplies. It culminated in a September military assault and mass exodus, eerily echoing past atrocities.
We are not speaking hypothetically. A former ICC Chief Prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, has declared that Azerbaijan's actions meet the legal definition of genocide under Article II(b) of the Genocide Convention. The European Parliament, Genocide Watch and the Lemkin Institute agree. So why is the UK Government still unwilling to call it what it is?
Worse still, Azerbaijan's assault didn't end with displacement. 23 Armenians, many of them civilians or elected officials of the former Artsakh Republic, remain detained in Baku under spurious charges of terrorism. One was abducted from a Red Cross convoy. Their treatment – solitary confinement, medical neglect and forced confessions – has been documented by human rights organisations and former detainees. They are denied due process.
Just days ago, Azerbaijan expelled the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) – the only body allowed access to these prisoners. Alongside the Red Cross, BBC Azerbaijan and other credible media outlets were expelled. This was no accident: it is a calculated attempt to sever the last humanitarian lifeline and eliminate scrutiny of human rights abuses.
This is not the first time Armenians have been silenced. Azerbaijan has spent years airbrushing Armenian history, destroying ancient churches and cemeteries and denying the Armenian Genocide. It has also cultivated generations of hate: schoolchildren are taught that Armenians are enemies, and convicted murderers of Armenians have been pardoned, glorified and financially rewarded.
Let us be clear: this is not a 'conflict.' It is the culmination of a state-sponsored campaign of dehumanisation and erasure. As with past genocides – from Rwanda to Bosnia – the warning signs were there, yet the world did little to intervene.
If this is not the moment to act, then when? The United Kingdom is a signatory to the Genocide Convention. That signature is not symbolic – it binds us to prevent, protect and punish. And yet, we have failed to call out ethnic cleansing when we see it; we have failed to impose sanctions on Azerbaijani leaders responsible for war crimes; and we have failed the victims by speaking in the language of false equivalence.
Armenia joined the International Criminal Court by ratifying the Rome Statute. This opens the door to international accountability. Arrest warrants for Azeri officials responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity are now possible. But justice must not only be retrospective – it must be preventative.
The international community must urgently demand the release of the 23 Armenian detainees, ensure international observers are allowed back into Azerbaijan and press for the return of forcibly displaced people. Without these steps, the rule of law is reduced to empty rhetoric.
Crucially, the release of Armenian detainees is not only a matter of justice – it is a precondition for peace. Any agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan cannot be sustainable while prisoners remain unjustly held in Baku. Their freedom is not a concession; it is a litmus test of good faith and a necessary foundation for reconciliation.
When, a year ago, I delivered the first Archbishop Krikoris Balakian Memorial Lecture at the Armenian Church in London, I asked: does international law still matter? The answer must be a resounding yes, if we are willing to enforce it.
Failure to do so will signal that might makes right, and that the lessons of 1915, 1945 and 1994 mean nothing. It will embolden dictators, silence survivors and render phrases like 'never again' as nothing more than historical wallpaper.
Let it not be said of our generation what Hitler once asked: 'Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?'
It is time we did.
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