“Millions of Armenians killed or exiled. ” Tell horror made in Armenia. “”Armenians will perish in the desert. “
These are some of the headlines in the New York Times of 1915 describing the first genocide of the twentieth century, when more than 1. 5 million Armenians were systematically exterminated by the Ottoman Turks, an occasion the Turkish government denies to this day. Despite the overwhelming evidence at the time, the global stood idly by and did nothing.
In his most recent project, Ken Burns, the acclaimed American documentary filmmaker, analyzed America’s reaction (or lack thereof) to the Holocaust and its indifference to preventing one of the greatest humanitarian crises of the twentieth century by asking whether the country lived up to its principles and ideals.
The United States has a long history of failing to save you or prevent genocide, though it has a history of empty statements like “Never again. “Whether it’s President Bill Clinton’s mea culpa for failing to intervene in the Rwandan genocide in 1994, or the Trump administration’s vocal but reckless indictment of China’s genocide against the Uighurs, U. S. foreign policy is not yet a matter of the Uighurs. The U. S. has been in words but modest in action.
That is why the existing crisis unfolding in the South Caucasus, where Azerbaijan is currently committing war crimes and atrocities against Armenians, gives the Biden administration a chance to replace this narrative.
Since the fall of 2020, Azerbaijan, a country through petro-dictator Ilham Aliyev, has escalated tensions with Armenia over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region by launching an illegal war and unprovoked attacks.
Armenians, like me, see these new acts of aggression through Azerbaijan as a continuation of the 1915 genocide and a risk to its existence.
I grew up hearing stories about how my grandparents survived the Armenian genocide. I heard that at the age of 15, my grandfather hid in a haystack during the day to prevent Turkish soldiers from taking him away. And I heard how his own father and brother took him away, so they would never see or hear him again. I will never retell the story of how he fled through the deserts of Syria and headed to Aleppo, where he worked as a welder to earn enough money to eventually settle in Cairo.
But their success story may have been avoided if tough nations had stepped in. Tragically, this story repeats itself.
Taking a page from the playbook of the Ottoman Empire, Azerbaijan embarked on a crusade to annihilate all Armenian lifestyles in the region. Aliyev’s anti-Armenian rhetoric fostered a climate of hatred that permeated all of Azeri society and on the battlefield.
This animosity was evidenced through the way Azeri troops treated Armenian prisoners of war. For example, video evidence recently emerged showing Azerbaijani troops executing a small organization of captured Armenian soldiers.
And it continues to be reported that Armenian cultural and ancient sites in Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as churches and monasteries that have existed for many years, are being defaced, vandalized and destroyed.
Genocide Watch, a U. S. -based nonprofit advocacy groupThe U. S. government recently issued a genocide warning against Azerbaijan and called for sanctions if the attacks continue. He granted a loose pass from Western governments. On the contrary, he rewarded for his actions.
Over the summer, the European Union signed an agreement with Azerbaijan to double fuel imports by 2027, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen calling Aliyev a “reliable partner. “This is the same “trusted partner” that appears on lists of foreign perpetrators. Last year he commissioned an army trophy park in the capital, Baku, which features a display of piles of helmets taken from Armenian infantrymen killed during the war.
The park also features wax mannequins of captured infantrymen depicted through exaggerated caricatures in stereotypes and Armenian tropes such as crooked noses and bushy eyebrows. Many of those mannequins are shown in their final moments or chained to criminal cells.
President Biden went so far as to point out that human rights would be at the center of his foreign policy, but he has done almost nothing to hold Azerbaijan accountable. What it has done is to provide Azerbaijan with more resources, abandoning Article 907 of Freedom Support. Law prohibiting army aid to Baku. Instead of controlling Azerbaijan, Biden encouraged Aliyev to continue his reckless and vicious habit toward Armenia.
To be clear, American Armenians are not asking the United States to interfere militarily. The last thing this country wants is eternal war. But we need our government to acknowledge the crimes and atrocities being committed against Armenia, and for human rights violators like Aliyev to be reprimanded, not rewarded.
Why do Americans care what happens to a small country in a remote part of the world?That’s because history has shown that small conflagrations have the potential to turn into larger wildfires.
That’s why the United States has an interest in holding countries like Azerbaijan accountable. Allowing would-be genocidal tyrants to rule the rule of law provides aid and convenience to autocrats around the world.
Joe Biden has shown that he has the courage to stand up to bullies. I did it with Putin. Now he has the opportunity to do the same with Aliyev, a much lower risk for the United States.
If Biden needs to stand up for the principles of democracy and human rights, then he will do the right thing and make sure “Never Again” means anything.