Armenian National Institute
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December 13, 2022
The Rt Hon James Cleverly MP
Secretary of State for Foreign Commonwealth and Development Affairs
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA
13 December 2022
Dear James,
Yesterday at 10:30 am, Azerbaijani activists and soldiers set up a blockade on the only road connecting the historically Armenian land of Nagorno Karabakh, (relocated by Stalin in Azerbaijan), to Armenia, and thus to the rest of the world.
As of 6 pm Armenia time, 13 December, the road is still blocked, and Azerbaijan has cut the gas and electricity supplies to the Armenians living in Nagorno Karabakh. The 120,000 Armenian Christian residents of Nagorno Karabakh are now effectively under siege.
Hundreds of Armenian residents of Karabakh are stranded in Armenia, unable to return home. The Karabakh health authorities are unable to transport patients to Armenia for treatment. Local authorities are warning of a humanitarian disaster if Nagorno Karabakh is cut off from fuel, medicine, food, and other vital supplies from the outside world.
Reached by telephone today in Nagorno Karabakh, Vardan Tadevosyan, the director of the Lady Cox Rehabilitation Centre in Stepanakert and the project partner for CSI and HART in Karabakh, reported:
"It is freezing cold and today there is no electricity. The disabled children and adults at the Rehabilitation Centre are anxious. The Azeris and their Turkish allies could attack again at any time. Everyone here recalls the Armenian Genocide and the ethnic cleansing and atrocities committed against Armenians in 1988-1994 and 2020. The Azeris circulate on their social media photos and videos of beheadings and other executions of Armenians, just like the Islamic State. There is a real danger of Armenians being trapped and massacred here if Azerbaijan is allowed by its partners in the West and elsewhere to take further special military operations against us."
"We hope the great powers' oil interests in Azerbaijan and geopolitical interests in Turkey will not lead them to turn a blind eye to a resumption of the Armenian Genocide in Nagorno Karabakh. We appeal to Azerbaijan's economic and military partners to put a halt to the Aliyev regime's aggression."
Since Azerbaijan and Turkey's 2020 war of aggression against the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh, the self-governing region has been almost completely surrounded by the Azerbaijani military, with only a small Russian peacekeeping force to protect the population. Thus far, the Russians have not used force to end the blockade.
Azerbaijan's campaign of attempted ethnic cleansing in Nagorno Karabakh in 1988-1994 began similarly, with a blockade of road and rail traffic into the region, followed by armed attacks. The clear aim of the Azerbaijani ultranationalist dictatorship is to make it impossible for Armenian Christians to live in their historic homeland.
The UK is Azerbaijan's biggest investor and strategic partner, boasted its dictator Ilham Aliyev as he accepted the credentials of the UK's new Ambassador Fergus Auld last October. We urge you to use the UK's enormous favour with Azerbaijan and influence with other allies and partners to compel the ultra-nationalist regime in Baku to end its longstanding policy of ethnic and religious cleansing of Armenian Christians from their ancient homeland in Nagorno Karabakh.
Global Britain's standing in the world will not be enhanced by allowing its oil interests in Azerbaijan to take precedence over the lives, liberty, and land of the Armenian Christians of Nagorno Karabakh. The process of another Armenian Genocide must stop now.
Sincerely,
[Signed] Caroline Cox
The Baroness Cox
Founding President
Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART)
[Signed] John Eibner
Dr. John Eibner
International President
Christian Solidarity International (CSI)