Thousands of Protestors March Across the GWB

Fort Lee, New Jersey — Over 2,000 protestors peacefully marched across the George Washington Bridge on Sunday, October 25th to raise awareness of the war and humanitarian crisis in the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh). The predominantly Armenian-American crowd was calling for the United States to condemn Azerbaijan’s military operation in Artsakh and to denounce and deter further interference from NATO ally Turkey.

On September 27th, Azerbaijani forces attacked the civilian population of the Republic of Artsakh, a land that is over 98% ethnically Armenian, despite being recognized as part of Azerbaijan. This conflict dates back to 1921 when Joseph Stalin, in a failed effort to persuade Turkey to join the USSR, annexed the land to Azerbaijan, a fellow Turkic country. This was done against the will of the indigenous Armenian population who have lived on the land for millenia, dating back to 4,000 B.C.

“What is happening in Artsakh today should be seen as proof that history will repeat itself when genocide goes unpunished by the international community,” states Yervant Kachichian of the Armenian National Committee of New Jersey. “Turkey has yet to be held accountable for killing 1.5 million Armenians and the other Christian minorities who lived within the Ottoman Empire in 1915.

Today we have Azeri forces, along with thousands of terrorists who were flown in to fight on the Azeri front lines, backed by the full military, political, and financial support of Turkey, unilaterally attacking Armenians on their ancestral lands. We are calling on our country, the world, and the media, to recognize that Turkey is a threat to the international community.”

Since the first shot was fired back in September by Azeri forces, Turkey has shown unyielding support for Azerbaijan, supplying funding, military aid, and over 4,000 ISIS jihadists in the first week alone. “One nation with two states,” declared Heydar Aliyev, Azerbaijan’s previous President and the father of Azerbaijan’s current President, Ilham Aliyev. For this reason, many have seen Turkey and Azerbaijan as two nations synonymous in this warfare.

This isn’t Turkey’s first international conflict in recent history either. Aside from threats against both the European Union and Israel, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey has conflicted with Russia, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Greece, Cyprus, Syria, Egypt, and the Kurds in just the last decade alone.

On the same day as the march across the George Washington Bridge, President Donald Trump, along with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, brokered a ceasefire with the Foreign Ministers of both Armenia and Azerbaijan, Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Jayhun Bayramov, respectively.

The following morning, however, Azerbaijan violated the agreement, making that the third internationally-brokered ceasefire it failed to honor.

“We Greeks have to be on your side,” says Dimitris Filippidis, host and radio personality from Hellas FM in New York City to the Armenian diaspora. “Today it’s our responsibility to stand beside our brothers and sisters. It’s now that the Armenian nation needs real friends. When your brother needs you, you have to be there.” Dimitris has already raised over $8,000 for ArmeniaFund, a non-profit 501c3 charity organization spearheading the fundraising efforts to stop the humanitarian crisis in the Caucasus.

Support for the indigenous Armenian population of Artsakh has reached a global scale, as supporters take to the streets in protest against the war crimes and genocidal tactics of Azerbaijan and Turkey. Along with the recent George Washington Bridge march, crowds have gathered across the country from cities all along the East Coast to Los Angeles, where over 100,000 people took to the streets in solidarity. In addition to the ongoing protests across the United States, large protests have also erupted in cities in Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Argentina, France, Belgium, Italy, and Brazil. As Turkey and Azerbaijan continue to be a threat to democracy, it is imperative that the United States stands on the right side of history by demanding justice for the crimes committed against the Armenians in Artsakh and to hold Turkey and Azerbaijan accountable for their crimes.