By Charles de Meyer, President of SOS Chrétiens d'Orient, and Benjamin Blanchard, General Manager of SOS Chrétiens d'Orient
Armenia was the first nation to convert to Christianity.
In Cilicia, a brilliant Armenian kingdom has hatched with strong links with France and the Latin States of the East and whose last king Levon VI of Lusignan will die in exile in Paris and will have his recumbent in the basilica of Saint-Denis.
Armenia therefore has strong links with France and Christianity in long history.
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"The defeat of Armenia is also that of the West"
45 days.
This is the time that the Armenians resisted, in the face of repeated assaults from Azerbaijan, Turkey, jihadist mercenaries previously based in Syria and transferred by Turkey, and Israeli drones.
How then not to think of the magnificent book by Franz Werfel,
The Forty Days of Musa Dagh
which describes the heroic resistance of the Armenians of Musa Dagh in the face of the genocide organized by the Young Turks.
Likewise, what bleak future does the final defeat of Artsakh hold despite the heroism of its defenders?
The ceasefire agreement
Artsakh, with Armenian support, had succeeded in conquering in 1994 its self-determination against the Azerbaijani dictatorship, at the end of a conflict started by the pogroms of Armenians in Baku, Sumgait and Kirobovad orchestrated by the Azerbaijanis.
The latter not having accepted self-determination, tensions escalated and led to the relaunch of a high-intensity conflict on September 27, 2020.
The ceasefire agreement of November 10 provides for the return to Azerbaijan of the territories surrounding Artsakh as well as control by Azerbaijan of the territories it invaded in Artsakh.
The Lachin Corridor which connects Artsakh and Armenia will remain under Armenia's control and a Russian interposition force will be positioned in Nagorno-Karabakh whose status is uncertain while Armenian forces will withdraw.
Western countries have shone through inaction or verbal condemnation
The refugees will be able to return.
Russia has played an ambiguous role, to say the least, in not supporting Armenia and Artsakh as well as the policies of Tsarist Russia during the anti-Armenian pogroms of 1905 and of Bolshevik Russia which left Artsakh and Nakhichevan in the hands of Azerbaijan.
Western countries have shone through inaction or verbal condemnation.
What to do?
First of all, it showed that purely geopolitical alliances remain fragile.
Armenia and Artsakh can only rely on their own strength.
It also showed the importance of demography for the future of a nation, Armenia having suffered from its demographic decline from 3.6 million inhabitants to 3 million inhabitants compared to past Azerbaijan. from 7 to 10 million inhabitants.
For those wanting to help Armenia and the freedom of a Christian people who suffered from a genocide and claiming its self-determination on part of its historic lands, the aid must currently be humanitarian to welcome the refugees, to help the Armenian society to overcome the shock of war and fight against the development of the novel coronavirus pandemic that took place during the war.
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Armenians are worried about the heritage of Nagorno-Karabakh passed under Azeri control
But the aid must also be economic to help Armenia develop military and technological autonomy in the face of Baku petrodollars.
Finally, the aid must be political in order to create a movement of solidarity with Armenia which is effective in the face of hard knocks.
She must see who the enemy is, namely the expansionist logic of the Turkic Islamic synthesis in power in Ankara and how to fight it.
In the immediate term, political solidarity should be exercised between the Western countries so that pressure is exerted by them on Turkey and Azerbaijan, targeting structures linked to Ankara and the Turkish and Azerbaijani economies.
Indeed, several points must be guaranteed if possible: the possibility for Artsakh to keep a self-defense force and not be at the mercy of Azerbaijan, the possibility for the Armenians to remain in Shushi under Russian protection with the application of the right of refugee return for Armenians and protection of Armenian cultural heritage in areas under Azerbaijani occupation.
Worst of all to be feared from Aliyev's racist and Pan-Turkist dictatorship who recently compared Armenians to dogs
The media and the solidarity movement must document possible human rights violations after the ceasefire, the worst of which is to be feared from Aliyev's racist and Pan-Turkist dictatorship who recently compared Armenians to dogs.
It is also necessary, and this seems obvious, to question Turkey's presence in NATO.
Armenia and the Armenian population of Artsakh need our solidarity more than ever, especially since nothing is inevitable historically.
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"For the Armenians, the ceasefire is a tragedy for the present and a condemnation for the future"
The bad days will end and the Armenian people must be able to live free in their historic lands.