Armenians voted in their next parliament on June 20. There are 2,300,000 eligible voters in the country. But due to the fact that over 20 parties were participating in the election, the Central Electoral Commission had printed roughly 70 million ballots.
So what becomes of these ballot slips once the elections are over?
Hon. Gassia Apkarian of the Center for Truth and Justice joins CivilNet to discuss the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh and efforts to achieve justice through legal means. Hon. Apkarian provides a sobering assessment of the “second genocide” committed against the Armenian people of Karabakh, as well as the continued risks facing the refugees. She outlines the obligations of international law to prevent ethnic cleansing and investigate allegations of war crimes. She also shares her vision for long-term solutions respecting self-determination and basic human rights for Armenians in their ancestral lands. For those with information regarding war crimes in Karabakh, […]
By Mark Dovich Amid reports that nearly all of Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenians have fled, a United Nations needs assessment mission reached the region on Sunday, marking the first time in about three decades the organization has had access to the region. The mission is meant to “assess the situation on the ground and identify the humanitarian needs for both people remaining and people that are on the move,” a UN spokesperson told reporters last week. But with Nagorno-Karabakh largely emptied of its Armenian population after more than 100,000 people fled from the region to Armenia in just the past week, the […]
In just a week’s time, Nagorno-Karabakh has gone from a wounded but still proud and vibrant land of over 100,000 residents, to one bloodied, broken, and almost completely devoid of its people. On social media, most can only watch in helpless horror the scenes of its population making the arduous journey to Armenia along a hopelessly clogged roadway, a massive explosion which killed or grievously wounding hundreds of those trying to flee, the ever-rising counter of the number of refugees crossing into Armenia, leaders such as Ruben Vardanyan being led in handcuffs by Azerbaijani police, and clips of bewildered people […]
Armenia’s business community is rallying to support the tens of thousands of people displaced by Azerbaijan’s assault on Nagorno-Karabakh last week. In less than a week, more than 90,000 people – the majority of Nagorno-Karabakh’s population – have fled their homes and arrived in Armenia. Most of them are arriving with only whatever belongings they could wear on their backs or fit in a car. Almost all of them are malnutritioned after nearly ten months living under Azerbaijan’s blockade.
Tens of thousands of people fleeing Nagorno-Karabakh continue to arrive in Goris, Armenia after a treacherous journey through the Lachin Corridor. Following a nearly ten-month blockade that left the region in famine, those who made it to Armenia say they were waiting for the opening of the corridor, but now they have lost both home and homeland. Azerbaijan’s attack last week on the region was the final push that led the population to the brink of ethnic cleansing.
As authorities declared the dissolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and the majority of the population fled the region, the US, EU member states, and global aid organizations started sending aid to meet the needs of the refugees. The head of the USAID, Samantha Power, arrived in Armenia this week, amid the mass exodus of Armenians from Karabakh. Power also visited Syunik, where USAID has set up a working group to work with the refugees. In an apparent setback from Assistant Secretary of State Yuri Kim’s earlier statement that the US would not “tolerate any military action”, or “any attack on […]
The recent arrest by the government of Azerbaijan of philanthropist, businessman, Armenian citizen and co-founder of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, Ruben Vardanyan, is both outrageous and politically motivated. As members of the global humanitarian and human rights community we call for his immediate release. The Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, to which Ruben has given so much, has for the past eight years honored and supported the work of those who fight for basic human rights, often at the risk of their own lives, all around the world. The irony is that Ruben now finds himself a victim of the same persecution […]
