By Mary O’KEEFE

On Aug. 28, the Glendale City Council voted to approve sending aid to Martuni in Artsakh, a city that is experiencing a humanitarian crisis. This action follows an Aug. 10 request made by the Office of the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) Republic in the USA seeking the City’s assistance to help Glendale’s sister city, Martuni, according to a City statement.

Although this crisis has not received a lot of coverage in most media what is occurring in Artsakh could be considered a case of history repeating itself. The people of Artsakh want to be recognized as an independent state or as part of Armenia. This is a struggle that has been seen in other countries when, despite conquerers coming and going, there is an area that stays strong to its own culture. Many times this results in a battle that oftentimes is not a battle but a cruel show of force.

Artsakh is a small mountainous region located on the eastern side of the Armenian Highlands, within the territory known as Azerbaijian. It has been inhabited by Armenians for more than 2,000 years, with recorded history dating back to the 4^th Century CE. This region is also known as Nagorno-Karabakh.

Artsakh was absorbed into Russia but in 1991, with the weakening of the Soviet Union, a referendum vote was held in Nagorno-Karabakh in which the majority voted for independence from Azerbaijan. This sparked violence with reported massacres of local Armenian people.

This violence turned into a full out war before a ceasefire ended the conflict in 1994. Artsakh was liberated and a road was constructed to link Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia through an area known as Lachin Corridor. However, the ceasefire was violated many times, according to reports. In September 2020 a full-scale invasion of Artsakh took place by Azerbaijan’s forces. Over 44 days more than 4,000 Armenian soldiers died.

“Armenians want Artsakh to either become a part of Armenia or to be its own independent Republic, as it was during the last 30 years. Armenians in Artsakh have held numerous elections to elect a parliament and a president under the eye of international observers. They have been operating as a de-facto independent republic except for the fact that they have not been recognized by the international community,” said Ardy Kassakhian, Glendale City Council member.

Azerbaijan may claim Artsakh as its territory but it is made up of a majority of Armenians, about 80%.

Since Dec. 12, 2022 Azerbaijan has been illegally blocking the Lachin Corridor, the only road that connects the Republic of Artsakh with the outside world.

“No humanitarian aid is allowed to go into the region,” Kassakhian said. “A few individuals have been kidnapped and detained in Azerbaijan when trying to leave the region.”

There have been stories of people suffering and even dying of starvation.

“I have spoken to people in Stepanakert who have told me the situation is very dire. There is no fuel. Restaurants are closed. There are lines for hours for something as simple as bread. They are running low on medicine and many pregnancies are complicated due to the lack of access to medicine,” he added. “There have been several deaths due to starvation, but the situation is feared to become even worse in the late fall and winter as temperatures begin to drop.”

As the situation continued to deteriorate the Armenian government launched a campaign calling on the international community to intervene and accused the Azerbaijan government of committing genocide against the Armenians of Artsakh. Armenia continues to negotiate with Azerbaijan to sign a peace treaty, with multiple talks taking place in Washington, D.C., Brussels and Moscow, according to an article in Armenian Weekly.

Recently the UN Security Council convened an emergency meeting to discuss this humanitarian crisis. Representatives from many countries called for the opening of the Lachin Corridor, while the allegations of genocide were disputed by Azerbaijan.

There was a suggestion to use an alternative route, Aghdam Road, into Artsakh.

“To put it in perspective, imagine Los Angeles needing humanitarian aid and the road from Las Vegas would allow it to be brought over in four hours, but someone insisted instead to go through Oregon,” explained Kassakhian. “The Azeri [Azerbaijan] government is only concerned with making the process difficult and as stressful as possible. They have even threatened to shoot down any air supply vehicles that enter into their area.”

As the talks continue, the citizens of Artsakh continue to suffer the effects of the embargo, dealing with the daily stress and the uncertainty of their future.

“The concern of the people in Artsakh is that they fear the worst under Azeri control. During the war, there were numerous reports of war crimes by Azeri troops against civilians and prisoners captured by the invading military. Azerbaijan’s forces offered a ransom for each decapitated head of an Armenian offered to the Syrian mercenaries hired to fight on the Azeri side. To confirm these claims, videos of human decapitations recorded by Azeri troops and circulated on social media channels became common during the war,” Kassakhian said. “Other war crimes have included looting, and desecration of religious sites and graves, all of which worry the Armenians who remain in Artsakh. This is reinforced with very anti-Armenian hateful speeches and rhetoric by leaders in Azerbaijan.”

Humanitarian aid is desperately needed, which is why the Glendale Aid for Artsakh Initiative was created. It is a fundraising effort intended to collect funds from the Glendale community to send directly to Artsakh.

The approval of the Glendale Aid for Artsakh Initiative kick starts the fundraising effort intended to collect funds from the Glendale community to send directly to Artsakh. The City will be working with other interested community groups on coordinating this effort.

“As the main hub of the Armenian diaspora in the United States, Glendale has deep ties to Armenia and Artsakh. With this vote, we declare our commitment to the people of Artsakh and our determination to prevent another ethnic cleansing of the Armenian people from their ancestral lands,” stated Mayor Dan Brotman.

On Aug. 14, Congressman Adam Schiff wrote a second letter urging President Joe Biden to address the “ongoing situation in Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh] as Azerbaijan continues to launch attacks and administer a blockade of the Lachin Corridor, creating a human rights crisis in the region.”

“Though the U.S. government, the European Union, UN experts and Russia have condemned the blockade and called for the Corridor to be opened to regular traffic, Azerbaijan has ignored such statements for months. The U.S. Dept. of State and USAID have tried to use diplomacy to put an end to [Azerbaijan President Ilham] Aliyev’s blockade of the Lachin Corridor, but the time for statements and such calls has clearly long passed. The United States must take concrete actions and immediately use other tools to press Azerbaijan to return to compliance with international law and order,” wrote Rep. Schiff.

To learn more about this effort and to donate to help those in Artsakh visit https://www.glendaleca.gov/government/city-council/artsakh-aid.