It`s time to step up to prevent massacres of future - Noubar Afeyan

ArmInfo. On the 109th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, Noubar Afeyan, Co-Founder, The  Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, called the international community to  prevent a second Armenian Genocide. His appeal has been posted by The  New York Times, The Washington Post ? The London Times, as well as on  social media. 

Today marks the 109th anniversary of Armenian Genocide Remembrance  Day, observed around the world to commemorate the brutal killing of  an estimated 1.5 million Armenians under the Ottoman Empire - a fate  that my own grandfather narrowly escaped.

But here is the Armenian tragedy: Even as we mourn the past, history  is repeating itself. Armenians are once again the target of ethnic  cleansing, political leaders are unlawfully held as hostages, and the  country of Armenia faces existential threats to its sovereignty and  self-determination.

A busy world has been looking the other way. So it's not widely  understood that since last September, Azerbaijan has driven 120,000  Armenians-the entire population of Artsakh, the Armenian enclave also  known as Nagorno Karabakh-from their ancestral homeland.

Azerbaijan also continues to unlawfully hold Armenian hostages,  including my friend and colleague Ruben Vardanyan, a businessman and  philanthropist who briefly served as state minister of Artsakh.  Meanwhile, escalating clashes on Armenia's border continue to fuel  growing fears that Azerbaijan may be planning to invade Armenia  itself.

Three years ago, President Biden became the first U.S. president to  officially recognize what is often called the "forgotten genocide" of  1915, joining dozens of other nations and global organizations. But  what's the value of acknowledging forced migration and death if we  allow the same events to happen again?  "Armenian genocide" isn't a  slogan-it's a real, desperate threat. The U.S. and E.U. are actively  pursuing peace and a new order in the South Caucuses. Russia, Turkey,  and Iran should each have interests in the same outcome.

However, as the current war in the Middle East reminds us, peace is  difficult to achieve or maintain if it is not fundamentally based on  justice. Prioritizing an imposed peace will only prolong the  conflicts and keep the region from developing further.

This is one nightmare that the world can end. Azerbaijan today should  find no grounds for conflict with Armenia. After last year's  invasion, Armenia relinquished efforts at self-governance in  NagornoKarabakh.  For Azerbaijan to now insist that peace must be  premised on Armenia accepting incursions on its own internationally  recognized border to enable a corridor connecting Azerbaijan with  Nakhchivan and Turkey is both unlawful and unjust.

If Azerbaijan doesn't change its hostile position, the international  community must act to protect Armenians' human rights and recognize  Armenia's sovereignty and right to self-determination. Azerbaijan  must also release all Armenian hostages unlawfully detained in recent  years.

Azerbaijan wants to be a global leader, but that brings  responsibilities. Next year, Baku is slated to host COP 29, the  United Nations' climate summit. The choice of Azerbaijan was  controversial, because of its oil-andgas driven economy and its  appalling record on human rights. Azerbaijan must prove itself worthy  of this trust. The Armenian Genocide was the first genocide of the  20th century - indeed the term genocide itself was coined by  Polish-Jewish jurist Raphael Lemkin, whose thinking was profoundly  shaped by what he'd learned as a law student about this dark chapter.  Now, on the cusp of a new genocide, there's far too little action.  Today, we must do more than mourn the massacres of the past. It's  time to step up to prevent the massacres of the future.