CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 24, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Aurora
Humanitarian Initiative today announced that co-founder
Noubar Afeyan has issued a global
call to action to prevent a second Armenian genocide, on this
109th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide Day of
Remembrance. Afeyan made the global call to action in The
New York Times, The Washington Post,
and The London Times, as well as on
global social media channels.
The Call to Action underscores the similarities in atrocities
that took place 109 years ago, and are happening again today:
"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."
He also calls on the government of Azerbaijan to restore peace in the region and
to act with justice towards the prisoners it has unlawfully
captured:
"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.
Azerbaijan today should find
no grounds for conflict with Armenia. After last year's invasion,
Armenia relinquished efforts at
self-governance in Nagorno- Karabakh. 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."
Commenting on his effort to raise awareness of the injustices
happening against Armenians and the fear of a second genocide,
Afeyan said, "Today is the 109th anniversary of 1.5
million Armenians being driven from their homes and killed at the
hands of Ottoman Turks, and now, it is happening again. 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."
For the full Call to Action, please visit: Don't Just Remember.
Act!
About the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative
The Aurora Humanitarian Initiative seeks to address
on-the-ground humanitarian challenges around the world with the
focus on helping the most destitute. Its mission is rooted in the
Armenian history as the Initiative was founded in 2015 on behalf of
the survivors of the Armenian Genocide and in gratitude to their
saviors and strives to transform this experience into a global
movement. Aurora's flagship program is the Aurora Prize for
Awakening Humanity, a $1 million global award recognizes
those who risk their lives, health, or freedom to save the lives,
health, or freedom of others. More: www.AuroraPrize.com.
Media contact: media@auroraprize.com
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