Canadian-Armenians to Hold a Demonstration In Response to Azerbaijani aggression

Canadian-Armenians to Hold a Demonstration In Response to Azerbaijani aggression –

The Armenian Youth Federation along with the ArmenKaro Student Association have organized a peaceful protest in front of the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Ottawa on Friday, April 8, 2016 at 12:00 PM. Hundreds of Canadian-Armenianswill gather in front of the embassy on 275 Slater Street, to voice their outrage and indignation over the recent violent attacks that were initiated by the Republic of Azerbaijan against the peaceful and democratic people of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

 Overnight on April 1-2, Azerbaijan launched a full-blown attack on multiple positions of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) Line of Contact (LoC). The Azerbaijani Army employed tanks, military helicopters, drones, and various caliber weapons in an assault that was aimed at the LoC on the southern, southeastern, and northeastern fronts. As a result, peaceful civilians, amongst which were women and children, were targeted and multiple casualties were reported.

 In the wake of these unprovoked developments, the Armenian Youth Federation and the ArmenKaro Student Association have mobilized their members and together with the rest of the Canadian-Armenian Community will stand in unison to protest the continued and unlawful aggression of Azerbaijan, and to show their undivided support to the peaceful people of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

 Despite the bilateral announcement of a ceasefire on Tuesday, a sizeable number of expected protestors will gather in the capital city on Friday, to call upon the Republic of Azerbaijan to immediately halt its aggression towards the Armenian population of the self-autonomous enclave and refrain from making additional threats to further escalate the situation. Protestors will also demand for Azerbaijan to obey and follow the norms of international law and resort to peaceful negotiations, in order to settle the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. Furthermore, protestor will call for full recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic’s independence, and for Azerbaijan to respect the republics territorial integrity, and the right to self-autonomy.

 A historically undisputed Armenian land that has a history of over 5000 years, Nagorno-Karabakh was gifted to Azerbaijan in 1921 by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, as an ill-conceived gesture to Turkey. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, on September 2, 1991, the people of Nagorno-Karabakh declared independence from the Soviet Union and established the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. On December 10, 1991, Nagorno-Karabakh held an independence referendum in which 99% voted for independence. In response, Azerbaijan launched an all-out war against the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, targeting civilians and recruiting Islamic extremist mujahedeen from Afghanistan and Chechnya to join the Azerbaijani army against Christian Armenians.

 Despite the Moscow brokered ceasefire in 1994, Azerbaijan has steadily violated the terms and conditions of the bilateral agreement, and on multiple occasions, it has carried out unsanctioned attacks against the NKR. The attacks that took place earlier this week, however, were unprecedented in their scale, duration, and volume of civilian casualties

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Founded in 1934, the Armenian Youth Federation of Canada is the largest and most influential Canadian-Armenian youth organization in Canada, working to advance social, political, educational, and cultural awareness among Armenian- Canadian youth.