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OPINION:
“There will be massacres.”
Joel Veldkamp, head of international communications at persecution watchdog Christian Solidarity International, has held little back in recent months while discussing the contentious situation in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Most Americans likely have never heard of the small, landlocked region between Azerbaijan and Armenia. And even those who are tangentially familiar with the area probably have little knowledge about the history of the war, chaos and horror that has plagued it.
Mr. Veldkamp is just one of the voices sounding the alarm on what can only be described as a monumental humanitarian crisis.
Nagorno-Karabakh, which is home to about 100,000 primarily Armenian Christians, is a focal point of the ongoing battles between Azerbaijanis and Armenians, who both claim the land as their own.
Regardless of their arguments or the complex history — which includes displacement and chaos on all fronts — Dec. 12 marked a decidedly dangerous turn in the regional dispute.
As I’ve extensively covered at CBN’s Faithwire, that’s the day Azerbaijani protesters implemented a blockade that has now persisted for more than a month. It’s seemingly an effort to stop transport along the Lachin corridor, the only land passage in and out of Nagorno-Karabakh.
A group of human rights organizations was so alarmed by the incursion they issued a collective genocide warning last month, forewarning the situation could end up sparking “ethnic and religious cleansing.”
“The current Azerbaijani aggression against the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh conforms to a long pattern of ethnic and religious cleansing of Armenian and other Christian communities in the region by the government of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Turkey, the Ottoman Empire, and their partisans,” it read, in part.
That’s undoubtedly a horrific claim that should spark immediate attention and action from the international community.
According to numerous sources in the region, the blockade has left the people without adequate food, resources or medicines nor the ability to travel in or out to meet serious medical needs. By all accounts, it’s a dire crisis.
Mr. Veldkamp fears it’s the start of a potentially more significant raid at the hands of Azerbaijan — something he doesn’t believe Armenia can weather.
“I think this is probably the prelude to an Azerbaijani armed attack on Nagorno-Karabakh, and if that happens and Russia does not step in, Armenia is probably not strong enough to stop them from conquering the whole region,” he told CBN News. “There will be massacres. There will be civilians killed. There will be families killed, most likely.”
Despite denials from some in Azerbaijan that the blockade is happening, I’ve spoken with numerous people on the ground who have been gripped by fear and trapped within Nagorno-Karabakh’s blockaded borders.
Dr. Biayna G. Sukhudyan, a pediatric neurologist who was ensnared inside Nagorno-Karabakh after the blockade began, told me last month there are patients desperately in need of medical attention yet unable to receive it.
“Many children with epilepsy … have to take anti-seizure drugs to get free of seizures, but now there is a shortage of these drugs,” she said. “And not only these drugs are not available, but also some painkillers and antibiotics as well as hormonal therapy, which is very important in acute situations, [is unavailable].”
Gayane Beglarian, a mother of a 4-year-old girl with liver cancer, told me this week she and her child were unable to leave to receive much-needed cancer treatment after the blockade began.
She feared her daughter would suffer but was finally able to take her out of Nagorno-Karabakh after the Red Cross helped make a way. Ms. Beglarian also shared details about the dangerous situation more generally, including a lack of food for people to procure and consume.
“They are really in need of food,” Ms. Beglarian said of her fellow citizens. “There is no supply of necessary elements for living.”
The history is no doubt complicated, with both sides tossing blame at one another and decades of hostilities fueling the flames. But regardless of opinions on the overarching issues, the international
community — and America, specifically — must wake up to address this crisis.
People are being starved, deprived of medication and left rudderless. The world has a responsibility to intercede and find a path to peace — before it’s too late.
• Billy Hallowell is a digital TV host and interviewer for Faithwire and CBN News and the co-host of CBN’s “Quick Start Podcast.” Hallowell is the author of four books, including “Playing with Fire: A Modern Investigation into Demons, Exorcism, and Ghosts,” and “The Armageddon Code: One Journalist’s Quest for End-Times Answers.” He was formerly the director of content and communications at Pure Flix and the former faith and culture editor at TheBlaze.
