Independent candidate for President of the United States Robert Kennedy made a video message in which he promised to use the American levers to return Armenians forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh and to promote self-determination.
“Over a hundred years ago, during the World War I, the Ottoman Empire perpetrated the first genocide of the modern era, one and a half million ethnic Armenians were murdered. That ethnic cleansing wiped out thousands of years the Armenians in Anatolia. Today, ethnic cleansing campaign is being carried out again in the oldest Armenian territories in the world. This time in Artsakh, also known as Nagorno-Karabakh.
During the Soviet era, the Kremlin forcibly incorporated this Christian territory into Muslim Azerbaijan. Armenia and the people of Artsakh have been Orthodox Christians for thousands of years. It has the oldest most beautiful cathedrals in the world. Beginning in 2020, Azerbaijan ruthlessly launched a policy of ethnic cleansing against these peace-loving people. It systematically bombarded settlements, and in September launched an unprovoked invasion of the region and expelled all 120,000 ethnic Armenians from there.
While the world is focused on Gaza and Israel with indignation and outrage from every direction, we heard almost nothing about this mass expulsion of an entire population of one of the oldest Armenian states on the planet.
Empty condemnations of this ethnic cleansing campaign are not enough. Unlike 1915 genocide, this one is reversible. This is a situation where peaceful sanctions can work. The US once again has leverage in the region, and to prevent another war and protect the principles of freedom and democracy, the US government must organize and mobilize the world community to ensure the return of Armenians to Artsakh and defend their right to self-determination. We must also look for ways to lift the blockade of Armenia by Turkey and Azerbaijan.
As President of the United States, I will use diplomacy, moral authority, economic leverage, and sanctions to restore peace and justice to Armenia and the region. I am committed to restore the sovereignty and peace of Armenia and Artsakh. I want to do this peacefully. Instead of staring another war somewhere, I’d like to stop one," said the US presidential candidate.
