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When Azerbaijan went to war this week with Armenia over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh territory, it could have seemed like a dark conflict with little resonance outside the southern Caucasus.
Until you came back to Twitter account of one of the most famous people in the world, Kim Kardashian. Or that of her husband, Kanye west. Metal fans might have seen tweets about the war since Serj Tankian, the lead singer of System of a Down. If you missed those, there were also posts by Alexis Ohanian Sr, founder of Reddit and husband of Serena Williams, and former Arsenal footballer Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
The prominent names were among members of the Armenian diaspora who jumped into action when the conflict broke out Sunday morning, raising awareness of Armenia’s cause in its long-running dispute with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory that is legally Azeri. but that it has been administered by a self-proclaimed government of ethnic Armenians since 1994.
Kim kardashian west
(@KimKardashian)Please share the news @esrailian Armenians in #Arstakh have been attacked. We pray for brave men and women who risk their lives to protect Artsakh and #Armenia. The news is misleading and these are not “crashes”.
Armenia has a population of approximately 3 million people. But its diaspora, concentrated in the United States, with major centers in Lebanon, Australia, France and Russia, is at least twice that size. Deeply woven into their culture are the events of 1915, when historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by the Ottoman Turks in a campaign widely viewed by scholars (and stridently denied by Turkey) as genocidal.
Generations of displacement have nurtured a resilient national identity in exile and a powerful political machine to match. Its heartland is Southern California, with an Armenian-origin population of at least 500,000 people, by one estimate, though Armenian advocacy groups say their number is double in Los Angeles County alone.
“In a city like Los Angeles… there are Armenian schools, Armenian businesses, Armenian churches,” said Alex Galitsky of the Armenian National Committee of America for the Western Los Angeles region. “Someone could grow up living in Los Angeles and never be exposed to anything other than Armenian culture.”
“In the consciousness of the Armenian diaspora, the reason for the existence of our community in these places outside Armenia is directly the result of the genocide,” Galitsky added.
Since the outbreak of fighting on Sunday, which many analysts say appears to have been instigated by Azerbaijan, though after months of escalating tensions on both sides, Armenian lobby groups have been holding protests, calling on the American-born Armenian to pressure their representatives and report back. congressmen and the media.
Azerbaijan views the conflict as an effort to reclaim land illegally occupied by Armenian separatists, who forcibly displaced around 7% of their population, approximately 600,000 people, when they took control of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas during a war in The 1990s.
For Armenians, Turkey’s involvement in backing Azerbaijan has confirmed their view that this is an existential conflict. “We see this as a continuation of the genocide,” Galitsky said.
In recent years, the Armenian government has stepped up its efforts to persuade the diaspora to resettle in the country. Birthright Armenia, which is modeled after a similar Israeli organization, has since 2003 helped pay young Armenians from the diaspora to live and volunteer in the country.
About 50,000 Armenians from the diaspora have moved into the country since 1991, according to Repat Armenia, an NGO that helps with resettlement. Those numbers have risen by 15,000 since a peaceful revolution in 2018, by one estimate.
Since the start of the Syrian civil war, some 22,000 Syrians of Armenian origin have also resettled in the southern Caucasus, according to the Armenian Migration Service. Many have made their new homes in Nagorno-Karabakh, a trend that Azerbaijan considers highly provocative and a “policy of illegal settlements”.
Some of the Armenians returning to the Caucasus are doing more than settling down. During the 1990s war with Azerbaijan, many formed heterogeneous combat units that took an active part in the war. One of those who returned was Monte Melkonian, who was born in California and learned Armenian only as an adult, but was killed in the battle for Nagorno-Karabakh in 1993. Melkonian is considered a national hero.
This week’s fight is the latest push for the return of many young Armenians from the diaspora. “As a diaspora, everyone feels the same: we have been waiting for this moment all our lives,” said George Arbajian, a law student born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon, who is leaving for the Armenian capital, Yerevan, next week.
“The idea of fighting for the homeland is very romantic and we are raised with that,” he said. “If the perpetrators of the genocide are back, we have to go back to the battlefield, we have no choice.
“When I say that, I mean it could be to pick up a weapon, help with logistics, deliver aid or water to [Nagorno-Karabakh’s main city] Stepanakert. I don’t mean I’m going to go get a gun and go to the front. But I’m definitely one step closer to that. I know a lot of people who are doing that. “
Galitsky analyzes the phenomenon of taking up arms again carefully: inciting people to join foreign militias is a serious crime in many jurisdictions. But she acknowledges that it also happens in the Armenian diaspora communities in France and the United States.
“It is a delicate situation due to the legal problems surrounding it, but we have seen brigades from the diaspora in the past, especially from Syria, Lebanon and France, mobilize and go to Armenia. I have heard anecdotal reports from people in our communities returning [to Armenia]. “
“No wonder,” he continued. “I think a lot of people see themselves as responsible for the defense of our nation.”
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