Many observers have seen the recent conflicts between Azerbaijan and Armenia as a revival of the dark days of the Armenian Genocide of the early twentieth century, when the Ottoman government pursued the systematic extermination of 1.5 million Armenians, mostly Ottoman citizens within the Ottoman Empire and its successor state, the Republic of Turkey, as well as over 1,000,000 Greek Orthodox Christians and 300,000 Assyrian Christians. The similarity between the Armenian Genocide and recent events was also evidenced in Azerbaijan’s targeting of churches.
For more ChristianPersecution.com coverage of the persecution of Christians in Azerbaijan and the areas it controls, see here.
“Azerbaijan Raises Flag Over Nagorno-Karabakh as Final Armenians Leave,” International Christian Concern, October 17, 2023:
10/17/2023 Artsakh (International Christian Concern) – The Azerbaijani military raised their flag over the former Artsakh capital, Stepanakert, with a special visit from Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev who attended the ceremony. The enclave, once home to more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians, reportedly has become eerily empty after the mass displacement of Artsakh’s residents since the take-over by Azerbaijan in September. Artsakh’s Armenians left fearing persecution and ethnic cleansing.
The consolidation of control over the region comes after over 100,000 ethnic Armenian Christians crossed into Armenia within 10 days after a 24-hour military takeover of Artsakh by Azerbaijani forces. Tragically, the region’s historical Christian Armenian population has been displaced, and yet another historical Christian community’s very survival is now being threatened and driven from their homeland….
