Ottawa, Canada – The Armenian National Committee of Canada is deeply troubled by the recent developments in the Caucasus. Azerbaijan President Aliyev’s most recent wave of fatal cross-border 
attacks against Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR) has cost dozens of lives and seriously undermined the vital work of the OSCE Minsk Group. Unless stopped all indications are that this undemocratic and belligerent dictator will act on his threats to start a full-scale Caucasus war, on that will further destabilize the entire region, likely leading to an escalating and even more dangerous conflicts.
The OSCE Minsk Group has proven unwilling to condemn President Aliyev’s openly announced military escalation or to challenge his resolved march toward war. This failure in the face of outright aggression has contributed substantially to a dangerous atmosphere of impunity. Today, Azerbaijan, is flagrantly breaking the norms of international law, pushing the limits of the world’s tolerance, and undermining the ongoing peace efforts, secure in the knowledge that the international community’s attention is elsewhere.
“President Aliyev has numerous times expressed his willingness to reengage in war against the peaceful people of NKR, and recently proved his intentions by infringing the ceasefire put in place and using social media as his outlet to propagate his hatred and incite war” said ANCC President Dr. Girair Basmajian. “We urge the government of Canada to condemn unequivocally the war rhetoric issuing out of Baku”.
The ANCC stands for peace in the Caucasus, and strongly believes that by working together internationally, we can get the peace process back on track, by condemning Azerbaijan’s military attacks and then by leading an international campaign to secure Baku’s adherence to OSCE proposals, already backed by Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh, to pull back snipers and add observers.
The ANCC is the largest and the most influential Canadian-Armenian grassroots human rights organization. Working in coordination with a network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout Canada and affiliated organizations around the world, the ANCC actively advances the concerns of the Canadian-Armenian community on a broad range of issues.