Press Release

For Immediate Release
August 14, 2024

CONTACTS:
Dede Laugesen, executive director, Save the Persecuted Christians, (719) 659-3121 c or [email protected]; and Dan Harre, deputy director, Save Armenia, (314) 956-5893 or [email protected]

Save Armenia from Yet Another Genocide
America Must Act Now

WASHINGTON, D.C.— American human rights and religious freedom leaders returning from Armenia are raising the alarm at continued and increasing genocidal threats targeting the world’s first and oldest Christian nation. Landlocked modern Armenia is the remnant of ancient Armenia, one of the world’s oldest centers of civilization. The Christian country shares borders with Georgia, Iran, Turkey, and Azerbaijan. Muslim leaders in Azerbaijan and Turkey aren’t hiding their stated plan to finish wiping Armenia off the world map.

“It was an eye-opening experience,” said Suzanne Grishman, chairwoman of the board for Save the Persecuted Christians and executive director of Mercury One and The Nazarene Fund who traveled to Armenia as guests of Save Armenia, a U.S. nonprofit that advocates for Armenia’s survival. “I am a little shocked to say that there’s not much in the news, so I was learning as I was on the ground in Armenia. Armenia is the oldest Christian nation in the world, founded in 301 A.D. And this region has been indigenous to the Armenian people and Christians. This is where Christianity started [to flourish]. I was able to visit holy sites that have been around since around 301 A.D. I was able to meet with a lot of witnesses and firsthand witnesses that have experienced atrocities and persecution by Azerbaijan.”

Aggressive and genocidal ambitions of Azerbaijan and Turkey continually threaten Armenia’s survival. The Armenian people have long been victims of genocides, persecution, and discrimination, including from 1894-96 and again during World War I from 1915 to 1923. Up to 1.5 million Armenians died either in massacres and individual killings, or from systematic ill-treatment, exposure, and starvation by 1923. On March 4, 2010, the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs recognized the 1915 to 1923 massacres perpetrated during World War I by the Ottoman Turks against Armenians as genocide. Affirmation by both houses of Congress finally came in 2019. The legislatures of all 50 US states have made individual proclamations recognizing the events of 1915 to 1923 as genocide.

A relic of the Soviet Union’s manipulation of boundaries and borders in Central Asia at the crossroads of the Middle East and Europe, the Armenian Republic of Artsakh, also known as Nagorno-Karabakh, was a long-disputed, self-governing enclave cut off from Armenia proper within Azerbaijan. Then, on September 19, 2023, after decades of intermittent conflict and war, Artsakh fell in a one-day blitzkrieg. Azerbaijani forces invaded on the heels of a brutal 9-month blockade of the region. The bombardment and invasion sent 120,000 terror-struck, starving and beleaguered people fleeing on foot to Armenia proper. Forced to leave everything behind, the invasion caused a massive humanitarian crisis mostly ignored by the West.

Nearly one year ago, Azerbaijan “pushed over 120,000 Christians into Armenia proper,” said Grishman in an interview with Frank Gaffney on Real America’s Voice Network, “Armenia has, of course, accepted and graciously taken in all of these Christians, but they have been removed from their homeland. They have ethnically cleansed all the Christian sites. We have proof of it. It’s on satellite images. They are going in and they are destroying churches, monasteries, crosses, and monuments that have been erected since 600 A.D.”

Today, many are missing and hundreds of prisoners from Artsakh are tortured in Azerbaijani prisons while political leaders in Baku and Istanbul endlessly threaten to wipe the rest of Armenia off the map. Ancient Armenia established an organized government by 2,492 B.C.E., making it the fourth-oldest civilization still in existence behind Egypt, Iran, and Vietnam.

President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and his ministers in Baku regularly refer to Armenia as Western Azerbaijan, while Azerbaijani forces occupy several communities along its border. Appallingly, as Azerbaijan continues its crimes against humanity, Baku is being elevated on the world stage to host world leaders in November for COP 29, a prestigious conference on climate. Informed analysts believe Azerbaijan, with the help of Turkey, will wait until Aliyev’s international guests depart to ramp up kinetic warfare against Armenia proper.

On Thursday, August 15, from 4:30 to 5:45 p.m. ET, Save Armenia and Save the Persecuted Christians (STPC) will host a webinar entitled “Save Armenia from Yet Another Genocide: America Must Act Now!” The expert panel will feature members of the American delegation, including Dr. Jim Garlow, Dr. Alveda King, William Wolfe, Vicky Hartzler, and Suzanne Grishman, to hear their recommendations on what American leaders, other Western nations, and ordinary people can do to stand with Armenians and ward off yet another genocide of Armenian Christians.

WHAT: A Webinar | “Save Armenia from Yet Another Genocide: America Must Act Now!”

WHEN: 4:30-5:45 pm ET, Thursday, August 15, 2024

WHO:

Moderator: Frank Gaffney, President and CEO, Save the Persecuted Christians

Panelists:

Matias Perttula, Director, Save Armenia
• Topic: “The Existential Threat Facing Armenia and Why Americans Must Act Now”
Dr. Jim Garlow, Founder and CEO, Well Versed, a ministry for elected officials; author of many books
• Topic: “We Need Every One of You, and a Miracle, to Save Armenia”
Dr. Alveda King, PhD, Prominent conservative leader, evangelist, and niece of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; Chair of the Center for the American Dream at AFPI; and Fox News Contributor
• Topic: “It is Imperative America and the West Defend Armenia from Forces Seeking their Obliteration”
William Wolfe, Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon; Former Director of Legislative Affairs at the Department of State; Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Baptist Leadership; Master of Divinity from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
• Topic: “Why Defending Judeo-Christian Principles, Governance and Heritage Abroad in Armenia and at Home in America is Essential”
Honorable Vicky Hartzler, USCIRF Commissioner appearing in her personal capacity; U.S. Member of Congress from Missouri (2011-2023); MO State Representative (1995-2001); lifelong farmer and former schoolteacher
• Topic: “How America can Help Armenia and Hold Perpetrators of Religious-Based Atrocities Accountable for Crimes Against Humanity”
Suzanne Grishman, Executive Director, Mercury One and The Nazarene Fund; Board Chair, Save the Persecuted Christians
• Topic: “How can American Citizens Help Support Legislation for Armenia and Enable Armenians to Tell their Stories in the USA?”