By Matthew Morales, Staff Writer
NEWS: Conflicts start in the middle east between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
On October 3, 2020, traffic came to a halt on the 101; Armenian protesters blocked the freeway on both sides to bring awareness to the current conflicts in the Middle East between the countries of Armenia and Azerbaijan. But why were such protests necessary?
To fully understand the situation, we must travel back to the late 1980’s when Azerbaijan and Armenia seperated from the former Soviet Union. When the Soviet Union dissolved, the borders between Azerbaijan and Armenia were heavily disputed, especially in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, where mostly ethnic Armenians reside in the pronounced Azerbaijan territory. The autonomous legislature of Nagorno-Karabakh, voted to become separate from Azerbaijan and to join Armenia. Doing this caused a war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, taking an estimated 17,557 casualties from both sides. Nagorno-Karabakh is still not internationally recognized as an independent nation, or internationally recognized as part of Armenia. It is considered part of Azerbaijan, even though it is still under control of Armenia after the ceasefire in 1994.
Today, these border disputes are continuing into the modern world, and are the main cause of the current conflicts in 2020. Recently these skirmishes arose when Azerbaijan started killing and destroying the ethnic Armenian villages in Nagorno-Karabakh. “Azerbaijan is defending itself,” said Nasimi Aghayev, from the Azerbaijan consulate in Los Angeles, “We want peace but peace can only be achieved when Armenia leaves the occupied regions of Azerbaijan.” The consulate claims that Armenia has already killed 19 of their people. Both sides of this conflict are claiming that the other shot first.
In the United States, protests have broken out in Los Angeles in the defense of Armenia. The goal of the protests in the U.S. is to bring international attention to the 2020 Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. The protesters claim that there is not enough media coverage of the attacks done by the Azerbaijani military against the ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, and they are requesting international community intervention.
Armenian protesters are claiming that Azerbaijan, with help from Turkey, is trying to commit a ‘second Armenian genocide.’ The protesters have decided to travel to Washington D.C. to protest in front of the White House, hoping that this will bring more attention to the region. These protests have already gathered a great amount of media attention where Los Angeles city officials have publicly condemned Azerbaijan’s attacks against the nation of Armenia. The Armenians have planned to protest daily, in LA and Washington, until they get the media coverage they want.
