The Guardian: Australian Armenians Urge the Government to Stop Fence-Sitting on Fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh

Tuesday, 06 October 2020


CANBERRA: The Guardian, among many other Australian publications including 7News.com.au, has run a story from the Australian Associated Press newswire covering the Armenian-Australian protest against Azerbaijan's Turkey-backed attacks on Armenians in the Republics of Artsakh and Armenia, reported the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU).

It is titled "Australian Armenians urge the government to stop 'fence-sitting' on fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh" and features two members of the Armenian National Committee of Australia, Haig Kayserian and Vache Kahramanian calling on the Australian Government to correctly characterise Azerbaijan, and her backer Turkey, as the conflict's aggressors.

“Call an attack an attack, call an aggressor an aggressor, and call an aider-and-abettor in Turkey exactly that as well,” said the executive director of the Armenian National Committee of Australia, Haig Kayserian.

“Canberra can’t sit on the fence as hundreds of innocent peace-loving indigenous Armenians are being bombed to their deaths.”

Vache Kahramanian drew a comparison with the Armenian Genocide.

“This is not new, unfortunately, to Armenian people. We’ve lived through this before. People are fearful for their lives," Kahramanian said.

Kayserian added: “The Armenian genocide was based on expansionism, was based on faith, was based on nationality, and what we’re seeing here are those same ingredients.”

The article correctly refers to Artsakh as "indigenous Armenian territory", features the use of cluster bombs as "war crimes" in Artsakh's capital Stepanakert and articulates that Armenian-Australians "want the Australian government to join France in condemning Turkey and Azerbaijan".

Read the article in full by clicking here.