#ArtsakhStrong Solidarity Toolkit

UPDATE: On November 9, 2020 Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a Russian-brokered ceasefire^[1] to end the war in Artsakh. Armenians are now experiencing the largest loss of ancestral land since the 1915 Genocide and over 100,000 Armenians have been displaced. Our collective action is more important than ever.

Our priority now is to fund Armenia’s humanitarian and reconstruction efforts and pressure Canada to take significant and substantial actions to support Artsakh and Armenia.

October 8, 2020

On Sept 27, Azerbaijan launched a sustained military attack on Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) -- a small autonomous region of ethnic Armenians in the South Caucasus -- to overtake the territory and bring it under Azerbaijani rule.

Since then, my social media feeds have been filled with Armenians posting content to spread awareness about the attacks, but I haven’t seen many non-Armenian friends talk about what’s going on. I asked my Facebook network what they’re hearing about Artsakh and it turns out it’s almost nothing. But many of you answered that you DO want to know what is happening and how to help!  

This is a toolkit to help you learn a little more about what’s going on in Artsakh, and about how you can put your voice, your time, and your money towards helping Armenians, in the diaspora, in Armenia and in Artsakh, stop yet another attempt to wipe us off the map.

This is written for the Canadian context but please feel free to adapt it for your own.

Thank you so much to the many people who shaped and reviewed this toolkit. 

This is a living document so if you’d like to contribute, please email me at a.possian@gmail.com.

Amara                                                                                

What’s in this Toolkit?  

What’s happening & why it matters        3

How you can help        4

Media Coverage        4

Take Action: Send a letter to the editor        4

Raising Awareness        5

Take Action: Follow Armenian accounts & amplify their content        5

Take Action: Post good articles & other content on your social media, & ask your friends to share        6

Take Action: Change your Facebook photo frame & link in your Instagram bio        7

Political Action        8

Take Action: Contact politicians (email, phone & tweet)        8

Take Action: Sign petitions & Send letters        9

Donate!        10

Take Action: Donate        10

Additional info & resources        10

What’s happening & why it matters

On September 27, Azerbaijan launched attacks on the Armenian-populated Republic of Artsakh, targeting civilians in the region’s capital of Stepanakert, as well as the surrounding area. Since then, Azerbaijan has shelled settlements, targeted peaceful civilians, infrastructure, and is deliberately targeting religious and cultural sites. These constitute war crimes.

Azerbaijan is trying to overtake Artsakh and bring it under Azerbaijan rule. Turkey has pledged its full political and military support to Azerbaijan and is supplying high-ranking military officials, terrorists, and mercenary fighters.

This conflict is part of a continued effort by Turkey and Azerbaijan to commit Genocide and ethnic cleansing of Armenians in the region. In 1915 Ottoman Turks killed over 1.5 million Armenians in a Genocide they refuse to admit. Azerbaijan and Turkey both want to erase Armenians from their homelands.

In 1921, despite its majority-Armenian population, Joseph Stalin put Artsakh under the administrative control of Soviet Azerbaijan during the colonial rule of the USSR. In 1988, as the USSR was crumbling, Armenians in Artsakh voted for their independence through a free and fair referendum, which had an 82.1% voter turnout, in which 99.8% of voters chose to create an independent state. The people of Artsakh have the right to self-determination, and hold that their independence is one of liberation from Azerbaijan, which had been occupying them for the last 70 years. Azerbaijan refused to recognize the vote, which led to a bloody war, from which Armenians emerged victorious. The war ended in de facto independence of the Artsakh and in 1994, a ceasefire was signed by both sides.

Artsakh has been governed as an autonomous democratic region ever since.

The Armenian community across the diaspora and inside the territories are calling for solidarity and support from the international community. Specifically, we are asking for leaders to:

• Recognize the independence of the Republic of Artsakh, reaffirming the inalienable rights of the democratic people of Artsakh to self-determination and to live freely, in peace and prosperity;
• Recognize that Azerbaijan can never lay claim to the population and territory of Artsakh, which it continues to deliberately shell to this day;
• Properly condemn Azerbaijan’s and Turkey’s unprovoked aggression and war crimes;
• Permanently uphold the suspension of arms exports to Turkey;
• Provide immediate and robust humanitarian aid to the civilian population of Artsakh; and
• Play a leading role to engage allies and partners and bring lasting peace to the region.

How you can help

Media Coverage

While reporting on the issue is severely lacking, the coverage that’s made it into print is biased. It frames the conflict as violent clashes by equal sides rather than an illegal genocidal war of aggression by Azerbaijan and Turkey.

Protests around the world have been targeting media outlets, calling on them to cover the story (like in L.A. and Montreal). You can do the same from home.  

Take Action: Send a letter to the editor

We can make sure people across Canada hear about what’s happening by filling our papers with letters to the editor.

Short pieces (< 300 words), written as a response to a published article, or to comment on an issue the news isn’t covering is a powerful way to get the message out there, change the public debate, and even get the news outlet to rethink their coverage. But it will only work if enough of us send letters and get as many published as possible.

Here’s a list of news outlets you can email with your letter:

• Globe and Mail: letters@globeandmail.com
• Toronto Star: lettertoed@thestar.ca
• National post: letters@nationalpost.com
• Vancouver Sun: sunletters@vancouversun.com
• Montreal Gazette: letters@montrealgazette.com
• Toronto Sun: https://torontosun.com/send-letter
• CBC: opinion@cbc.ca  

Raising Awareness

Most people don’t know what is going on, in part thanks to poor media coverage. And when influential people speak out, they get bullied by bots into retracting their statements. Armenian business pages are also being flooded with negative reviews to discourage people from speaking out.

We can raise awareness, and create a flood of support for Armenains and Artsakh that can drown out the bots and biased coverage by using our social media channels. Here are some ways to take action:

Take Action: Follow Armenian accounts & amplify their content 

Take Action: Post good articles & other content on your social media, & ask your friends to share

Lots of the accounts I linked above share great content. Follow them & and re-share their posts. Use hashtags. Directly ask your friends to share content, especially if they have a large following.

Take Action: Change your Facebook photo frame & link in your Instagram bio

Changing your Facebook profile photo frame is a quick and easy way to show your support for Artsakh. Go here, search Artsakh, and a bunch of different frames will come up you can use. It takes 10 seconds.

Changing the link in your Instagram and Twitter profiles means that you can direct people to a resource page, like this one. The link in your Instagram is found on your profile bio page. Since Instagram doesn’t let you link to things directly in your posts (articles, action pages, etc) , it has this function instead.

You can link this document in your bio using this url: bit.ly/artsakh-solidarity 

Political Action

Although the Prime Minister of Armenia has said that “there is no military solution to this conflict,” and Armenians worldwide are calling for peace, there have been no moves by Turkey and Azerbaijan to cease attacks, and they won’t back down on their own.    

We need as much pressure from the international community as possible. As a member of NATO and with a global reputation as a peace broker, Canada has a unique role to play.  

This is a live situation. Direct calls on leaders are shifting as the conflict on the ground shifts. Right now we specifically want Canada to:

• Recognize the independence of the Republic of Artsakh, reaffirming the inalienable rights of the democratic people of Artsakh to self-determination and to live freely, in peace and prosperity;
• Recognize that Azerbaijan can never lay claim to the population and territory of Artsakh, which it continues to deliberately shell to this day;
• Properly condemn Azerbaijan’s and Turkey’s unprovoked aggression and war crimes;
• Permanently uphold the suspension of arms exports to Turkey;
• Provide immediate and robust humanitarian aid to the civilian population of Artsakh; and
• Play a leading role to engage allies and partners and bring lasting peace to the region.

Take Action: Contact politicians (email, phone & tweet)

Writing our politicians directly is one of the most impactful ways to put pressure on them to act. If enough people across Canada speak up to their MPs, party leaders and cabinet ministers, they won’t be able to ignore our calls for concrete action.

Email, phone and tweet party leaders, cabinet ministers and MPs:

You can also contact your city councillor, mayor, or provincial representative (MPP, MLA, MNA).

Take Action: Sign petitions & Send letters

These are the petitions and letters to politicians that are circulating in Canada. See below (additional info and resources) for links to petitions around the world. The most recent actions are at the top:

• Minister Champagne: Ensure Immediate Return of Armenian POWs
• Amb. LeClaire: Observe recovered L3Harris/WESCAM sensor in Armenia, report findings to Global Affairs Canada
• PM Trudeau: Stand on the Right Side of History, Defend Artsakh
• Thank Senators Batters & Carignan for Supporting Artsakh Motion M36
• Letter to MP Jack Harris: Thank You for the Successful Motion to Investigate Arms Export Permits
• Letter to Canadian Senators: Recognize the Republic of Artsakh
• Thank Ontario MPPs for Standing Up for Artsakh
• Minister Champagne: Condemn Azerbaijan's Aggression and Refusal to Implement Gunfire Locators
• Minister Champagne: Canada Complicit in Drone Attacks, Turkey to be held Accountable 
• PM Trudeau: Condemn Azerbaijan's Repeated Ceasefire Violations & Slaughter of Civilians
• Thank the Toronto Catholic District School Board for Standing Strong with Artsakh
• Condemn Azerbaijani and Turkish Aggression, Ban Export of Canadian Military Technology
• Ask Minister Champagne to Immediately Condemn Azerbaijani Aggression 
• Petition e-2885 (Foreign Affairs) to the Government of Canada 

Donate!

Turkey and Azerbaijan have more money, resources and power than Armenia. Without an end to the attacks in sight, Armenia is currently mobilizing its citizens for defense. Civilians are organizing donation centers in every Armenian city, collecting funds, supplies, and essential medicine for soldiers and civilians hit by the attacks. The Armenian diaspora is also mobilizing to get much-needed supplies to Armenia.

Take Action: Donate

• Donate to the All Armenian Fund: the Armenian government’s official fundraising campaign.  

• You can make Canada tax deductible donations here.
• You can make US tax deductible donations here.

• Donate to Kooyrigs: an incredible org tasked by Armenia to provide critical aid and life-saving meds to those on the frontlines.  

• Donate to the Paros Foundation: Funds raised through this project will be allocated 100% to assist with the massive immediate humanitarian needs. Any funds remaining will be allocated to reconstruction efforts.
• Many generous orgs are matching donations

• Shop at Armenian-owned businesses that are donating their proceeds to Artsakh aid.

Additional info & resources

Learn more and take action

• Help The Armenian Community: Information on how to help out and educate yourself on the often-overlooked issues concerning the Armenian community
• Stop Genocide in the Caucuses: what’s happening in Armenia and Artsakh and how you can help.  
• Artsakh Resources: easy-to-read, categorized list of information, resources, and action items regarding this issue.
• Artsakh Research Drive: a comprehensive index of all the sources you need to write a fantastic research paper. By @thewritingtutor.
• Resources for Education & Sharing

More information

• PDF CHAPTER  “Armenia and Azerbaijan: An Intimate Quarrel” from ‘The Caucasus: An Introduction’ by Thomas de Waal
• BOOK Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War by Thomas de Waal
• DOCUMENTARY A Story of People in War & Peace
• DOCUMENTARY Parts of a Circle: History of the Karabakh Conflict