Advertising Campaign Launched During Bonn Climate Change Conference Challenges Azerbaijan to Prove Commitment to "COP of Peace" Claims by Releasing Armenian Political Prisoners

Artsakh Union publishes ads highlighting the hypocrisy of Azerbaijan's "COP of Peace" amidst genocide against Armenians as government and civil society experts gather in Bonn, Germany, to set the COP agenda

BONN, Germany, June 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Artsakh Union has launched an advertisement campaign challenging COP29 host Azerbaijan to fulfill its alleged vision of a "COP of Peace" by releasing its political prisoners. The campaign comes amid the opening week of the Bonn Climate Change Conference, where experts set the agenda for the prestigious COP meetings that will bring together world leaders in Baku later this year.

The challenging advertisements come after Hikmet Hajiyev?foreign policy adviser to the Azerbaijani president, Ilham Aliyev?told media in May that the country was eager to make "COP29 a COP of peace." That claim has been widely rebuked, with experts pointing to the government's genocidal actions taken against ethnic Armenians and long-standing record of human rights violations.

"The Aliyev regime of Azerbaijan continues to detain Armenian political prisoners and hostages, destroy our cultural heritage and property under their occupation, systematically promote anti-Armenian ethnic hatred and block the return of the forcibly displaced Artsakh people to their homes. These actions, along with other international and domestic crimes, exemplify their ongoing genocidal policy against the Artsakh people. Our efforts aim to raise international awareness about the Aliyev regime's continuous violations and the urgent need to release our illegally detained leaders and compatriots. The international community must not allow the Aliyev regime to mislead and distract them with COP 29 and evade accountability for their perpetrated genocide and continuous violations," said Artak Beglaryan, president of the Artsakh Union and former state minister of Artsakh.

The Artsakh Union is a grassroots organization created by citizens of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), an unrecognized state that was invaded by Azerbaijan in September 2023, causing the entire population of 120,000 indigenous Armenians to flee. Amid the aggression, Azerbaijani officials also arrested eight Armenian political leaders of Artsakh, a group that remains illegally detained and hostage in Baku and awaiting news on their trial date. The political prisoners include international philanthropist and humanitarian Ruben Vardanyan, who recently ended a 21-day hunger strike to protest their illegal detainment, increasingly worsening imprisonment conditions, and limited access to due process in an opaque legal system.

Juan Mendez, the United Nations' first Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide reviewed these actions, solemnly confirming that "genocide has been committed against ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, but the danger of more suffering of this kind is by no means over. The international community still bears a responsibility to act to protect this population from further harm."

The United Nations' International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Azerbaijan to uphold the right of return for ethnic Armenians, instructing the country to "take all necessary measures to prevent and punish acts of vandalism and desecration affecting Armenian cultural heritage, including but not limited to churches and other places of worship, monuments, landmarks, cemeteries and artifacts" following its invasion last year. Despite these orders, recent satellite images show destruction of Armenian cultural heritage sites and residential buildings, prompting widespread concerns.

Pressure continues to grow on Azerbaijan from the international community in the lead up to COP29, otherwise known as the Conference of the Parties, which will be held this November in Baku. In a April resolution, the EU reaffirmed that "the ongoing human rights violations in Azerbaijan are incompatible with the country's preparations to host COP29." U.S. senators have also called for the release of Armenian political leaders held in Azerbaijan, with several members of congress sending a follow-up letter raising concerns in mid-May. French senators have also put forth resolutions proposing sanctions against Azerbaijan for its actions in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Bonn Climate Change Conference, which started on June 3, has driven additional backlash against the Azeri government, including from the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, which published a statement criticizing Azerbaijan for touting a "COP of Peace" while carrying out genocidal actions.

Today, Azerbaijan sits below Saudi Arabia and Iran in Freedom House's annual Freedom of the World report, currently scoring just 7 out of 100 points. The country also ranks 164^th out of 180 in Reporters Without Borders' 2024 Press Freedom Index, worse than Venezuela and Turkey.

See the full-page advertisement on page 19 of POLITICO Europe's print edition published on June 6.

Media Contact
Artak Beglaryan, Artsakh Union

• +374 97 252623
• [email protected]
• artsakhunion.org

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