Azerbaijan: 120,000 Armenian Christians facing extreme persecution in Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh)
by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – Having suffered relentless genocidal persecution throughout history, Armenian Christians are again facing an existential crisis as the Muslim Azerbaijani government has imposed a military blockade on the flow of essential supplies from the Armenian capital, Yerevan, to the 120,000 Armenian Christians living in the contested Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) enclave in Azerbaijan, the Christian media outlet NRB reports. The blockade comes amid an ongoing conflict over the region involving Azerbaijan, Armenia, and the self-declared Armenian breakaway state of Artsakh.
The vital Lachin Corridor between Armenia and Azerbaijan, through which the humanitarian supplies are transported, has been obstructed since December and has been completely blocked since July 26, NRB reports. Nineteen trucks and 400 tons of supplies have been held at the checkpoint.
“The repercussions of this blockade have led to acute shortages of vital resources as well as electricity and water outages, rendering life unsustainable for the affected population,” NRB said in its report. “Please join fellow believers in praying for the imperiled Christians of Nagorno-Karabakh,” NRB added.
In a statement about the current precarious situation of Armenian Christians in the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, Dr. John Eibner, president of Christian Solidarity International, said: “This project of ethnic/religious cleansing has not come out of the blue. It represents the latest wave of a centuries-long genocide process.”
“Will we turn a blind eye to the destruction of yet another Christian community at the hands of an aggressive Islamic power? Or will we stand in spiritual, material, and political solidarity with this persecuted part of the Body of Christ?”
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