Beglaryan outlines Artsakh strategy at Yale university

PanARMENIAN.Net - Artak Beglaryan, former Human Rights Defender of Artsakh and president of the Union of Artsakh, presented in the U.S. the current situation of the people of Artsakh and the strategic goals aimed at overcoming it.

On April 25–26, Beglaryan delivered speeches at Yale University and the Connecticut House of Representatives, and on April 27, he addressed the Armenian community center in Illinois.

At two Yale University events, Artak Beglaryan discussed developments in recent years, highlighting Azerbaijan's genocidal policies and their patterns. During the second event, Beglaryan and Garnik Kerkonian examined the foundations, implementation methods, and potential conditions for the right of return for the people of Artsakh. Citing various international examples, Beglaryan emphasized that with strong political will from major powers, the organized return of the Artsakh people could be achieved, underlining the need for responsible and purposeful action by Armenia’s state institutions.

He stressed that in these challenging circumstances, the Armenian nation's foremost vision should be building a strong, developed, and nationally responsible Republic of Armenia, from which Artsakh's future security, dignity, stability, and self-determination would stem.

Beglaryan acted as the keynote speaker at events in Hartford’s legislative building in Connecticut and at the Armenian Community Center in Chicago, Illinois. In his speeches, he outlined seven strategic objectives crucial to achieving the national vision, organized under the acronym PERSIST:

• Preserve the people of Artsakh in Armenia by ensuring dignified and stable living conditions while maintaining national identity.
• Ensure protection of Artsakh's natural and cultural environment, including public and private property still being destroyed and appropriated by Azerbaijan.
• Document all crimes committed and secure the rights of the Artsakh people within international legal frameworks.
• Ensure the recognition and condemnation of the genocide against the Artsakh people as a continuation of the Armenian Genocide.
• Initiate and achieve international justice by punishing perpetrators and preventing future crimes against Armenians and other peoples.
• Eliminate the state-sponsored policy of Armenophobia in Azerbaijan and its ideological roots, which have fueled crimes against Armenians.
• Return Armenian captives held in Azerbaijani prisons who suffer severe mistreatment and unjust trials due to their ethnicity.

Summarizing his remarks, Artak Beglaryan called on the audience to be ready for a long and consistent struggle for universal values and the survival of the Armenian people.

The Yale University events were organized by the MacMillan Center’s Genocide Studies Program, the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR), the Poynter Fellowship, and the Yale Armenian Network. The Hartford event was organized by the Armenian community of Connecticut, and the Chicago event by the Illinois branch of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).