12-08-2023 CHUCK HOLTON
The international community is hailing the announcement of peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Officials of both countries are expressing optimism that a treaty can be reached by the end of the year to end a decades-long conflict that’s flared up in recent years.
Armenia, a historically Christian nation, has faced elimination before from its Muslim neighbors.
In World War I, under the Ottoman Empire, as many as one million Armenians died when the country’s people and its ethnic identity were targeted for destruction.
“In 301 we accepted Christianity,” said Samvel, a resident of Armenia. “In 1915, after the genocide we lost much of our land to the Turks. I’d like to see that land returned to us someday. I just want Armenia to flourish. That’s my wish.”
Some are concerned that despite talks of peace history could repeat itself.
Over the summer, Azerbaijan’s military drove about 120,000 ethnic Armenians out of a disputed territory in their country. In recent weeks, Azerbaijan set its sights on a region within Armenia itself, causing fears of another genocide and calls for help from the global community.
Jacob Pursley, a businessman in Armenia, urged the church, “Please do not forget your true Christian brothers and sisters in Armenia that are being attacked and forcibly removed from their homelands, right now.”
“As Hamas is to Israel, Azerbaijan, and Turkey are to Armenia and the Armenian Christians,” Pursley said. “And their ideology is that they want to make a complete Turkic Islamic empire, and Armenia stands in their way. It sits in between Azerbaijan and Turkey, and they want to connect the entire Turkic Islamic world.”
Samvel said, “We hear they have a mind to capture our province. That’s the Turk’s idea. Erdogan has said so many times. Now the Russians and Azerbaijanis have joined the Turks. They want to eliminate the Armenian nation.”
Armenians, like Samvel, feel ignored by the world.
“Maybe all Christian countries will come to our defense. So we don’t disappear from the map,” he said.
Pray for Armenia and Armenia Christians