Amidst the terror in Artsakh, land disputed over by Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Armenian diaspora must watch from abroad. While some say a second genocide is currently taking place, others say it is simply a continuation of the genocide that began in 1915.

Hamlet Azaryan and I sat down in Kenneth Village, which some would say is an Armenian hotspot in Glendale, CA. Hamlet briefly described the situation in the eyes of the Armenian diaspora, if not the Armenian community as a whole. “During this pandemic, Azerbaijan, backed by Turkey, has been using [the conflict] as a distraction to start their forces against Artsakh; and bomb innocent civilians and kill and massacre everyone.” 

Azerbaijan, as the initiator and aggressor, claimed they were fighting for their land, although Artsakh is mainly inhabited by Armenians. In the eyes of the Armenian community, Azerbaijan and Turkey were furthering their agenda to rid the world of the Armenian population.

With Azerbaijan bombing the country of Artsakh, I asked Hamlet what types of buildings were being destroyed beyond repair. “Hospitals, schools, churches, you name it, everything.”

Although an exact number of Armenian casualties is unavailable at this time, it is said that a doctor in the city of Stepanakert “reported that up to 300 to 400 Armenian civilians had been killed as of 25 October.” This is according to thedailybeast.com.

According to BBC News, approximately 70,000 people, or half the population of Nagorno-Karabakh, have been displaced. Additionally, Al Jazeera says that six journalists have been seriously injured.

Hamlet added that Azerbaijan targeted villages. This means families, people who are merely trying to live. I asked Hamlet what he feels is the ultimate motive of these aggressive countries. He responded, “To massacre every single Armenian… It’s an ethnic cleansing.”

Because some Armenian people feel that this is not another genocide, but the continuation of the genocide that began in 1915, I asked Hamlet how today is different from 1915. “Back in 1915, we didn’t have social media and we didn't really have voices, so now we’re urging everyone to speak up… Everyone has the power to spread awareness.” 

Hamlet is doing all he can via social media and can only ask that others do the same. “We’re sharing all the reports that we can. I do have non-Armenian followers and I want to just spam everyone and make sure they’re seeing what’s going on.” 

At the very least he said, everyone can understand the situation. For the community and allies “protesting and donating is key.” I wanted to know what it would mean to the diaspora if people who are not Armenian would contribute more to the cause. “If we have non-Armenians spread awareness as much as [Armenians] are, it would amplify everything. The awareness itself would exponentially grow.”

Armenians are pressuring the United States to assume their role to sanction Turkey and stop the aggression. I asked Hamlet how he feels the Trump Administration is doing in working towards this and a brighter future for Armenians. He said Trump was proud that a third ceasefire was in place at the time of this interview. “But we all knew it was going to be broken by the Azerbaijani, and once [the American people] asked him about that again he just shrugged it off… You’re either on Armenia’s side or you’re on the terrorist’s side… This is not Democrat vs Republican, blue vs red. We all need to unify and fight against what’s wrong.”

With a vast amount of information and propaganda circulating, I asked Hamlet what media has been released by Azerbaijan that has been proven to be exaggerated or untrue. Many releases have been proven to be false. One example of false imagery released by Azerbaijan was a small girl placed in front of a blue backdrop for a photo. She was asked to frown. It is later shown that a background of demolished buildings was added to the photo with the text “Stop Armenian Aggression.”

Another example of genocidal propaganda released by Azerbaijan is a music video of border police glorifying their efforts on Armenia. Ways of Victory is written by Ismail Dadashovand.

“It’s really hard to find something that they’ve released as true,” Hamlet says. He brings up a bombing by Armenia, referred to as The Bombing of Ganja. Azerbaijan is promoting this event inaccurately, furthering the narrative that Armenians are targeting Azerbaijani civilians. “The president of Artsakh, Arayik Harutyunyan, warned everyone. He even put it on Twitter.”

Hamlet pointed out that some civilians decided to stay even with the warning from Harutyunyan. I asked him why he thought that was. “The civilians [of Azerbaijan] are brainwashed and you can’t blame them too much. Imagine growing up your entire life hearing one thing over and over and someone tries to change your mind in one second.”

I asked Hamlet how he feels the media in the United States has responded. “Not as much as we’d like. We barely got a few reports here and there. We’re getting the local reports, which we do appreciate; but we really want to get complete, national coverage.” 

Hamlet also saw articles by large news outlets that are biased towards Azerbaijan. “We’re trying to protest in front of the CNN buildings, the CBS buildings just to make sure they get the right report out.”

Hamlet spoke on his personal ties to his community abroad. “We’re all family right now. I know people who personally know others that are fighting or have unfortunately fallen fighting for our land and it’s just something really sad to hear.” 

Hamlet was born and raised in Los Angeles but has always felt Armenian. “I’ve visited there before and every time I felt I was at home… We have such a rich culture and we grew up with that culture even here in the diaspora. When you visit Armenia you kind of get that sense of where that culture came from and that feeling like butterflies in your stomach, to just see where your ancestors came from and how you got here.”

Some people outside of the Armenian community have trouble deciding which side to believe: Azerbaijan and Turkey or Artsakh and Armenia. I asked Hamlet, “Why should non-Armenians believe and fight for Armenia and not Turkey?” Hamlet responded, “I’ll put it this way. Azerbaijan has about 11 million people in the population. Turkey has 80 million. Armenia has 3 million. In what way is Armenia going to be the aggressor?”

“We definitely stand for all our families out there fighting, our heroes, brothers and sisters. We pray for all of them. We pray for all the lives. We want to make sure not another life is lost. It’s just, no matter what is going on we have to keep our spirits up and keep fighting.”