News - Canada-Artsakh Parliamentary Friendship Group sends letter to Canada FM on Karabakh issue

The co-chairs of the Canada-Artsakh Parliamentary Friendship Group, Rachael Thomas and Leo Housakos, sent a letter to Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly on Wednesday. The letter talks about the crisis surrounding Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) in the South Caucasus, noting that the Azerbaijani government is putting humanitarian and economic pressure on the 120,000 Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh. The letter notes that it is a defining moment for Canada. It is imperative that Canada impose sanctions on officials of the dictatorial government of Azerbaijan who have violated peace and security while committing gross and systematic human rights violations. The letter states that under the UN's Responsibility to Protect (R2P) principle, Canada is responsible for protecting the people of Artsakh from atrocities such as persecution and ethnic cleansing. All appropriate interventions—from diplomatic and economic sanctions to international criminal prosecutions and, as a last resort, military action—are needed to halt this course of action by Azerbaijan, the letter adds. At the end of the letter, the co-chairs of the Canada-Artsakh Parliamentary Friendship Group ask the Canadian authorities to take action to stop the persecution of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, emphasizing again that they demand sanctions against the Azerbaijani authorities and force the latter to unblock the Lachin corridor.