Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò is calling on the international community to assist the more than 60,000 ethnic Armenians fleeing war-torn Nagorno-Karabakh, an autonomous, heavily disputed region in the Shiite Muslim majority nation of Azerbaijan that was conquered by that country earlier this month.
His Excellency’s message was supported by Traditional Catholic actor Mel Gibson, who has described the events as “ethnic cleansing.”
“Where is the international community, always ready to welcome Islamic migrants of military age, fleeing war zones or funding a proxy war in Ukraine under the pretext of Russian invasion?” His Excellency asked. “Where is the petulant Bergoglio, according to whom no ethnic replacement is taking place?”
How did the situation get to this point?
Also known as the Republic of Artsakh, Nagorno-Karabakh was a former satellite of the USSR before the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Since that time, its 99% Christian population has suffered through three significant conflicts with Azerbaijan — one in 1994, another in 2020, and now the current situation.
During the First World War, the Muslim Ottoman Empire committed genocide of the mostly Christian Armenian people, leaving more than 1 million dead. Gibson has said that in this instance “history tragically repeats itself.”
Despite Russia spending extensive diplomatic and military resources to ensure peace for the approximately 120,000 Armenians who had been living in Nagorno-Karabakh, with President Vladimir Putin’s attention to the war in Ukraine, an opening was left for Turkish-backed Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyez to capture the region.
On September 19, Aliyez’s forces launched what his government called an “anti-terror” operation with artillery and drones. In less than 24 hours, Karabakh Armenians were overrun, including civilian causalities. More than 40% of the population has sought refuge in Armenia, which can only be accessed via the Lachin Corridor, a long and winding road that was previously blocked for 10 months by the Azerbaijan government. The U.S. State Department has denounced the attack.
Reports from numerous outlets indicate that fleeing Armenians need up to a day or more to travel the road, sometimes by foot, thanks to traffic delays and fuel shortages allegedly caused by Azerbaijani bad actors seeking to inflict even more suffering on those who are leaving. Many of the refugees are short on water and medical and food supplies.
Archbishop Viganò calls out world leaders
In a post on X dated September 27, Archbishop Viganò expressed great sympathy for the Armenian people. He also noted the hypocrisy of the “international community” for not doing more to help the fleeing Christians but who are “always” eager to assist Muslim migrants.
“The Armenian people, for centuries persecuted by Islam and the Communists for their Faith, are once again the target of vicious ethnic replacement,” he said. “Thousands of Armenians are leaving their country, driven from their homes, considered strangers in their homeland.”
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