Over 200 members of the Armenian American community in O.C. hold a protest about the violence in Artsakh, the Armenian name for what the Soviets termed Nagorno-Karabakh, as they march to Mile Square Park Friday Oct. 9, 2020 in Fountain Valley. They are protesting the escalating violence in Artsakh and Armenia by Turkey and Azerbaijan. A limited cease fire has been agreed upon on Friday, Oct. 9, 2020 to exchange prisoners and collect the dead after two weeks of fighting. (Photo by Michael Fernandez, Contributing Photographer
Members of the local Armenian American community gathered at Mile Square Park Friday evening, Oct. 9, to raise awareness about violence occurring on the other side of the globe.
“Turkey, who to this day denies committing the Armenian Genocide, is now providing unlimited military and otherwise support to its ‘brother’ Azerbaijan,” Gregory Codilian, a spokesman for the group, said in a statement.
Nagorno-Karabakh, a tiny Armenian separatist enclave in Azerbaijan, is at the center of a conflict that that has drawn in Turkey and Russia – claiming hundreds of civilian lives.
Codilia said the shelling has damaged schools and a factory that produces PPE.
The parties involved in the conflict have clashed before. Between 1914 and 1923, an estimated 1.5 million Armenians died in a mass murder and expulsion carried out by the Ottoman government.
Turkey continues to argue that the killings should not be classified as genocide – the systematic killing of a racial or cultural group. However, 32 countries, including the United States, Russia, and Germany, do recognize those events as a genocide.