Anahit Nazaryan

Market Researcher | Project manager | Co-Founder of Sahman NGO #Armenia #ArtsakhStrong

[Noubar Afeyan @NoubarAfeyan]

The pain and injustice inflicted on my long time friend and partner, Ruben Vardanyan, by the Azeri regime is unbearable to witness. It is time for all Armenians to raise their voice, especially the leadership of the Armenian Republic. If not us…who? If not now…when? @NikolPashinyan

[Anna A. Naghdalyan @naghdalyan]

Armenian gymnast Arthur Davtyan won the silver medal at the Olympic Games in France, scoring 14.966 points in the vault final.

@Olympics
#OlympicGames
#Paris2024

[Aurora Humanitarian Initiative @AuroraPrize_]

The recent arrest by the government of #Azerbaijan of philanthropist, businessman, Armenian citizen and co-founder of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, @RubenVardanyan_, is both outrageous and politically motivated. As members of the global #humanitarian and #humanrights community we call for his immediate release.

The Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, to which Ruben has given so much, has for the past eight years honored and supported the work of those who fight for basic human rights, often at the risk of their own lives, all around the world. The irony is that Ruben now finds himself a victim of the same persecution as those he has sought to help as a human rights defender.

When Ruben moved to #NagornoKarabakh over a year ago, prior to the 10-month-long blockade of all food and basic necessities and recent bombings, he did so knowing that there were significant risks, but he was determined to help find a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

Detaining Ruben, a man who has spent the last 20 years dedicated to advancing the socio-economic development of the region, is unjust. This action deprives him of his basic rights much like the tens of thousands of Armenians of the region whose fundamental human rights are violated daily.

Ruben Vardanyan is being held captive because of his support for the people of Nagorno-Karabakh and their right to a democratic way of life. The Azerbaijani government must release him and demonstrate their respect for human rights – his and those of all Armenians of the region։ https://t.co/y8lgWU0ZG7

Fartuun Adan

2020 Aurora Prize Laureate; Founder, @ElmanPeaceHRC

@NoubarAfeyan

Co-Founder, Aurora Humanitarian Initiative; Founder and CEO, @FlagshipPioneer; Co-Founder and Chairman, @moderna_tx

@JamilaAfghani

2022 Aurora Prize Laureate; President, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (@WILPF) Afghanistan

Oscar Arias @oariascr

Honorary Member, Aurora Prize Selection Committee; Two-Time President of Costa Rica; Peace @NobelPrize Laureate

Marguerite Barankitse

2016 Aurora Prize Laureate; Founder, @Maison_Shalom

@CatenaTom

Chair, Aurora Humanitarian Initiative; 2017 Aurora Prize Laureate; Medical Director, Mother of Mercy Hospital

@Ara_Darzi

Chair, Aurora Prize Selection Committee; Co-Director, Institute of Global Health Innovation at @imperialcollege London

Mirza Dinnayi @MDinnayi

2019 Aurora Prize Laureate; Co-Founder and Director, Air Bridge Iraq

Shirin Ebadi

Honorary Member, Aurora Prize Selection Committee; Founder, Defenders of Human Rights Center; Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

@IlwadElman

2020 Aurora Prize Laureate; COO, Elman Peace And Human Rights Centre

Gareth Evans

Honorary Member, Aurora Prize Selection Committee; Former Foreign Minister of Australia; President Emeritus, International @CrisisGroup

@LeymahRGbowee

Aurora Prize Selection Committee; Founder and President, @GboweePeace Foundation Africa; Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

Hina Jilani

Honorary Member, Aurora Prize Selection Committee; Advocate, Supreme Court of Pakistan; Former @UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Human Rights Defenders

@DeleOlojede

Aurora Prize Selection Committee; Founder, @africainworld Festival; @PulitzerPrizes Winner

@PaulPolman

Aurora Prize Selection Committee; Business Leader, Climate and Equalities Campaigner; Former CEO of @Unilever

John Prendergast

Aurora Prize Selection Committee; Human Rights Activist

Louise Richardson

Aurora Prize Selection Committee; President, @CarnegieCorp of New York

Mary Robinson

Aurora Prize Selection Committee; Chair, @TheElders; Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; Former President of Ireland

Ernesto Zedillo

Aurora Prize Selection Committee; Director of the Center for the Study of Globalization at @Yale University; Former President of Mexico

[Noubar Afeyan @NoubarAfeyan]

Reports that my long-time collaborator and friend, @Auroraprize_ co-founder Ruben Vardanyan, has been arrested and detained by Azeri forces while trying to leave his homeland in #artsakh #NagornoKarabakh are cause for grave concern... (1/3)

[Aurora Humanitarian Initiative @AuroraPrize_]

The Azerbaijani forces have detained Aurora Co-Founder @RubenVardanyan_.

Below please find Ruben Vardanyan’s wife Veronika Zonabend’s message:

My husband, Ruben Vardanyan, the philanthropist, businessman and former minister of state of #Artsakh, has been arrested and held captive by the Azerbaijani authorities at the border as he attempted to leave this morning, along with thousands of Armenians escaping Azerbaijani occupation. Ruben stood with the Artsakh people during the 10-month blockade and suffered along with them in the struggle for survival. I ask for your prayers and support to ensure my husband’s safe release.

[Ruben Malayan @MalayanRuben]

We call on @UNESCO to declare Armenian Christian monuments in Artsakh (Nagorno Karabagh) World Heritage Sites. People can run, but monuments cannot. Ganzasar, Dadivank and Amaras are in most danger because they are symbols of our civilization on his land. Help spread the message.

[Anahit Nazaryan @aatilow]

#FreeRuben

[Henrikh Mkhitaryan @HenrikhMkh]

I join my fellow Armenians in demanding the safe release of Ruben Vardanyan and all other Armenians detained in Azerbaijan. As tens of thousands of families are fleeing Nagorno-Karabakh for safe refuge to Armenia, detention is becoming an alarming trend.

Ruben Vardanyan stands out as an outspoken advocate for peace not only in our region but in the world. He is a world known philanthropist, businessman and co-founder of the @auroraprize_ humanitarian initiative which advocates for peacebuilding and provides people around the world with education and healthcare. #RubenVardanyan #FreeArmenianHostages

[Nara @nmatini]

@PowerUSAID ❗️❗️❗️Urgent humanitarian airlift is necessary now! @ICRC @ICRCPresident @StateEUR

Hundreds are injured with extreme shortages of medical staff and necessary medical supplies because of Azerbaijan’s genocidal blockade..

[Emily Schrader - אמילי שריידר امیلی شریدر @emilykschrader]

Let’s talk about Azeri lobbying in Israel. I spent a long time not talking about this because I felt so much pressure as a journalist in Israel but I don’t want to be silent about this.

Azerbaijan has heavily invested in lobbying in Israel at a government and PR level. They even have a fancy tourist center set up on the beach in Tel Aviv. This is a known tactic of Aliyev, who is an anti-democratic dictator as much as he “supports” Israel.

One of the most unpleasant tactics I’ve seen is their buying off of journalists, public figures, and the media. I have personally witnessed utterly false claims being made both in private and public to the Israeli media by the Azeri lobby, which also pressures and harasses Israeli journalists when it comes to speaking out about Armenia. This is not the behavior of an “ally” certainly not of a democratic nation which respects free press.

As a journalist myself, I’ve been invited on “educational tours” sponsored by the Azeri government more than once (which I refused). Many of my peers have both been invited and have gone themselves. I know of cases in which “important people” were literally given gifts of gold Jewellery by the Azeri government during their visit. This is their strategic approach, buttering up key journalists and public figures and bombarding them with false information.

Azerbaijan has an aggressive global political agenda and spends an incredible amount of money lobbying Israel (and others) to promote it — money that Armenia simply doesn’t have. In another example, the Azeri lobby in Israel was behind the effort to essentially trick over 30 MKs into signing a letter supporting separatism in Iran in the Azeri provinces. Once I exposed this, more than 25 of them rescinded their signatures. This is emblematic of the Azeri lobby: dishonest, deceptive and loaded with money. But Azerbaijan, there are some people you can’t buy.

For months, the Azeri regime has been promoting a completely false and fabricated narrative that the Azeris are Israel in this scenario with Armenia and they’re just “defending themselves” against “terrorists.” This is rooted in pan-Turkic ideology that seeks the complete destruction of the first Christian nation in the world (Armenia).

This is a blatant lie used justify ethnic cleansing from the disputed territory of #NagornoKarabakh, an area of 120,000 ethnic Armenians, historically Armenian for thousands of years, that’s surrounded by Azeris. This territory is surrounded by Azerbaijan because of how the Soviets drew the boundaries after the fall of the USSR. Azerbaijan has launched multiple wars and a blockade to drive our Armenians from their land, and they are much more powerful thanks to Israeli weapons.

After the 2020 war, despite the risks, Armenia had offered to give up territorial claims in exchange for the guarantee that the Armenians in the territory will be protected — as Azerbaijan has previously committed massacres and ethnic cleansing of Armenian cities. In Nakhichevan, another territory which was historically Armenian but drawn into modern Azerbaijan’s borders, the Azeris destroyed 98% of the historical and religious sites of Armenians, attempting to erase their connection to the land, after a shameful campaign of ethnic cleansing.

Instead of agreeing to protect the human rights of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh today, Azerbaijan launched another war against Armenians including attacking civilian targets. This comes after months of incitement to violence and dehumanisation of Armenians by the Azeri government and media.

If you see Israelis “supporting” Azerbaijan, just know that it’s the result of an ugly, organized, premeditated lobbying campaign of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan does NOT have shared values with the state of Israel, it is NOT a democracy — it’s a dictatorship, and dictatorships are not true allies.

[Anahit Nazaryan @aatilow]

@EU_Armenia All humanitarian and financial needs of Armenians of Artsakh we can afford, we never asked money for that. Now the only need is to save the lives of these people.

[Tigran Grigoryan @Tigartsakh]

Thousands of people are stuck in the Stepanakert airport without water, food, and other essential supplies for hours. The Russians aren't doing anything. The Red Cross should get involved.
All the other actors must work to guarantee the safe evacuation of the population from NK.

[Artsakh / Nagorno-Karabakh Human Rights Ombudsman @ArtsakhOmbuds]

❗️Around 5:00, the ambulance of the Stepanakert's morgue, which was sent to the Martakert region in order to transport 8 bodies to to the capital, was fired at by the Azerbaijani armed forces. The driver of the ambulance got injured and is currently not able to evacuate the bodies to Stepanakert.

[ANCA @ANCA_DC]

US President @JoeBiden devoted ZERO time during his UN General Assembly speech to #Artsakh, while Alberto Fernández (@alferdez), President of Argentina, spent a full minute raising global alarms about Azerbaijan's genocidal aggression & blockade

Act now: https://t.co/OO4v4JVWWY

[Anahit Nazaryan @aatilow]

@StateEUR @Bayramov_Jeyhun You said “we will not tolerate”! Stop calling and act! @POTUS

[Anahit Nazaryan @aatilow]

No time to press and call #Azerbaijan to stop the aggression. #Azerbaijan should be stopped NOW to prevent the Genocide of #Armenian|s in #NagornoKarabakh
@POTUS @EmmanuelMacron @eucopresident @SecBlinken @StateEUR

[Artak Beglaryan | #StopArtsakhGenocide @Artak_Beglaryan]

Two minutes ago, a heavy explosion was heard in Stepanakert, which was supposedly a rocket strike.
From time to time, sounds of artillery shelling and air defense weapons can be heard from nearby areas.
Aliyev continues the genocide of the Artsakh people with AZ full arsenal.

[Eric Hacopian @molon_labe97]

The TRUTH from @SiranushSargsy1.

[Marut Vanyan @marutvanian]

Drone sounds in the Stepanakert air.

[Artak Beglaryan | #StopArtsakhGenocide @Artak_Beglaryan]

The last 14 hours were hell, especially for all the frontline communities of Artsakh, as the Azerbaijani genocidal forces put them through a meat grinder.
As a result, civilians've been killed or wounded, civilian objects've been largely destroyed & thousands have been displaced.

[Anahit Nazaryan @aatilow]

@POTUS What about the aggression by #Azerbaijan happening right NOW in #NagornoKarabakh ???

[Anahit Nazaryan @aatilow]

Night(mare) in #Stepanakert

#SanctionAzerbaijan #stop #EthnicCleansing in #NagornoKarabakh #Artsakh @POTUS @SecBlinken @eucopresident @UN @EmmanuelMacron

[Marut Vanyan @marutvanian]

Sirens on in Stepanakert…