Two months ago, the dictatorship of Azerbaijan attacked and ethnically cleansed Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) of its 100,000+ Armenian Christians.
For the first time in 1,700 years, there are no Christian worship services being held in Nagorno Karabakh, and virtually no Christians living there.
Today, Azerbaijan is still holding dozens of Armenian Christians hostage. They include:
- Eight political prisoners: current and former members of the democratically-elected government of Nagorno Karabakh, guilty of no crime other than serving their country. Azerbaijani forces imprisoned these men after their conquest of Nagorno Karabakh.
- Seven civilians: These men were kidnapped by Azerbaijan from Nagorno Karabakh in 2020 and 2023.
- Thirty-six Armenian soldiers. A handful of them were captured during the 2020 war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but at least thirty of them were kidnapped by Azerbaijan afterwards – in “peacetime.”
These fifty-one individuals are those whose names are known to CSI. Armenia’s human rights ombudsman recently announced that there may be as many as 80 more hostages, both soldiers and civilians.
CSI is maintaining a list of these hostages at our website. It will be regularly updated to take new information into account.
The United States and the European Union are now pushing Armenia to sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan, which would effectively ratify the ethnic cleansing of Nagorno Karabakh.
But as long as Azerbaijan is holding Armenians hostage – and occupying territory of the Republic of Armenia – any peace negotiations that take place are being held under duress.
CSI demands the immediate and unconditional release of all Armenian hostages held by Azerbaijan.
We are inspired by the courage of David Babayan, the former foreign minister of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh. In the days after Azerbaijan’s conquest of Nagorno Karabakh, Azerbaijani officials “invited” him for an interview. Knowing that he faced almost certain arrest, he chose to go anyway.
He wrote, “This choice will undoubtedly bring pain, anxiety and stress primarily to my loved ones, but I am confident they will understand. My failure to appear or, even worse, my escape would inflict significant harm on our long-suffering people. As an honorable man, a diligent worker, a patriot, and a Christian, I cannot allow this.”
In the same way, we cannot allow David Babayan and the other Armenian hostages to be forgotten. CSI stands with the hostages, their families, and the Armenian people, as they face yet another wave of ethnic cleansing and genocide.
