The New Democratic Party (NDP) is urging Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly to take action against Azerbaijan in response to the escalating violence involving ethnic Armenians in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Last week, Azerbaijan initiated a military offensive targeting the 120,000 residents of Nagorno-Karabakh, marking the latest episode in a longstanding conflict between Azerbaijan and neighboring Armenia. While Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, it is primarily inhabited by Armenians, leading to decades of Armenian efforts to control the region.
In response to the military offensive, separatist authorities agreed to lay down their arms and discuss the “reintegration” of Nagorno-Karabakh into Azerbaijan after years of separatist rule. This development led to an exodus of more than 19,000 people, roughly 16 percent of the region’s population, who fled to Armenia, as reported by The Associated Press.
This attack followed a ten-month blockade of the region, which organizations like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the International Committee of the Red Cross had already criticized for severely limiting the delivery of essential supplies such as food, medicine, and baby formula to the contested area.
The NDP’s foreign affairs critic, Heather McPherson, and NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice penned a letter to Minister Joly, asserting that the most recent attack had resulted in “hundreds” of casualties. While an official death toll has not been released, eyewitnesses reported heavy shelling and significant casualties in the affected areas. Tragically, an explosion at a crowded gas station in Nagorno-Karabakh on Monday resulted in at least 20 fatalities and nearly 300 injuries.
In their letter, McPherson and Boulerice urged Canada to consider imposing targeted sanctions on Azerbaijani individuals and entities responsible for violations of international law and human rights abuses in the region. They also called on Canada to facilitate diplomatic talks and increase its humanitarian aid budget for the affected region.
Minister Joly, during a media scrum, emphasized the need for Azerbaijan to cease hostilities, offer humanitarian access, and protect civilians in the region.
The international response to the crisis has been criticized by Bob Rae, Canada’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations, who called it “a complete failure of global diplomacy in the face of ethnic cleansing.”
While the United Nations Security Council convened to assess the crisis, no consensus on potential solutions was reached. Previously, Canada had sent delegates to join the unarmed European Union mission in Armenia and urged Azerbaijan to comply with the International Court of Justice’s order to allow unimpeded movement of people and cargo into the region.
Canada also recently opened an embassy in Yerevan and appointed Andrew Turner as Canada’s new ambassador to Armenia, further indicating its commitment to addressing the crisis in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.