NEW YORK — Bishop Mesrop Parsamyan, Primate of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America, sent a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump on February 27 asking for his administration’s support and aid in freeing the Armenian detainees and prisoners of the Artsakh war currently held in illegal captivity by Azerbaijan.
Read the text of his letter below.
Dear Mr. President:
Greetings to you in the Name of Jesus Christ, as our world prepares for Easter and the celebration of our Lord’s resurrection.
Mr. President, I am writing to you as a bishop of the Armenian Church of America, as the head of its Eastern Diocese headquartered in New York City, and as the spiritual leader of faithful Armenian Americans across this blessed country.
We wish to voice our deep concern over a grave injustice currently taking place on the international scene. We seek your counsel in enlisting the aid of the Trump administration in ameliorating the situation.
You are well aware of the ongoing plight of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabagh, also known as Artsakh. A full-scale military attack by Azerbaijan in the fall of 2020 had catastrophic consequences for the region and for the Republic of Armenia, including the loss of some 5,000 Armenian lives. Subsequent Azerbaijani attacks continued, in violation of peace agreements, for three years afterwards—culminating in the ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabagh of its Armenian population in 2023. As a result, today, 120,000 refugees are uneasily settled in the Republic of Armenia.
As Artsakh’s Armenians were fleeing from home for their lives, Azerbaijani forces arrested more than a dozen officials of the independent Armenian government of Nagorno-Karabagh and sent them to prison in Baku to await trial. For two years they have languished in conditions that human rights organizations have condemned as cruel and inhuman. The trials themselves are not open to public scrutiny, and the Armenian defendants have been denied the basic rights of due process, including a clear articulation of the charges brought against them.
We are deeply distressed by this situation, Mr. President. And we know that it has also been a matter of grave concern for your administration. Armenian Americans were greatly encouraged by your bold statement last year, in which you condemned Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing of Artsakh’s Armenian Christians, and called for the restoration of peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The same statement emphasized the right of indigenous Armenians to return to their homeland of Artsakh.
As our countrymen in Armenia endure the crushing realities described above, our plight has become a matter of concern shared by Christian peoples across the globe—many of whom live under state, ethnic, and religious persecution. The same cause has been embraced by leading Human Rights organizations.
We are hopeful, President Trump, that a clear signal from the United States would put an end to the ongoing cruelty against the Armenian detainees in the hands of Azerbaijan, avert further bloodshed, and permit a just and humane outcome to prevail in the region.
A high-level, unambiguous message from the United States at this time, to President Aliyev of Azerbaijan, condemning the ongoing situation, and advocating for the release of the detainees—as well as Armenian prisoners of war still held in inhuman conditions, in contravention of the terms of agreed treaties—would be a significant and meaningful advancement in establishing genuine peace in the region.
Mr. President, my Armenian brothers and sisters have been exemplars and pioneers of Christian civilization since the Apostolic Age. In recent years we have seen our lands attacked, our defenders and civilians cut down, our age-old monuments to God erased from the landscape of Artsakh. The plight of the detainees is but a small part of this unfolding tragedy—but it is a part that can be acted upon, and ameliorated, by bold, morally-grounded effort on the part of your administration.
We hope and pray that you will hear our appeal, Mr. President. May our risen Lord guide your indispensable work to strengthen our country and its citizens, and to promote peace in the world.
Prayerfully,
His Grace Bishop Mesrop Parsamyan
Primate, Diocese of the Armenian Church of America
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