Read through to find out how Ambassador Brownback is asking IFA to pray about this. 

An intensifying humanitarian crisis in a region that is home to a long-established community of Christians is turning heads in Washington, D.C. Nagorno-Karabakh may be a small enclave on the other side of the world, but it is part of a much larger complicated web of alliances and rivalries. And the U.S. may soon have to make a critical choice on how to address it.

View Comments (4)

This content is supported by your donations.
Give today.

Nagorno-Karabakh is a long disputed region in the mountainous South Caucasus. Surrounded by Azerbaijan, its Azeris (mostly Muslim) and Armenians (mostly Christian) both make historical claims to the land. Today the enclave (also called Artsakh) is populated primarily by Armenians, and it is a focal point in a broader on-again-off-again conflict between the two nations.

The most recent provocation comes from Azerbaijan’s establishing a checkpoint in a tiny corridor that connects Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia. That checkpoint and “activist” demonstrations that began in December have effectively blocked travel and the free flow of many essential goods, including food and medicine.

The Philos Project recently led a fact-finding trip to Armenia with a group of American Christian and Jewish leaders headlined by Ambassador Sam Brownback, who served as ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom in the Trump administration.

In a press conference this week, Brownback said: “Azerbaijan, with Turkey’s backing, is really slowly strangling Nagorno-Karabakh. … They’re working to make it unlivable so that the region’s Armenian-Christian population is forced to leave.”

Brownback added that the apparent chokehold is being “perpetrated with U.S.-supplied weaponry and backed by Turkey, a member of NATO.”

This is a significant point, as all three nations noted here have ties to our own. First, while recent years under Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have tested the relationship, Turkey is, at the end of the day, a NATO ally. Then there is Azerbaijan, which is not only an oil-rich nation on the Caspian Sea, but also viewed by some as a buffer against Iran. Meanwhile, Armenia — sandwiched precariously between Turkey and Azerbaijan — has historically been allied with Russia. But the U.S. has taken steps toward it. One major example is the Biden administration’s recognition of deadly violence against 1.5 million Armenians at the hands of the declining Ottoman Empire during World War I as a genocide — a recognition infuriating to Turkey.

Now the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh being triggered by Azerbaijan may be leading to a new inflection point. Philos Project President Robert Nicholson called the situation “extremely urgent and existential” during his press conference with Brownback. And at a congressional hearing on Wednesday titled “Safeguarding the People of Nagorno-Karabakh,” Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass., suggested it is understandable that alarm bells are ringing in light of past atrocities against Armenians.

“Those atrocities were committed more than a hundred years ago, but for many Armenians it feels like yesterday,” he said. “That is the context in which recent actions taken by the government of Azerbaijan are being experienced and interpreted. … People fear the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the longest-running in post-Soviet Eurasia, could fuel a repeat of the past.”

The Biden administration has so far expressed concern about the situation but appears focused on walking a diplomatic tightrope between the rivals. However, McGovern and his colleague, Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J. (co-chairs of the hearing panel), are pushing for more. They signed on to a letter this week with more than 50 of their colleagues, calling on U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to terminate military aid to the Azeris in light of the crisis.

“As long as Azerbaijan’s blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh is in effect, we should not be sending security assistance to Azerbaijan. Doing so would only encourage and enable Azerbaijan’s aggression, and further set back the prospects of a durable peace that ensures the fundamental rights of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh,” they wrote.

I had the opportunity to ask Brownback about his thoughts for IFA intercessors on this matter. He suggested prayers that our nation “would take appropriate actions to protect the Armenian Christians.”

Specifically, said Brownback: “My prayer would be for the Christians in Nagorno-Karabakh — that they would be protected, able to freely practice their faith, and not forced to leave their ancestral lands.”

Amen. Let us pray for wise choices to be made by our leaders in this tense situation, and let’s pray especially for our brothers and sisters in Christ in Nagorno-Karabakh, who are facing shadows of the past and hardships of the present.

How are you praying for peace? Share this article to keep people informed.

Aaron Mercer is a contributing writer with two decades of experience in the Washington, D.C., public-policy arena. Photo Credit: Canva.