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A group of international genocide studies scholars and educators, who attended the International Global Forum against the Crime of Genocide in Yerevan on December 12-13, on Wednesday released a joint statement condemning the ongoing Azerbaijani blockade of the sole road connecting Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) to Armenia, known as the Lachin Corridor. The full text of the statement is below.

"We, the undersigned international genocide studies scholars and educators, condemn the actions of the Azerbaijani government in creating a humanitarian crisis for Nagorno-Karabakh by closing of the Goris-Stepanakert corridor on Dec. 12, 2022 and cutting gas supplies to the Armenian population. As scholars who study the process of genocide, we believe that the actions of the Azerbaijani government constitute a risk of genocide for the Armenians of the region. We urge international agencies and governments to ensure the free access of people and goods to Nagorno-Karabakh. These concerns are being raised in the context of our participation in the International Global Forum against the Crime of Genocide during which we learned of these acts of aggression against the civilians of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Armen Marsoobian, Professor of Philosophy, Southern Connecticut State University

Elisa von Joeden-Forgey, Endowed Chair, Department of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Keene State College

Melanie O’Brien, Associate Professor of International Law, University of Western Australia

Ronan Lee, Doctoral Prize Fellow, Loughborough University London

Elisenda Calvet Martinez, Assistant Professor of International Law, Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Spain

Salah Al Jabery, Professor of philosophy in Department of Philpsophy, College of Arts at University of Baghdad; Chairholder of UNESCO Chaire for Genocide Prevention Studies in The Islamic World at University of Baghdad, Iraq

Rhiannon Neilsen, Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for International Security and Cooperation, Stanford University

Michal Vasecka, Professor of Sociology, Bratislava International School of Liberal Arts, Slovakia

Dr. Vasileios Meichanetsidis, JCD, Greek Genocide scholar

Simon Krbec, genocide educator, Theresienstadt Centre for Genocide Studies

Suman Keshari, Poet and writer, New Delhi, India."