Kim Kardashian has publicly called on President Joe Biden to “stop another Armenian genocide” and urged the US to protect Armenians from Azerbaijan.
In a Rolling Stone piece Posted Friday, the reality TV star called on Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to “take an immediate stand” by imposing sanctions and stopping foreign aid to Azerbaijan, writing that the country has “the only lifeline between indigenous Christian Armenians of Artsakh (also known as Nagorno-Karabakh) and the Rest of the World since December.
“We are the descendants of survivors of the Armenian Genocide and we do not want to talk about recognizing or commemorating another genocide in the future,” said the commentary, co-authored with doctor Eric Esrailian.
Their message follows decades of conflict in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, a region internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but known to Armenians as the Republic of Artsakh.
The authors of the commentary said that the blockade of the Lachin Corridor, the only road connecting Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh, “has emboldened the autocratic Azerbaijani government to use hunger as a weapon against the Armenian population in the region.”
“The blockade of human rights groups like the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the hateful rhetoric accompanying the blockade are signs of genocidal intent,” they wrote, calling on Biden and Blinken to pressure Azerbaijan to close the corridor “without Preconditions” to open.”
“It is clear that this reckless blockade has crossed all red lines of human rights and international humanitarian law.”
The two also pointed to reports that attacks on Armenian soldiers continued despite a ceasefire agreement following a war between Azerbaijan and Armenia in 2020.
The pair later said that American tax dollars through foreign aid to Azerbaijan “facilitate and enable this behavior.”
“The United States has the ability to mobilize a response. Leaders who are effective and help our people will be remembered for their heroism,” they wrote. “Those who are inactive and ineffective will be remembered for allowing genocide to take place on their watch. It’s your choice.”
In the past, Kardashian has frequently advocated for the mass killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire a century ago to be officially recognized as a “genocide.” Biden did this in 2021.
For more information, see Kardashian’s comment here.