John Evans (*)
In 451 A.D., Armenian warriors, having just lost a fierce battle with
the superior Persian Empire, retreated into the forests of Artsakh in
the South Caucasus. They had lost the war, but preserved their Christian
faith, and thus considered it a victory. Armenia was the first nation
to embrace Christianity, in the year 301.
In 2018, a small but determined Armenian democratic republic, the
Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh (or “Artsakh,” as Armenians call it) is
attempting to survive, threatened by a militarily superior power that
wishes to crush it. Professor Audrey Altstadt, in her recent article
about Azerbaijan did not mention Nagorno-Karabakh, but perhaps ought to
have, as the plight of the citizens of that unrecognized de facto state
constitutes a serious violation of human rights.
