A few days before the end of COP29 in Baku and more than a year after the arrest of Ruben Vardanyan by the Azerbaijani authorities, his son Davit Vardanyan condemns the deafening silence of the international community and calls for the release of his father and 22 other hostages who have been imprisoned for only one year. because of being Armenian.
With this preface, the French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche published Davit Vardanyan, the son of philanthropist Ruben Vardanyan, who is illegally detained in Baku.the article, which is translated below.
"It's been a week since one of the most important and symbolic international conferences, COP29, has been held in Azerbaijan. In fact, the leaders of different countries have gathered under one roof in a place that is only a few hundred meters away from the place where it is held. and the Armenian hostages are tortured.
Among them is my father, Ruben Vardanyan, who was illegally arrested by the Azerbaijani authorities more than a year ago when he was leaving Nagorno Karabakh together with 120,000 other Armenians who were forced to emigrate from their ancestral land along with 22 other hostages, just because he is Armenian.
How is it possible to talk about justice, human rights, global cooperation and environmental protection under these conditions, being a few hundred meters away from the tortured Armenians? At this fateful moment, when Azerbaijan is in the center of attention of the whole world, I call on the United Nations to prevent the leadership from allowing 23 Armenian hostages to die in collective indifference.
My father has dedicated his entire life to helping others. He has initiated and implemented more than 700 humanitarian projects, including the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, with his friends and colleagues the world more just and peaceful. Today it is he who needs help.
That's why I raise my voice for him, because he is deprived of that opportunity.
The international community cannot continue to turn a blind eye, attend to "other priorities" and allow Azerbaijan to take advantage of this impunity to act and, worse, to use COP29 to portray its country in a positive light.
There is still time to act Every day that Armenians spend in prison is a stain on our collective conscience. Every minute that we remain silent, we give time to those who take advantage of it to destroy lives, cultures and entire identities. to break this deafening silence.
I say with full responsibility. to participate in this COP in Baku without addressing the issue of human rights is to become complicit in using it as a tool for political purposes by Baku.
By using the COP, Baku continues to discredit what was supposed to be a platform for international cooperation on the common challenges of humanity.
While COP29 is underway, there is still time to act. Those in Baku may demand to visit the hostages and call for their release. Others may pressurize the leaders by demanding guarantees from Azerbaijan, which puts that country's impunity at risk. a number of nations and finally demanding the immediate and unconditional release of the Armenian hostages. Who can stop Azerbaijan tomorrow when the COP is already over?"
