Lily | #RecognizeArtsakh

An aerial view of Karin Tak, the Armenian village that no longer exists. In one year the village was levelled to the ground & the locality renamed, like many in Nagorno-Karabakh. Level the structure, expel the people, erase the name. Unlike 1915, the world was watching.

🇮🇱🇦🇿🇦🇲 | Israel names as Christian envoy an ambassador who oversaw and celebrated the destruction of churches and the displacement of 150,000 Christians                                                                       Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar has appointed George Deek, who previously served as Israel’s ambassador to Azerbaijan, as Special Envoy to the Christian World, a move officially framed as strengthening ties with Christian communities globally. Deek’s record as ambassador is closely tied to his public alignment with Azerbaijan’s military and political objectives. During his tenure, he stated he would be “proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with Azerbaijan to liberate its territorial integrity,” directly associating himself with Baku’s campaign during the 2020 war and the 2023 occupation of Artsakh. These operations resulted in the ethnic cleansing of the region’s Armenian population and were followed by the destruction and desecration of Armenian Christian churches, cemeteries, and cultural heritage sites. In past remarks, Deek also highlighted that he was “the first Israeli ambassador to visit Shusha,” using the Azerbaijani name for Shushi, a historically Armenian city captured by Azerbaijan through military force. For Armenians, Shushi represents loss, occupation, and cultural erasure, where churches have been vandalized, cross-stones destroyed, and the Armenian population permanently displaced. Rather than addressing these realities, Deek promoted tourism and business opportunities in the occupied territories, including Israeli participation in so-called “reconstruction projects” taking place on land from which Armenians were forcibly removed. His tenure also unfolded alongside deepening military cooperation between Israel and Azerbaijan. Over the past decade, Israel has supplied advanced drones, missile systems, and other technologies that were used by Azerbaijan in the 2020 war and the 2023 assault on Artsakh to kill Armenians, contributing to Azerbaijan’s military advantage and enabling its campaign of ethnic cleansing. Despite being a descendant of survivors of the Armenian Genocide, Deek has consistently echoed Azerbaijani narratives while remaining silent on the targeting and destruction of Armenian Christian heritage. The appointment places a figure who openly supported Azerbaijan’s military campaign and promoted activity in occupied territories into a role meant to engage the global Christian world, even as Armenian Christian communities in Artsakh have faced ethnic cleansing, the destruction of sacred sites, and the erasure of their historical presence.

Weird how history always repeats. "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?"

HORRIFIC: Azerbaijan destroyed The Holy Mother of God Cathedral in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). according to Artsakh Cultural Heritage Ombudsman Hovik Avanesov, more than 1,000 cases of vandalism have been recorded in Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh). Don’t look away.