Australian Armenians urge government to stop ‘sitting on the fence’ in fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh | Australia News

Hundreds of Australian Armenians have traveled Canberra They say it is war crimes to ask the government to talk about attacks on a tribal Armenian territory.

Meanwhile, about 500 protesters gathered outside the Azerbaijani embassy as tensions escalated Azerbaijan, Turkey and Armenia ruled last month after a decade-long conflict and many people have been killed.

The parties are fighting in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is located within Azerbaijan, but have been under Armenian control since the end of a separatist war in 1994.

The current conflict is seen as the worst since the ceasefire and both sides blamed each other.

Last week, Secretary of State Marice Payne expressed concern that she was “asking for all parties to show restraint and support efforts … to help negotiate a peaceful resolution.”

But protesters accused the Australian government of “sitting on the fence”.

“Call an attack an attack, call an invader an invader, and call an aide and aide in Turkey,” said Heike Kaiserion, director of the Armenian National Committee of Australia.

“Canberra can’t sit on the fence because hundreds of innocent peace-loving tribal Armenians are being bombed to their deaths.”

International media have reported the use of banned weapons – including cluster munitions – in the Armenian capital, but the Azerbaijani side said Armenia Has shelled its second largest city.

Protesters fear that their popular conflict will lead to another Armenian genocide.

“It simply came to our notice then that this was not new to the Armenian people. We have lived before this. People are afraid for their lives, ”said Vache Kahramanian, a protester.

“Armenian genocide is based on expansion, based on faith, based on nationality, the same stuff we see here.”

They condemn Turkey and Azerbaijan and want the Australian government to join France.

Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron called Turkey’s public support for Azerbaijan “irresponsible and dangerous”: “I say to Armenia and to the Armenians, France will play its part.”