HYESTART IS SYNONYMOUS WITH  UNFILTERED COMMITMENT

From our origins to today

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Since its inception, Hyestart has been committed to democracy and human rights in Armenia and Turkey. Our vision of a democratic Turkey that recognizes the Armenian Genocide—which is essential for a peaceful region that respects human rights—has not changed.

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The urgency of Nagorno-Karabakh

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The 44-day war of unprecedented violence that began in September 2020 against the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) forced us to adapt. Hyestart then started to promote the right of the people of Artsakh to self-determination—the only means of preventing ethnic cleansing. Genocide experts such as Luis Moreno Ocampo, the first prosecutor of the ICC, and the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention have denounced the ongoing genocide.

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Despite the possibility of prevention by the international community, the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh occurred tragically in September 2023. This humanitarian catastrophe, planned by Azerbaijan, followed an illegal and inhumane nine-month siege that deprived 120,000 people of food, medicine, and energy as part of a genocidal campaign.

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 "The three-year Turkish-Azerbaijani war in the Caucasus can be analyzed as a deliberate attempt to  destroy the psychological and moral resilience of a people who survived the first genocide of the 20th  century."

 —Vincent Duclerc, Historian, 2023

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This analysis aligns with the European Parliament's resolution of March 10, 2022, which denounced a state policy of systematic Armenophobia, historical revisionism, and hatred towards Armenians promoted by the Azerbaijani authorities, particularly through dehumanization, glorification of violence, and territorial claims against the Republic of Armenia, which threaten peace and security in the South Caucasus."

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Our commitment today

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In the face of this injustice, Hayastan acts on several fronts:

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- Advocacy with international institutions for the right of return of the 120,000 displaced people from Artsakh

- Documentation and denunciation of the destruction of millennia-old Armenian heritage, including churches, monasteries, and khachkars, by Azerbaijan

- Public awareness campaigns at cultural events, such as the Geneva Book Fair

- Support for human rights defense initiatives

- Mobilization for the release of Armenian prisoners of war illegally detained by Azerbaijan

Obtaining justice for the people of Artsakh will be a long and arduous journey: justice for the crimes committed, the right to return with dignity and security, and the preservation of memory and Armenian cultural heritage. Hyestart is fully engaged in this quest alongside the victims and all those who refuse impunity.

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Through its bilingual blog and in-depth analyses, Hyestart positions itself as a think tank that sheds light on the geopolitical, historical, and humanitarian issues of the South Caucasus region.