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Advocacy & awareness-raising

Acting for the right to self-determination of Artsakh and against State-sponsored racism

Conferences, articles, meetings, positions, various interventions or even advocacy at the United Nations, the EU, nationally or locally. In different ways, Hyestart is committed to the right to self-determination of Artsakh, against state racism and for the recognition of the Armenian genocide by Turkey. 

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Hyestart organizes and co-organizes conferences and exhibitions or intervenes in the context of conferences or events organized by other organizations. Hyestart also adopts positions or documents that it submits to the UN, the EU or other organizations to assert the right to self-determination or the fight against state racism. 

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Here are some examples: 

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In 2017, in cooperation with Dialogai, Hyestart co-organized an evening on LGBT+ rights in Armenia with Pinar Selek. A discussion followed the screening of Pink Armenia's documentary "Listen to Me: Untold Stories Beyond Hatred". 

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In 2018, Hyestart organized the presentation of the book "Diasporalogue" (Thadée) by S. Avédikian and T. Yégavian at the Hagop D. Topalian center in Troinex.

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In the same year, we co-organized the exhibition "Free Word" on censorship in Turkey with Amnesty International - Groupes de Genève at the Maison des Associations in Geneva. At the opening of the exhibition, we organized a conference on censorship in Turkey with prestigious speakers including the writer Asli Erdogan, today exiled like so many others. 

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In January 2020, we co-organized with the Fragments association and the Armenia Foundation the reception in Troinex of the musical theater play "Because they are Armenians" based on the text of Pinar Selek by the company of the Ourag'enchant'é. 

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In March 2020, we co-presented as a partner of the Geneva Human Rights Film Festival (FIFDH) the documentary "I'm not Alone" by Garin Hovannissian about the seizure of power in Armenia by journalist Nikol Pashinyan. Due to Covid, the screening took place online. 

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In October 2020, a few weeks after the start of the 44-day war launched by Azerbaijan against the Republic of Artsakh, Hyestart spoke at a conference organized by Adek, the student Kurdish Association from the University of Geneva. The event was entitled: "Artsakh, Erdogan's mausoleum?". The same month, Hyestart supported with others the organization of a human chain for the immediate end of the war and for the recognition of Artsakh - from the Palais Wilson - former headquarters of the League of Nations to the place des Nations, current headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva. 

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In 2021, other interventions took place, for example with Dove Tales, the Scottish Artists for Peace Association. 

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In 2020 and 2022, Hyestart carried out advocacy and awareness-raising actions denouncing the destruction of the Armenian cultural heritage of Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijan.

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In 2022, Hyestart made a submission on Azerbaijan to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

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On 27 February 2023, Hyestart supported the organization of a demonstration in front of the UN in Geneva at the opening of the Human Rights Council against the illegal and inhumane blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijan. Five days earlier, the International Court of Justice had confirmed the illegality of this blockade and ordered the opening of the Lachin corridor. 

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In March 2023, Hyestart created the Libertas collective with the Covcas association for law and conflict resolution (Lyon) and the Armenophobia Observatory (Paris). The Libertas collective leads an eponymous campaign for the release of Armenian prisoners of war abusively detained by Azerbaijan. The sponsorship of prisoners of war by public authorities such as the city of Lyon or NGOs such as the Scottish Peace Network is at the heart of this campaign. 

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In June 2023, at the invitation of the Fragments association, Hyestart took part in a discussion with Pinar Selek which followed the performance of the play "Because they are Armenians" in Lausanne as part of the centenary of the Treaty of Lausanne . It was an opportunity to recall the red thread of the ideology in power in Turkey and Azerbaijan for over 100 years. Riza Nur, the Lausanne Treaty negotiator for Turkey, called the Armenians "a malignant tumor in Asia". One hundred years later, in March 2023, Azerbaijan's parliament adopted a statement calling the Armenian Diaspora - the descendants of Armenian Genocide survivors - a "cancerous tumor of Europe". 

 

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