Review: A Powerful and Necessary Look at an Unseen Tragedy: A Review of ARTSAKH Armenian Genocide Continues

By Kate Elfatah

Before watching the documentary ARTSAKH Armenian Genocide Continues, I was largely unfamiliar with the specifics of the recent conflict in the region. This film serves as an eye-opening education, guiding viewers through a complex and devastating history that many have overlooked. It is a powerful piece of journalism and education, and it’s an important film that deserves our full attention.

The film focuses on the genocidal attacks and ethnic cleansing by Azerbaijan and Turkey against the Armenian people of Artsakh, also known as Nagorno-Karabakh. The story begins on September 27, 2020, documenting a large-scale offensive that reawakened a dormant conflict. As the film reveals, Azerbaijan, with assistance from Turkey, relied on thousands of foreign mercenaries to fight alongside its army. This 44-day war, which resulted in the massacre of over 5,000 Armenians, was met with a deafening global silence.

What the documentary does exceptionally well is to give these events context, not as a new conflict, but as a continuation of the Armenian struggles. It documents how, after invading and occupying 90% of Artsakh, Azerbaijan moved to complete the ethnic cleansing and subsequently began a cultural genocide. This included the systematic destruction of millennia-old Armenian churches, monasteries, cemeteries, and other cultural monuments, a crucial part of erasing the Armenian heritage from the land.

It shines a light on the brutal nine-month blockade of the Lachin corridor, which began on December 12, 2022. This blockade, carried out by what the film reveals were fake environmental activists connected to the Azerbaijani government, was a deliberate attempt to starve the 120,000 civilians of Artsakh, including 30,000 children. Despite an order from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on February 22 and 23 to end the blockade, Azerbaijan ignored the ruling. Further, it intensified its siege by illegally installing a checkpoint and draining the Sarsang Reservoir.

This shows how this campaign of starvation and siege culminated in a final military offensive on September 19, 2023. Following a 24-hour assault that killed 200 Armenians, the entire remaining population of 120,000 was forced to flee Artsakh for Armenia. The film poignantly concludes by highlighting how the inaction of global powers like the United States and the European Union, who spoke of human rights but did nothing to enforce the ICJ’s order, emboldened Azerbaijan. This is a story that the mass media have not reported, and this documentary is a vital tool for bringing it to the attention it so desperately needs.

This is not only a film but a piece of historical education. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Click here to watch the film’s trailer, and click here to watch the five-minute sizzle.