After 2023 Ethnic Cleansing of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh, Why Did Azerbaijan Get to Host COP29?

We continue our coverage of the COP29 U.N. climate summit hosted in Baku, Azerbaijan, with a look at Azerbaijan’s treatment of the country’s Armenian minority population. Last year, the Azerbaijani government ethnically cleansed Armenians from the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, leading to the forced expulsion of some 100,000 Armenians from the enclave and gruesome human rights violations, including cultural erasure and the torture and mass killing of civilians. There are at least 23 known Armenian political prisoners currently held in Azerbaijan and many more who are not identified. These colonial policies against Armenians “started long ago,” says Armenian climate and antiwar activist Arshak Makichyan. He calls out the silence of international actors on the persecution of Armenians during COP29, stating that “Azerbaijan was allowed to greenwash the genocide” while “we continue to be threatened.”