Costa should inform students of the Armenian-Azerbaijan conflict

Many Costa students are unaware that Azerbaijan reignited a decades-long conflict with Armenia over the self-declared territory of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic on Sept. 27. Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as a part of Azerbaijan, but ethnic Armenians make up the majority of the population. Photo courtesy of Google Images.

Lexie Blakeman

News Editor

Many Costa students are unaware that Azerbaijan reignited a decades-long conflict with Armenia over the self declared territory of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic on Sept. 27. Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as a part of Azerbaijan, but ethnic Armenians make up the majority of the population. Costa students should stay informed about this conflict in Armenia since it is affecting so many people.

Since the ethnic war started in 1988, attacks along the front lines have been common in small battles. Azerbaijan receiving direct support from Turkey has escalated the scale of the fighting to past the front lines and is threatening to make the local ethnic dispute into a national conflict as cities in Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan are being bombarded with long-range weaponry launched from both Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Armenia claims Azerbaijan’s attack was unprovoked and extreme, while Azerbaijan accused Armenia of firing powerful rockets at a hydroelectric station and the country’s largest city, Ganga. On Oct. 17, the two countries came to a truce mediated by France, but a week later the agreement broke due to a ceasefire violation by Russia, which caused violence to continue.

For many young people today, it is difficult to understand what is happening as it is being selectively reported on in the news. In a survey of 200 Costa students, 30% were unaware of the conflict going on in Artsakh. This percentage needs to go up.

Despite the facts of this dispute not fully being reported in the news, Armenian families are being separated and lives are being taken. Costa administrators and teachers should be informing students of what is going on. Many people are uneducated about this issue because governments are only sharing particular facts and not the full story. Every piece of information should be spread no matter what, especially since people’s lives are at stake.

Costa should be educating students on this major current event happening right now since news sources are failing to do so. Many Costa students are a part of the Armenian community, and their voices need to be heard so that information can be spread throughout other communities.