More than 100 French artists, writers, intellectuals, and others cultural figures have released an open letter in support of Armenia and Artsakh.

The letter was published in Le Figaro Magazine today.

Those signing the appeal include actors Alain Delon, Claudia Cardinale, Jean Reno, Fanny Ardant, Danny Boon, Juliette Binoche, Pierre Richard, Oscar-winning actor Jean Dujardin, and intellectuals Jacques Attali, Bernard-Henri Lévy.

Translated, the appeal reads:

More than a century after the commission of the genocide of the Armenians by the Ottoman rulers of 1915, the Armenian people are again victims of two authoritarian regimes as both Baku and Ankara incite hatred against Armenians to consolidate their absolute power with a new bloody trophy.

The fate of the Armenians has just been brutally damaged in Nagorno-Karabakh, a region they call Artsakh. A humble and proud people, they have lived there for more than two millennia, firmly attached to their rocky and magnificent land. They wanted to continue their existence where, amidst impregnable mountains and valleys cultivated by bitter sweat, their ancestors lived, built houses, schools and magnificent monasteries. Without any human consideration, Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Turkey and Ilham Aliyev's Azerbaijan have strived to destroy this legitimate aspiration.

For Armenians, Nagorno Karabakh is first and foremost a people with its centuries-old culture, music and dance, which wants to join the world and get rid of the enclave status imposed on it.

For the authorities in Baku and Ankara, it is above all a territory; on which the flag of Azerbaijan must fly at all costs, be it by receiving the support of Turkish special forces, by sending volleys of kamikaze drones to crush civilian targets or by resorting to jihadist mercenaries paid to kill. There is now evidence that Azerbaijan used cluster munitions prohibited by international law. The fight was totally unequal.

The Armenians did not want this war, but they were forced to fight for their survival. For the Azerbaijani dictatorship, it is only a matter of national pride. The leader of Azerbaijan was clear in his intentions when he said in the early days of the conflict: “We will drive the out like dogs.” He repeated this same sentence after the exodus of civilians he caused in Artsakh, declaring himself proud to have kept this horrible promise.

In the twenty-first century, such a loathing of human beings, such an outpouring of hatred, arouses the deepest indignation that can find no place in the modern world.

That's why:

#supportlarmenia

#jessupportslartsakh