| Your support is crucial! The Armenian National Committee of UK works tirelessly to advocate for the Armenian Cause and protect our community’s rights. We need your donations to continue this vital work. Every contribution makes a difference. Please donate today and help us keep our voice strong. |
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1. “Please come back”, a short film on life after Artsakh
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| Two years after the forced displacement of Artsakh’s Armenian population, the human cost continues to unfold. Խնդրում եմ, կգաս / Please come back follows Gohar Aleksanyan, a singer and music teacher from Stepanakert, who was forcibly displaced in 2023. Now living in Armenia, she faces an impossible choice: to temporarily leave her family behind in order to work abroad and provide for her two daughters and grandmother.
This deeply moving short documentary sheds light on the quiet, painful realities faced by thousands of displaced Artsakh Armenians, many of whom have been forced to leave Armenia due to uncertainty and lack of social integration. |
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2. New concerns on repression against Armenian Apostolic Church
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| “More than 1,700 years ago, Armenia officially adopted Christianity as its state religion and its faith has stayed strong ever since. It has resisted brutal occupation from Safavid Iran, the Ottoman Empire and Turkey and then the Soviet Union. It is once again under attack, this time from within. Armenia’s prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, has launched a bitter assault on the Armenian Apostolic Church — despite being responsible for its protection. The church, supported by 90 per cent of Armenians, is being treated as if it were the political opposition. Pashinyan is following the pattern of authoritarian leaders: identify your rivals as enemies of the state, then use the power of the state to tear them down”.
Read the article by Danny Kruger, Reform UK MP for East Wiltshire, in The Times here: https://www.thetimes.com/comment/columnists/article/armenian-crackdown-worries-christians-d8sht2gdz |
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3. UK Parliamentarians raising the issues of Armenia and Artsakh
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4. News articles and recent developments
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| On December 15, Azerbaijani authorities announced a general amnesty covering all individuals involved in the military aggression against Armenia and Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), including participants in the 2020 war and the subsequent occupation.
Presented as a “humanitarian” measure, the amnesty exempts those responsible for grave war crimes from criminal liability, effectively shutting down any possibility of accountability. These crimes include the execution and torture of Armenian prisoners, violence against civilians, destruction of homes, schools, hospitals and churches, and the systematic erasure of Armenian cultural heritage, many of them documented by the perpetrators themselves. |
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| Vagif Khachatryan, an Artsakh Armenian civilian illegally abducted and incarcerated by Azerbaijan, has been urgently hospitalised following a sudden deterioration in his health. According to Azerbaijani media reports, on 22 December Khachatryan developed acute shortness of breath and heart pain. He was initially taken to a medical facility under the Ministry of Justice before being transferred to a state hospital, where he is currently receiving intensive care. His condition is reported to be serious.
Khachatryan was sentenced on November 7, 2023, to 15 years in prison after a fake “trial” based on fabricated charges. He was forcibly abducted on July 29, 2023, from the Berdzor (Lachin) Corridor while being transported for emergency heart surgery from Artsakh to Armenia during Azerbaijan’s ten-month genocidal blockade. The transfer had been organised by the International Committee of the Red Cross, which was unable to prevent his abduction by Azerbaijani authorities. |
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| Ahead of Christmas, the Lemkin Institute has called on U.S. President Donald J. Trump to take immediate action to secure the release of Armenian prisoners unlawfully held by Azerbaijan.
The Institute stressed that these Armenian hostages have been abandoned by the international community despite being detained by a state accused of repeated genocidal actions against Armenians. Their release, it noted, would be a major humanitarian step and a meaningful contribution to peace and stability in the South Caucasus.
Recalling President Trump’s pledge to protect Armenian Christians, the Lemkin Institute urged him to act before January 6, when Armenian Apostolic Christians celebrate Christmas, and bring the prisoners home to their families.
Read the open letter of the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention to President Donald Trump here: https://5d6eef0c-085c-40d1-8ffb-7cddabd099b3.filesusr.com/ugd/72b3ef_bab8c80cc67f452f83ec3d3b773ad2fd.pdf |
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| Azerbaijani authorities have sentenced Karen Avanesyan, an Armenian resident of Stepanakert, the capital of Azerbaijan-occupied Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), to 16 years in prison, on December 25.
The circumstances surrounding the charges against Karen Avanesyan (born in 1967) are known exclusively through information provided by the Azerbaijani regime. He is accused of attempting to kill two Azerbaijani police officers in an incident that allegedly took place on 14 September. No independent or international sources have been granted access to verify the allegations or the judicial proceedings.
Avanesyan was arrested on 14 September 2023 after remaining in Stepanakert following the forced displacement of Artsakh’s Armenian population. Azerbaijani authorities claim he attempted an armed attack on the day President Ilham Aliyev visited the city, allegations for which no verifiable evidence has been made public. His legal representative at the European Court of Human Rights has stated that available video footage does not show Avanesyan carrying weapons or approaching the alleged location, and that witnesses describe him as a calm, non-violent civilian. |
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5. ANC-UK Highlights of the Year 2025
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| The Armenian National Committee of UK wishes you a Happy New Year and a Merry Christmas! Շնորհավոր նոր տարի և Սուրբ Ծնունդ!
It has been a very busy year for ANC-UK. With the support of parliamentarians and our community followers, we have been able to raise issues that are vital for the survival of the Armenian statehood.
These are Armenian Genocide recognition, right of return of the Armenian population to Artsakh, security of Armenian borders, the aggressive rhetoric of Azerbaijan and the concerns for the democracy and internal stability of Armenia.
Read our Highlights of the Year 2025 here: https://ancuk.org.uk/highlights-of-the-year/ |
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Make your donation
Please give today to help our campaigns
To continue our ever growing work in advocacy we urgently need funds to have paid staff. All our efforts are done on voluntary basis. Please donate so we can carry on working for the Armenian Cause and raise the concerns of the British Armenian community.
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You can now donate monthly!
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Why Donate?
The Armenian National Committee of the United Kingdom (ANC-UK) is the largest and most influential British-Armenian political grassroots organisation.
Working in coordination with a network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout Britain and affiliated organisations around the world, ANC-UK actively advances the concerns of the British-Armenian community on a broad range of issues.
The work achieved by ANC-UK is currently on a volunteer basis. However, we are hopeful that in the coming years through the financial support of our community, the ANC-UK chapter will have the necessary funds to open a full-time office employing an Executive Director and a part-time Administrative Assistant.
Setting up an ANC-UK office will allow for our organisation’s goals to be achieved as they have been throughout the diaspora in the United States of America, Canada, Australia and Europe.
As a grassroots organisation, we rely upon you, our community and friends for financial assistance to advance our cause. Your donations support our goal of having a full-time office, to advocate on issues important to all British-Armenians and the Armenian cause.
Thank you for your consideration of our request for your support.
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