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SYDNEY: On Friday, 14th July 2023, ADH TV, co-hosted by renowned Australian radio broadcaster Alan Jones and high-profile Christian advocate Lyle Shelton, covered Azerbaijan's over 200-day siege of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) in an interview with the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU) Executive Director, Michael Kolokossian.

Shelton interviewed Kolokossian in a 12-minute segment covering the Australian-Armenian community’s disappointment over the Australian Government's harrowing silence as 120,000 Christian Armenians remain trapped and under siege at the hands of brutal petro-dictatorship Azerbaijan.

Shelton, the National Director of Family First, also shared to his audience the details of ANC-AU’s Parliamentary Petition calling on the Albanese Government to speak out against Azerbaijan’s blockade of Artsakh.

Following a brief background to the roots of the conflict, Kolokossian praised the people of Artsakh for their commitment to upholding their human right to self-determination.



“The people of Artsakh have lived on this land for so many centuries, and they refuse to leave their homes and property… no matter what the Azerbaijani regime tries to throw at them… the people of Artsakh remain committed to that right to self-determination which is upheld under Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights," Kolokossian said.

“They fundamentally believe that they have the right to live in their land, to live in a democracy and are not willing to allow a regime like Azerbaijan, which has been run by the same family for three decades now, to threaten them with an iron fist.”

In response to queries over the Albanese Government’s reluctance to speak out against the crisis, Kolokossian spoke out against Canberra's silence, saying: “The reasons for that [the government silence] are not justifiable, you said it, it's a humanitarian crisis, we’re not asking for the Australian Government to comment on the territorial dispute between the Republic of Artsakh and the dictatorship of Azerbaijan.”

Kolokossian added, “We’re asking the Australian Government to do one simple thing, stand with the International Court of Justice, the top judicial organ of the United Nations, which has ordered provisional measures on Azerabaijan to open the corridor. It's as simple as that.”

Kolokossian urged viewers to join the Armenian-Australian community in signing the Parliamentary Petition, calling on the House of Representatives to urge the Australian Government to stand in line with the ICJ and prevent a second Armenian Genocide.

The full interview can be viewed by clicking here.