In Wales, the road to genocide recognition began in 2001, of course, when Rhodri Morgan, then First Minister, laid flowers in memory of the 1915 genocide victims. Later, in 2010, there was an explicit recognition of the Armenian genocide by the First Minister, Carwyn Jones, when he paid homage to Armenian victims during the Holocaust memorial commemorations. The Church in Wales followed suit soon after, declaring 24 April as Armenian Genocide Day. Now, these have all been welcome, albeit incremental, steps. But, circumstances today mean it cannot stop there.

While a part of the Soviet Union, multiple votes and referendums were held in Nagorno-Karabakh to unify the oblast to Armenia, but these were rejected by Moscow. In 1988, the European Parliament passed a resolution supporting the demands of the ethnic Armenians in the region for reunification with Armenia, but, with a power vacuum from the collapse of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan took the area under military control, and since then, of course, the area has been plagued by war and by conflict.

And like in every war, the real victims are the civilians. The horrors facing the people of Armenia are not only in the past. We mustn’t let the people of Armenia once again be overlooked as atrocities and human rights abuses are perpetrated against them in Nagorno-Karabakh. The situation there is dire. Azerbaijan has closed the Goris-Stepanakert highway, the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to the outside world via the Lachin corridor. For Armenians in Artsakh, this is a corridor for life, connecting them to supplies, to trade and to the rest of Armenia. A recent letter signed by Baroness Cox, Lord Alton of Liverpool, Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Christopher Cocksworth, Bishop of Coventry, Dr John Eibner and Tim Loughton MP described the blockade of the Lachin corridor by Azerbaijan as 'a medieval style siege'.

Just last month, the International Court of Justice, the ICJ, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, ordered provisional measures to ensure that Azerbaijan ends the blockade of the Lachin corridor. According to the ICJ, the situation has left some 120,000 ethnic Armenian residents in Nagorno-Karabakh without access to essential goods and services, including life-saving medication and healthcare. One cardiologist at a hospital there says they’re only doing 10 per cent of the procedures they would ordinarily be expected to do, simply because they don’t have the equipment they need. As a result he says, 'Every day we lose many people, many patients.'

The solidarity that we can show the people of Armenia means a lot, clearly, even though it costs us so little. I have been in contact with the Armenian community here in Wales, and in north Wales in particular, and I would like to read out some short statements from Anna, who moved from Armenia to Wales some years ago but who has family under siege in Nagorno-Karabakh. She says,

'I have friends and family that are caught up in what is going on and it’s very hard because when you know people it becomes so much more personal. My heart hurts for my country, for everybody, but then you have people who you know and you constantly worry about them. It’s difficult.'

Now, she talks about her cousin Rita and her family who now live in Stepanakert, which is in the area under blockade. They used to live in the town of Shusha, but, because Azerbaijan took over control, they had to move from there during the war. Anna told me,

'They ran away from there because there was bombing day and night. When the war ended, they decided to go to Stepanakert. Her son has wounds from this war. He has had one lung removed, a kidney has been damaged, and his spine is damaged too. He has three children.'

Her cousin Rita told her,

‘You know, Anna, it’s not the shortage of food or electricity or supplies. We lived through the first Nagorno-Karabakh war in those conditions. It’s not that. It’s the fear of not knowing what they’re going to do next.’

She goes on to say,

'In Wales, I would like to see Senedd Members sign the statement of opinion that has been tabled. So few people have signed it. It’s hurtful. We are not asking for too much. They just have to show that they understand our pain. We want acknowledgement, recognition and solidarity...I would like to see the First Minister, Mark Drakeford, and the Welsh Government speak out on this.'

She says,

'I am very disappointed that they have not.'

Now, we have a duty to condemn these actions, and although we might not have the power devolved to this Senedd to do much more than that, we must at least use the voice that we do have, not only to express solidarity with people like Anna and her family in Armenia, but also to put pressure on the UK Government to assist the Armenian people and to condemn the actions of Azerbaijan.

In 2019, as I mentioned earlier, Wales declared itself the world's first nation of sanctuary, a humane and pragmatic approach to the reception of refugees and asylum seekers, and since then, we have largely lived up to that billing, firstly, as I mentioned, with the assistance and housing of Afghan refugees and more recently, of course, with our support to Ukrainian refugees. This Welsh Government tells us that it believes that a distinctive Welsh response is needed for international assistance, and I agree. But words and actions are often of equal importance, and for us to prioritise the condemnation of some forms of international aggression against sovereign states while ignoring others, of course, is wrong.

Yes, we are a nation of sanctuary, not because we want to be popular, not because it's easy—far from it—but because we want those in need of sanctuary and support to know that we understand that, even during the horrors of war, people need to feel safe, that we, as a brotherhood and sisterhood of humanity are there for one another when people are fleeing persecution, human rights abuses, war and genocide. Our nation of sanctuary policy shows the world what makes us proud to be Welsh; we are kind and accepting and we offer the world our open arms when they are in need of our assistance. That's why I'm calling on this Senedd today, and on the Welsh Government, to condemn the war of terror being waged on the Armenian people in Nagorno-Karabakh, to be proactive in urging the UK Government to do the same and also to provide aid to avert the humanitarian crisis facing 120,000 Armenian people there. And let our actions be motivated not only by properly recognising and remembering the horrors of the Armenian genocide of 1915-23, but also by the explicit recognition of the threat of another genocide occurring now, this year, a century later, in 2023, because if we don't speak out, if we don't use the voice that this Senedd and the Welsh Government has to call out these atrocities, then the blood will be on all our hands. Diolch.