Stop human tragedy: Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s appeal to Vladimir Putin

Armenian national football team captain Henrikh Mkhitaryan has appealed to the Presidents of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries to use their powers to stop the ongoing conflict in the disputed Nagorno Karabakh region.

In a letter addressed to Russian President Valdimir Putin, the AS Roma playmaker has urged the leaders to intervene in the war between his country and Azerbijan which is continuing for an 11th day.

“While the war enters the second week of heavy combats, my native Armenia and Artsakh are defending themselves against the aggressors for our primary right to be a Nation, to exist on our historic lands and to preserve our world-known Christian heritage,” Mkhitaryan writes.

“With the intensification of military fights over the past few days, this is indeed heartbreaking to see how the Azerbaijani military is directly targeting kindergartens, residential buildings, hospitals and civilian infrastructures in the capital Stepanakert and other densely populated settlements,” he adds.

Mkhitaryan has claimed that these tragic events are happening with the direct interference of external regional forces and foreign fighters in the proximity of the Russian Federation and the European Union, which constitutes a direct security threat for other countries.

“Armenia and Artsakh are alone in their fight against international terrorism,” he further notes.

In the final line of the letter, he urges the leaders to immediately intervene to stop the unfolding human tragedy.

“Our youth is dying on the frontlines and becomes unrecoverably injured instead of particpating in the future nation building. from the bottom of my heart I am calling on you to sue your full power in halting this human tragedy and bring the sides back to peaceful negotiations” The former Arsenal man appeals.

Mkhitaryan has been sharing various images and footages of the ongoing war through his social media.