Dan Harre with Frank Gaffney: Save Armenia from Yet Another Genocide

“Securing America” with Frank Gaffney and Dan Harre | August, 2024

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Frank Gaffney: [00:00:00] Dan Harre is the deputy director of Save Armenia, which is a Judeo-Christian alliance aimed at doing just that. He’s got a wealth of interesting experience that he brings to the present mission. He has worked for now Senator Josh Hawley, when he was the Attorney General of Missouri, he worked for the senior senator from Missouri for a time, Roy Blunt. He is a graduate of the master’s program at Regent University, and a partner in our determined efforts to try to save persecuted Christians, which I’m proud to say, the organization of that name, which I’m the president, is a member of this Judeo-Christian alliance. Dan, it’s great to have you with us. Thank you for joining us on fairly short Notice to talk about some important developments in this battle space.

Dan Harre: [00:00:54] It’s my pleasure, Frank. Thanks so much for having me. You know, this is an issue most Americans don’t know about. So I’m thankful for the opportunity.

Frank Gaffney: [00:01:01] Well, and this is the more of the travesty because of what we have seen, as you know so well in the past year is one of the most egregious acts of mass persecution of Christians in modern times. Tell us about what happened in Nagorno-Karabakh, of to whom and by whom.

Dan Harre: [00:01:29] Yeah, so there’s this this ancient Armenian region, Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Artsakh. Armenians have been living there for about 3000 years. In 2023, the Muslim nation of Azerbaijan blockaded this area for nine months, hoping to choke the region out, to kill its inhabitants or to drive them out so that it could seize that territory. The nine month blockade culminated with a lightning offensive that drove these 120,000 Armenian Christians out of their ancient homeland and effectively ethnically cleansed all of them. I mean, and when.

Frank Gaffney: [00:02:11] You say an offensive, you mean using force of arms. And as I understand it, there were, in addition to Azeris engaged in that there were some Turkish special forces as well. Is that correct?

Dan Harre: [00:02:24] That’s correct. Yes. Turkish special forces were involved, and the Turks have essentially been underwriting this aggression as well.

Frank Gaffney: [00:02:31] And was this about just getting access to this territory, or was it really about eliminating the Christians who had inhabited it, as you say, for so long?

Dan Harre: [00:02:44] Azerbaijan will be quick to say it wasn’t religious. But then, of course, since that area has been ethnically cleansed, we have satellite images of all of the churches being destroyed, of gravestones being shot at with AK 47 seconds and desecrated. There was an image that came out last week of Azeri soldiers putting on, you know, the priestly robes of one of the churches and desecrating the altar and mocking it. And so it’s very clearly, religiously motivated.

Frank Gaffney: [00:03:11] You say ethnically cleansed. I think it’s religiously cleansed as well. So what’s of such great concern is that the perpetrators of these acts of persecution and people did die, by the way, it wasn’t just that they were, you know, driving them out. They were also killing some, I think, die of starvation, if I’m not mistaken, as well. As a result of this blockade. But what are both the government of Azerbaijan and the government of Turkey saying about the neighboring nation of Armenia, to which most of these 120,000 refugees fled?

Dan Harre: [00:03:55] Yeah, well you’re right. Most of these refugees fled to Armenia proper. This is really the only option to seek refuge. Since that time, Azerbaijan has made clear that it intends to seize all of Armenia. It has begun renaming Armenian towns with Azeri names, including the capital. It has started writing a revisionist history, calling Armenia Western Azerbaijan to lay the groundwork for an invasion. We have President Aliyev of Azerbaijan on video saying, essentially, our task isn’t done until we take all of Armenia. And of course, Turkey is Azerbaijan’s closest ally. They call themselves one nation, two states.

Frank Gaffney: [00:04:39] You know, in the intelligence business, then there’s a technical term for all of this. They’re called clues. That’s right. We’re talking about a telegraph punch. We’re talking about an incipient act of Religiously motivated genocide. I think in, again, the first nation in the world to have embraced Christianity. That would be Armenia, as I understand it. So, there are some things that are in the offing that make this moment all the more important, all the more concerning. Talk a little bit about both what is in prospect and, and about the Saving Armenia campaign, which are the deputy director.

Dan Harre: [00:05:37] Yeah. I’d be happy to, you know, Save Armenia has brought together a bunch of our, our partners in the space to create an amazing coalition. One of our great partners is save the persecuted Christians coming together and trying to elevate this issue and put it on the radar of the American government. You know, we really, we think an attack from Azerbaijan could come in the next few months. And so we’re trying to do this quickly. We’ve had the pleasure of working with Save the Persecuted Christians to put on a webinar coming up this Thursday at 430 Eastern time. You can register on the Save the Persecuted Christians website. Additionally, we’re organizing Hill Days, trying to get in front of members of Congress and just trying to make them aware of what’s occurring. The United States has quite a bit of leverage over Azerbaijan. And if we decide to tell the Azeris that we’re not going to tolerate aggression, there won’t be an attack.

Frank Gaffney: [00:06:33] This is so important. We’re also looking at the anniversary, the first anniversary of what was done to Nagorno-Karabakh, the Republic of Artsakh. On the 19th of September, I understand there’s going to be a congressional hearing to focus attention on this subject. Is that correct? And who’s…

Dan Harre: [00:06:55] Yes. Thank you for mentioning that. And if it’s not the 19th, it’s going to be a couple of days before or after. But yes, hopefully we’re going to have a hearing. Yeah. Around that time. Exactly. And we hope to elevate this issue with a number of experts and people who have suffered firsthand from Azeri aggression. And so, like I said.

Frank Gaffney: [00:07:17] People actually brought from Armenia for the purpose of bearing witness to what happened.

Dan Harre: [00:07:23] That is our hope. I think more than likely that is going to happen.

Frank Gaffney: [00:07:27] There is another piece you mentioned, leverage that the United States has over both Azerbaijan and Turkey, I would argue, but particularly Azerbaijan at the moment arising from something called Cop 29. What is that and how does it potentially translate into means of trying to prevent what otherwise seems to be in the offing?

Dan Harre: [00:07:52] Yes, absolutely So Cop 29 is a global climate conference, and Cop 29 is going to be taking place in Azerbaijan in November. The great irony is that Azerbaijan is a horrible polluter. And so, you know, the corruption of the conference and how it’s, you know, how the host is selected is on full display, but it also provides us an opportunity with the global spotlight on Azerbaijan to highlight their aggression. There are currently dozens, if not hundreds of prisoners in prisons in Baku being tortured. We have testimonies from these people. And so it’s an opportunity to tell the world about what’s happening there now.

Frank Gaffney: [00:08:34] And again, those prisoners would be incarcerated because basically they’re Christians and they were rounded up, I assume, in the course of the seizure of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Dan Harre: [00:08:47] Correct. The Armenian Christians, specifically the government of Artsakh, Nagorno-Karabakh was rounded up and incarcerated, and others, innocent civilians and old man with a heart condition was fleeing during the ethnic cleansing. He was in an ambulance to go get treatment in Armenia proper. They apprehended him and he is in jail.

Frank Gaffney: [00:09:05] And you’ve got evidence that they are being tortured as well as being simply deprived of their freedom. Correct. Cop 29. This stands for the Conference of Parties to this climate change industrial complex. These folks will be on site, and if you will, the scene of the crime. I think the expectation is that Azerbaijan won’t attack Armenia until after that’s over. But then I think one of the exciting things about this campaign, and I salute you for your leadership and that of your team, and the SaveArmenia.org campaign is that you recognize this is not only an opportunity to educate people about what Armenia’s already been subjected to, but also what Azerbaijan has in mind for it in the months after the Cop 29, presumably. How important is it, as you see it, for the United States government to use this moment, whether it’s this particular piece of leverage or others to impress upon Azerbaijan that there will be very, very punishing repercussions for them, and for that matter, for the Turks if they participate in this?

Dan Harre: [00:10:41] We have to. We’re the only thing standing in between the Turks and the Azeris and Armenia. You know, Armenia is a country. The population is less than 3 million people. That’s less than my home state of Missouri. Now, when you consider the populations of Turkey and Azerbaijan a combined 10 million against 3 million, and I’ll say 10 million armed with Western weapons, whereas, you know, the Armenians, unfortunately, have not the greatest military. And so it’s a desperate situation. And they need a great power like the United States to step in, not provide boots on the ground, not to give handouts, but to step in and say to Azerbaijan, we’re not going to tolerate aggression. And if you move in, we will come down on you with sanctions.

Frank Gaffney: [00:11:25] Tremendous point on which to end this conversation. We will be covering this very closely. Tune in for the Save the Persecuted Christians webinar on which Dane will be participating, I think, or one of his colleagues on Thursday afternoon at 430. Register at Save the Persecuted Christians org. Thanks, Stan. Come back soon.

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