Kim Kardashian is making a public plea to President Biden, calling on him and other world leaders to “stop the Armenian genocide.”
In an opinion piece published Friday in Rolling Stone, the Hulu reality TV star and Eric Esrailian, a physician and producer, write to Biden, “We are Armenian. We are the descendants of Armenian Genocide survivors, and we do not want to be talking about the recognition or commemoration of yet another genocide in the future.”
The pair described neighboring Azerbaijan’s government as using “starvation as a weapon against the Armenian population” by blockading “the only lifeline between the indigenous Christian Armenians of Artsakh (also known as Nagorno-Karabakh) and the rest of the world.”
“Regional peace should not involve sacrificing the sovereignty of the Armenians in Artsakh, but regardless of what anyone believes about our opinion, it is clear that this ruthless blockade has crossed all red lines of human rights and humanitarian law,” the two wrote in their public letter.
“Blocking human rights groups, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the hateful rhetoric accompanying the blockade are signs of genocidal intent,” wrote Esrailian and Kardashian, who’s of Armenian descent on her late father’s side.
Supporters of “this starvation,” Kardashian and Esrailian said, “use coordinated social media campaigns to pretend that a blockade is not taking place. This dystopian propaganda may be absurd to those with knowledge, but the defenders of these human rights abuses are trying to confuse people given everything else happening in the world.”
The two called on Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other officials to “take a stand immediately.”
“Through economic sanctions, cutting off foreign aid to Azerbaijan, boycotting international events in Azerbaijan (such as concerts and sporting events like soccer and Formula 1), and through proceedings in international courts, we can collectively achieve results, but this process has been too slow and time is running out,” they said.
“They must pressure Azerbaijan to open the corridor without preconditions.”
It’s not the first time that Kardashian has appealed to the White House about Armenia. In 2015, the 42-year-old criminal justice advocate urged then-President Obama to use the word “genocide” to describe the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians in 1915. Five years later, in 2020, she pushed then-President Trump to do more to support Armenia during a period of intense fighting with Azerbaijan.
In her letter with Esrailian, Kardashian vowed to use her voice to “amplify the truth.”
“We are just two people. We have been working behind the scenes to support our Armenian brothers and sisters, but this diplomatic approach has not yielded meaningful results,” they said.
“This crisis will clearly not be remedied by individuals, but we will continue to do what we can to use whatever influence we have.”