LOS ANGELES (CNS) -The Armenian Youth Federation expects tens of thousands of people to show up today for a march planned across West Los Angeles.
The protest is scheduled to make its way from the Wilshire Federal Building at 1000 Wilshire Blvd. at 11 a.m. Sunday to the Azerbaijani Consulate General offices at 11766 Wilshire, just west of Barrington Avenue, as activists seek to denigrate recent actions by Azerbaijan and Turkey.
The youth organization will be on the sixth day of a hunger strike, according to Alex Galitsky, a spokesperson for the Armenian National Committee of America's Western Region, who cited recent military action in Stepanakert as evidence of the need to raise awareness about the conflict, centered on the sovereignty of the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
"Evidence of Turkey and Azerbaijan's mobilization had been reported for weeks prior to this latest act of belligerency, with Azerbaijan mobilizing reservists, commandeering civilian vehicles for military use, and Turkey's contracting and transporting of Syrian mercenaries to Azerbaijan,'' he said. "The carefully coordinated nature of the assault contradicts Azerbaijan's claims that it was retaliating to alleged Armenian aggression."
Azerbaijan has accused pro-Armenian fighters of also breaking a negotiated ceasefire.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has urged President Donald Trump's administration to demand Azerbaijan stop military maneuvers, and says America hasn't communicated enough with either Armenia or Azerbaijan about the Nagorno-Karabakh tug-of-war.
Diplomats from France, Russia and the U.S. were seeking to restore the ceasefire, and organizers of Sunday's event were hoping to use the power of the world's third-largest Armenian diaspora to rally support for their side as talks continue.
Azerbaijani officials believe the Nagorno-Karabakh region has been illegally occupied and do not want Armenians in control, while Armenian authorities say the people there have previously asked to be governed by its authority, and bristle at Turkey's involvement, considering the country continues to deny an Armenian genocide during World War I.
The demonstration outside the Azerbaijani Consulate General is scheduled to begin around 12:30 p.m.