Armenian Youth Federation of Australia Campaign Takes #StopAliyev and Artsakh to the Top of Twitter

By Armenia Media | Friday, 01 October 2021



SYDNEY: The Armenian Youth Federation of Australia (AYF-AU) succeeded in taking over Twitter trends on the first anniversary of the Nagorno Karabakh War, raising much-needed awareness for Artsakh and the aggressive regime of Azerbaijan's dictator, Ilham Aliyev.

The Twitter campaign was part of the organisation's Artsakh Awareness Week, which AYF-AU has been running for multiple years, aimed at informing non-Armenians of the existential plight of the indigenous citizens of the Republic of Artsakh. This plight came to a head in September 2020, when Azerbaijan launched an all-out attack on the citizens of the self-determined nation, leading to the eventual occupation of the indigenous Armenian homeland.

To mark the anniversary, users sent thousands of tweets using #StopAliyev and Artsakh, outlining Baku's many acts of war crimes during and after the 44 days of terror, highlighted by Azerbaijan's continued detainment of Armenian prisoners of war, their desecration of Armenian churches and cultural sights. The campaigners directed their calls to Australia's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Marise Payne and her Shadow counterpart, Penny Wong, calling for more action from Canberra.

After mobilising its members and Armenian-Australians who use the platform, AYF-AU was successful in claiming the number 1 and 2 trends on Australian Twitter, outranking topics attracting over 100,000 tweets.

There are currently close to three million active Twitter accounts in Australia, with most political and thought leaders preferring the platform as their social medium of choice.

Michael Kolokossian from the AYF-AU Central Executive outlined the importance of this campaign.

"The Armenian Youth Federation of Australia has been promoting Artsakh Awareness Week over several years, but given the current circumstances with the war and Covid lockdowns, we felt the need to enhance our efforts and reach the wider community through the social channel that has greatest influence," said Kolokossian.

"With many users following Twitter trends, we are grateful to have mobilised our community's youth to inform a wide mass on the continued cause that is Artsakh."

AYF-AU has organised other activities throughout Artsakh Awareness Week.

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