Telling With Numbers

By Jirair Tutunjian, Toronto, 17 September 2025

From 1992 to the present, the Western world has been singularly indifferent to Azerbaijan’s attacks on Armenia, Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), and to the expulsion of close to 300,000 Armenians who had lived in Azerbaijan. The world was likewise indifferent to the killing by the Azeris of 37,500 Armenian soldiers (in Armenia and in Artsakh) in the same period. There are several statistics about the above ranging from 30,000 to 40,000. The 37,500 includes fighters who are unaccounted for and volunteers from outside Artsakh who were undercounted. The 37,500 is 1.17 percent of Armenia’s and Artsakh’s population. The 37,500 seems tiny figure in a population of about 3 million. However, they were mostly young men. They were to be the backbone of the nation.

Was the world indifferent to the horrendous Armenian losses because of preoccupation with other flash points? Did they consider the Caucasus a black hole with too many exotic ethnic groups with confusing cultures or more likely the fact that Azeri dictator Ilham Aliyev and his clan were swimming in bubbling oil.

Since Azerbaijan’s dictator continues to buy sophisticated weapons, especially from Israel, and rants regularly about imaginary West Azerbaijan, we have to find friendly parties which would discourage or warn Aliyev to desist his aggression talk.

One possible way to blunt Aliyev’s rhetoric is to make the world—or at least the more important half-a-dozen players– learn not only the extent of Armenian army losses (1988-2025) but also demonstrate the comparative losses had the above major players been at war.

United States (pop. 340 million). A similar 1.17 percent loss would mean the death of 3,978,000 soldiers. American military losses in the Second World War were 416,800.

United Kingdom (pop. 68 million). A similar 1.17 percentage loss would mean the death of 795,600 soldiers. Britain’s Second World War military losses were 383,800.

Canada (pop. 40 million). A similar 1.17 percentage loss would mean the death of 468,000 Canadian soldiers. Canada’s Second World War losses were 45,000.

Italy (pop. 61 million). A similar 1.17 percentage loss would mean the death of 713,700 soldiers. Italy’s Second World War losses were 300,000.

Germany (pop. 84 million). A similar 1.17 percentage loss would mean the death of 982,800 German soldiers. Germany’s Second World War losses were 5.3 million.

Total potential military casualties of the above five states? 6,937,500.

As Turkey and Azerbaijan keep pushing Armenia to the corner (recently they forced Nikol Pashinyan to remove Ararat from Armenia’s coat of arms), Armenians have to be more vociferous on the international stage. At the next major EU conference the Armenian delegation should stress to the European countries of our losses and the possible repeat Turkbeijan attack on Armenia if the world doesn’t restrain the blood-thirsty Baku dictator and his Big Brother Recep Erdogan. Also consider that the above statistics do not include injured soldiers or civilian deaths and injuries.

According to a recent report on the Internet, Armenia is the fourth oldest country, behind Egypt, Iran, and Viet Nam. Armenia deserves the world’s acclamation and congratulations for its perseverance and longevity while empires around it have collapsed or even vanished. Armenia has survived despite being occupied by at least half-a-dozen of these empires (Persian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Turk, and Russian). These empires failed to distort the Armenian identity or its culture. The Old Man of Mt. Ararat deserves global respect and a guarantee of its existence.