This post was updated Nov. 19 at 11:46 p.m.

Around 40 people attended a candlelight vigil in Dickson Plaza on Thursday to raise awareness and commemorate lives lost in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The vigil was part of the Armenian Students’ Association’s annual Artsakh Awareness Week, which was held from Tuesday to Thursday. In September 2023, an Azerbaijani military offensive reclaimed the internationally unrecognized Republic of Artsakh, also known as Nagorno-Karabakh, which at the time was 95% ethnically Armenian. Following the offensive, the United Nations reported that as few as 50 to as many as 1,000 ethnic Armenians remained in the region as of Oct. 2, 2023 – compared to the around 120,000 living there before.

In addition to the vigil, the ASA held a free screening last Tuesday of “Kyanq u Kriv,” or “Life and Fight” – a dramatized retelling of the conflict in Artsakh. On Wednesday, the organization also hosted a night of trchnagir – a form of Armenian letter painting – and tasting of jhingyalov hats, a traditional bread dish from Artsakh.

The purpose of Artsakh Awareness Week is to bring awareness to what is happening in Armenia and unite the Armenian community on campus, said Lucine Ksajikian, ASA’s philanthropy chair. She added that the week also allows members of the club to take joy in their culture through sharing food and art.

“Just like how the people from Artsakh have relocated to Armenia or have endured what they’ve endured, they are still there standing strong, and we are trying to do that as a diaspora,” said Ksajikian, a third-year psychobiology student.

Hayk Gargaloyan, ASA’s external vice president and a third-year mathematics of computation student, said he believes the people in Artsakh are experiencing “a textbook case of ethnic cleansing,” with more than 100,000 Armenians being forced to leave the region. The goal of the awareness week is to help the refugees in whatever way the club can, he added.

Although the Artsakh Awareness Week allows the Armenian community on campus to come together, the week is meant to bring focus to the children and families who have lost all they have back home in Artsakh, said Aryana Sargsyan, ASA’s treasurer and a third-year molecular, cell and developmental biology student.

Mikayel Hovasyan, ASA’s president, said the vigil showed that students were willing to still show up and stand together while thousands of miles away from Armenia.

“It’s cold outside. It’s dark. People want to go home after class,” added Hovasyan, a third-year molecular, cell and developmental biology student. “But as you can see, more and more people are showing up to remember our heroes, remember the lives of our brothers and sisters lost at war and to show that we’re still here and we’re resilient no matter what.”

[Related: Armenian students raise awareness for Nagorno-Karabakh region]

During the vigil, members of the ASA board spoke about the loss of life in Artsakh, including that there is still an unknown number of Armenian prisoners of war in Azerbaijan. Narek Hovannesyan, an attendee of the vigil, sang “Kyanq u Kriv” – an eponymous Armenian song from the movie whose lyrics are about fighting for one’s country. Board members placed candles on the ground in the shape of a cross, and attendees placed roses in a circle around the cross – a symbol of Artsakh’s overwhelmingly Christian Armenian population.

“Despite the physical loss of Artsakh, we have not given up,” said Palig Kechichian, ASA’s cultural chair and a fourth-year biology student, during the vigil. “One day, our Artsakh brothers and sisters will return home. As we light our candles tonight and place our roses down around our cross, let us remember not only those who were massacred, but also the survivors who lived unimaginable suffering.”

During the vigil, ASA members sold roses and collected donations for the Artsakh Relocation Project, a nonprofit organization that works to provide families in Artsakh with basic necessities including food and clothing.

Matthew Keshishian, the president of UCLA’s chapter of Alpha Epsilon Omega – an Armenian fraternity – said the vigil was important to host one year after the 2023 military offensive because it kept focus on Nagorno-Karabakh after most people stopped paying attention. Commemorating the past ensures that the people who were affected will not be forgotten, he added.

“If you allow these incremental violations and aggressions to keep happening, then that’s how you end up with no country, and that’s how you lose your heritage,” said Keshishian, a third-year computer science student.

Erik Juharyan, a graduate student in aerospace engineering who also attended the event, said he was pleased to see people both inside and outside the Armenian community come out to show their support. He added that the vigil was meaningful to commemorate the young soldiers who lost their lives defending the region.

Juharyan added that he hopes the event motivates more members of the community to become involved.

“I hope they can take some action,” he said. “Whether through donation or being involved in communities, … for the ultimate goal of returning to Artsakh.”