Armenian students allege censorship after UC Berkeley Law postpones documentary screening

• Lily Button | Senior staff
• Apr 29, 2025 (DailyCal.org)

The Berkeley Law Human Rights Center, or HRC, postponed a screening for a documentary set during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, which was originally set to be held April 24, Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day. 

The HRC postponed the event the day before it was scheduled, citing safety concerns. Days before the postponement, the consulate of Azerbaijan sent the HRC a now-leaked email urging campus to cancel the event. The event was to be co-hosted by the UC Berkeley Armenian Students’ Association, or ASA. 

The documentary, “My Sweet Land,” follows the displacement of an 11-year-old child during the 2020 conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Many Armenian students have expressed their disappointment with the HRC for postponing the film, calling the HRC’s actions “censorship.” Armenian ASUC Senator Tony Ordoukhanian said he “expected more” from a campus that champions academic freedom. 

“To have a commemorative event silenced on this exact day is not only painful—it is an affront to the dignity of the Armenian people,” Ordoukhanian wrote in a statement. 

Opponents of the event included three UC Berkeley School of Law students: Jeyhun Khalilov, Murad Gurbanov and Ingilab Huseynzade. Khalilov and Gurbanov are pursuing their master’s degrees at Berkeley Law through full scholarships funded by the Azerbaijani government. The students escalated their concerns to the HRC last week, claiming that the intended date of the screening, April 24, problematically linked the 1915 “events,” recognized by the United States as the Armenian genocide, with the Second Nagorno-Karabakh war.

“The screening of this movie on a specific date aimed to accuse Azerbaijan of genocide and nothing else,” the students said in an email. 

In the email, the students called the film’s use of the term “Artsakh” to describe the Nagorno-Karabakh region “complete disrespect to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan,” noting the region’s international recognition as Azerbaijani land. The term originates from periods of Armenian control over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. 

The law students claim they want to contextualize the documentary within a longer history of violence against the Azerbaijani people, including major events in 1905-06, 1918, 1988-1994 and 2023. They now ask to hold a joint event to engage in “constructive dialogue” about the film. The students also alleged receiving “harassment and personal attacks” from campus Armenian students after the event was canceled. 

In an email, Gasim Shirinli, spokesperson for the consulate general of Azerbaijan, said the documentary excludes the “plight of Azerbaijanis who underwent ethnic cleansing and mass killings by Armenia’s armed forces who illegally occupied around 20% of Azerbaijan’s territories.”

In an email to The Daily Californian, Shirinli confirmed the leaked message he sent to the HRC urging for the cancellation of the event. He alleged the documentary “misuses” children to perpetuate conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia and that those responsible for leaking the email served a “radical political agenda.”  

However, several ASA members pointed to the film’s “anti-inflammatory” and “nonradical” messaging. Sophia Papazian, the ASA public relations chair, said the documentary captures themes of displacement, struggle and resilience, while ASA co-president Gaik Mkrtchian highlighted the film’s “peaceful” portrayal of the sadness of war. 

The HRC maintains that it based its decision to postpone the event because of safety concerns, rather than the film’s content or perspective. 

“The postponement was necessary due to logistical constraints, staff availability, and the need to comply with important policies governing the use of law school spaces,” said Berkeley Law spokesperson Alex Shapiro in an email.

According to a statement on the HRC’s website, the center received notice of anticipated protests from “several sources.” The HRC updated the statement on April 29 to acknowledge its receipt of the email from the Azerbaijani consulate, though it claims the email did not impact the decision to postpone the event beyond the security concerns. 

Papazian questioned whether security was the actual basis for canceling the event, claiming that the ASA offered to cooperate with UCPD to secure the event, but the HRC denied the offer. Rather, Papazian alleged in an email that “foreign pressure was the root cause of the event cancellation.”

“No institution that claims to champion human rights and free speech should succumb to a foreign government’s attempt to suppress survivor testimony and historical record,” Papazian said in an email.

Mkrtchian said the HRC’s actions sparked “gloat(ing)” by Azerbaijani news sources. He said the postponement was the “final blow” on Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, as students attempt to stay connected to their culture while away from home. 

The HRC issued a statement on its website apologizing for the “deep pain” they caused members of the Armenian community given the timing of the decision. After postponing the screening with no confirmed date, the HRC has now confirmed a date, September 18. 

ASA members are continuing to demand recognition. Mkrtchian said the ASA hosted an independent screening of the film last Thursday, and Ordoukhanian said he was writing letters to campus administration to demand better representation for Armenian students. 

“The decision to cancel this screening under external political pressure sends a chilling message to Armenian students and Berkeley students as a whole: that our stories are too controversial to be told and that the truth is negotiable,” Papazian said in her email.

This article was updated at 4:12 p.m.

Clarification 4/29/2025: A previous version of this article incorrectly implied that Shirinli called the screening part of a “radical political agenda.” In fact, this was said in reference to those who leaked the message to the HRC.