Azerbaijani Authorities Continue Open Propaganda of Hatred and Hostility Against Armenians: Human Rights Defender

The highest bodies of the Azerbaijani government continue their open propaganda of hatred and hostility against Armenians.

1. The President of Azerbaijan continues to generate hatred against the entire Armenian people through his public statements, making threats directed at the entire population of Armenia, and using offensive and hate-inciting expressions.

2. In particular, during a military event held in Baku on December 10, 2020, the President of Azerbaijan made a public speech filled with systemic hatred towards the Armenian people and explicit threats of genocide. Furthermore, during the same event, President Erdoğan of Turkey made a speech praising the organizers and perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide, directed more overt threats towards the lives of the Armenian people.

The Human Rights Defender of Armenia, in a public statement on the same day, already presented the grave consequences of those two speeches not only for the people of Armenia but also for the international system of human rights protection.

3. It is particularly condemnable that after those speeches, the Azerbaijani President expressed identical sentiments in the presence of the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group from France and the USA, thus addressing an international audience during a meeting with international figures on December 12, 2020.

4. The Azerbaijani President's speech on December 12, 2020, was filled with expressions that incite hatred and hostility, accompanied by explicit threats of mass violence against Armenians. In this speech, regarding Armenia, he stated: “(...) if Armenian fascism raises its head again, we will crush its head with an iron fist.” This was specifically done referring back to his speech during the military event in Baku on December 10.

5. Ethnically and religiously charged expressions generating hatred against Armenians were used in the same speech.

6. The Azerbaijani President further stated in the same speech on December 12 that his explicit threats against the entire population of Armenia should be conveyed to the international community, and he did this in a public speech in front of international figures.

7. The expressions that sow hatred and enmity are a clear continuation of the Azerbaijani President's previous public statements and speeches. For example, he once declared that “Armenia is a country without value. It is a colony, a territory governed from abroad.” In another instance, he referred to Armenians as wild beasts and predators. Throughout his speeches regarding Armenia and the Armenian people, there is constant mention of “Armenian fascism,” which serves to offend the Armenian people and incite hatred against Armenians within Azerbaijan.

8. The studies conducted by the staff of the Human Rights Defender of Armenia, and the collected evidence confirm that after such speeches by the Azerbaijani President, Azerbaijani media and social media are flooded with similar expressions filled with hatred and hostility not only towards Armenia but towards the entire Armenian nation.

9. According to the Human Rights Defender of Armenia, such speeches have, over the years, formed an institutional system of propaganda of hatred and hostility based on ethnic belonging against Armenians in Azerbaijan, alongside an explicit encouragement of impunity and support for it at the highest state level. The official glorification of murderers of Armenians in Azerbaijan has reached a point where even the country’s Human Rights Commissioner (Ombudsman) publicly stated in a European Union member country about Ramil Safarov, who brutally killed an Armenian soldier with an axe in 2004, that he should serve as a patriotic example for Azerbaijan’s youth.

10. Such statements are a direct cause of the brutal crimes committed by the Azerbaijani armed forces against humanity during the wars of September-November 2020, which are beyond the imagination of humanity in terms of severity.

11. The expert analysis of videos documenting these violent crimes undertaken by the staff of the Human Rights Defender of Armenia confirms that Azerbaijani military personnel use identical expressions as the President when torturing Armenian soldiers or civilians, or when cutting parts from the bodies of the deceased.

12. Thus, the aforementioned speeches by the Azerbaijani President directly confirm war and humanity-related crimes and atrocities that the Azerbaijani armed forces have committed during the wars in April 2016, September-November 2020, and at other times, and continue to commit to this day. These speeches also confirm that these actions are a result of organized state policy in Azerbaijan aimed at ethnic cleansing and genocidal policies against Armenians using terrorism methods.

13. Of particular concern for the Human Rights Defender of Armenia is that the President of Azerbaijan made speeches full of insults and propaganda of hostility against the Armenian people in the presence of international figures on December 12, 2020, and remarkably, he has not faced any condemnation from any of those figures.

14. The Human Rights Defender believes that such contemptible indifference from the international community towards the propaganda of hatred and hostility is one of the main preconditions that has led to systematic and extensive torture and atrocities committed by the Azerbaijani armed forces against Armenians.

15. Such extremely dangerous phenomena should be subjected to strict condemnation by the international community. It must be noted that all of this violates fundamental principles of international law and undermines the entire framework of international human rights and humanitarian protection.

16. Impunity leads to new atrocities and tortures.

17. The international community, especially international bodies tasked with human rights protection, must demonstrate their commitment to their mission and continue to adhere to the international rules they have set.

18. This statement by the Human Rights Defender of Armenia is motivated by the necessity of recording, analyzing, and presenting to the international community the gross violations of the lives, property, and other rights of Armenians committed by the Azerbaijani armed forces, the real causes and contributing conditions that have led to the torture and atrocities of detained military personnel and civilians. This is also necessary because these violations have long-term or lifelong adverse effects on their victims (permanent disabilities, physical and psychological suffering on torture survivors and their families, etc.).

Arman Tatoyan

Human Rights Defender of Armenia