Aliyev's Speech Contains Overt Threats Towards Armenia and Armenian Society: Armenia's Human Rights Defender

On January 7, the President of Azerbaijan used terms and emphases in his speech summarizing 2020 that are part of the organized propaganda of hatred against Armenians and hostility towards the Armenian people, stated Armenia's Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan.

"In particular, the speech contained overt threats directed at Armenia and Armenian society, expressions that intimidate the entire Armenian people and insult their dignity. This also relates to the isolation of Artsakh and the disruption of humanitarian aid to Artsakh, which in turn violates the internationally recognized principle that no one or anyone's rights should be overlooked, regardless of the political status of the territory.

The Human Rights Defender of Armenia finds it necessary to record that the President of Azerbaijan's speech should be viewed in the context that the entire duration of the war from September to November 2020 was accompanied by gross violations of the lives and health of Armenian military personnel and civilians, their property, and other internationally recognized rights by Azerbaijani armed forces, causing massive destruction to Armenian peaceful settlements. Similar violations were also recorded during various periods before this war.

The formulations and emphases of this speech must also be viewed in the context of the condemnable actions that Azerbaijani military forces have carried out against our border residents and, in general, against our people in recent days. This is clearly evident from just a few examples that stem from alerts addressed to the Human Rights Defender by border residents, as well as constant monitoring by the Defender's office: 1) The installation of a sign with the inscription 'Welcome to Azerbaijan' and a map that includes parts of the Republic of Armenia on the road connecting the two communities of Goris and Vorotan in Armenia's Syunik province, done in a way that intimidates the peaceful residents. 2) The placing of Azerbaijani flags on civilian houses in peaceful settlements in Syunik and the publication of videos that blatantly insult peaceful residents, also with the aim of intimidating them, among others.

These provocations against peaceful residents are carried out against the backdrop of crimes against humanity and war crimes that Azerbaijani armed forces have committed against the Armenian people during this war. Therefore, I call on the international community to pay attention to the fact that the formulations and emphases of the Azerbaijani president's speech from January 7, 2021, violate international humanitarian law and, in general, international human rights law. They are absolutely condemnable as they continue to encourage hatred and hostility against the Armenian people at the highest levels of the state," Tatoyan's statement reads.