Azerbaijani President's Speeches are Evidence of Genocidal Policy, Human Rights Defender to Appeal to International Organizations

The Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia, Arman Tatoyan, considers the opening of the "park" dedicated to the Artsakh war on April 12 and the speeches of the Azerbaijani president on April 13 as evidence of high-level hatred and enmity against the entire population of Armenia and Artsakh, based on ethnic and religious grounds.

According to Tatoyan, the opening of the Azerbaijani president's "park" and today's speeches are proof of fascism and genocidal policy. The Human Rights Defender has presented notable excerpts from Aliyev's speech.

1) Quotations from the speech (Baku, April 12, 2021): "We have presented ourselves to the world as a victorious people. Meanwhile, Armenia is a defeated country, a country that has kneeled before us, a country with its head and neck bowed, and it will always be like that. When we see their atrocities, we are horrified. (...) They kept cows and pigs in mosques, humiliated the entire Muslim world, destroyed graves, dug up graves and pulled out the golden teeth of the buried people. If this is not barbaric, then what is? Perhaps barbaric is still a mild term. The whole world has seen what their main ideological factor was: supposedly they are a small but civilized people with great civilization, surrounded by wild Muslims. This was said in every corner of Europe. In Russia, everyone was saying, 'Help us, or else we will be suffocated here.' Now everyone has seen what its civilization is, what its culture is, what its morality is. He is a barbarian who destroys graves, digs up, takes the golden teeth of the dead and keeps pigs in a mosque; he has no other name."

"I had said that the first Armenian state [referring to present-day Armenia] was established on our historical land. One of the first decisions of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1918 was to give Yerevan to Armenia and make it the capital. I condemned this. I said it was treachery, an unforgivable betrayal. The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic has done great services to the Azerbaijani people, but we should not conceal history; we must know it. We should know that from 1918 to 1920 (...) we gifted Yerevan to Armenia. Meanwhile, representatives from Yerevan were opposing this. No one paid attention to their voice."

"In the battlefield (...) the Armenian army was destroyed. An army with ten thousand deserters is a disgrace. They chained their soldiers in combat positions so that they would not flee. This is barbarism, savagery against one’s own soldier."

"The lands could have remained under the feet of Armenians forever. (...) We had to put Armenia in a deadlock. We arranged all transport, communication, and energy routes in such a way that it would be out of Armenia. (...) Armenia fell into a deadlock. This itself led to the fact that mass emigration began from Armenia. When there is emigration, the market shrinks, and when the market shrinks, no one invests. One must be crazy to invest in Armenia during those years, especially now."

2) Excerpts from yesterday's speech at the event titled "A New Look at the South Caucasus: Development and Cooperation after the Conflict" held at ADA University (Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy, Baku, April 10-13, 2021): "We want the younger generation to know that Zangezur is the historical land of Azerbaijan. Zangezur was given to Armenia in 1920, 101 years ago. Until then, that area was ours. They call Lake Goycha Lake Sevan. Just look at the map from the beginning of the 20th century, and you will not see Sevan there. The same applies to Yerevan. They destroyed the historical part of Yerevan. This is an obvious fact; Azerbaijanis, including my ancestors, lived there. I have said that we will return there. I did not say we will return with tanks. I said we will return. If we are returning to the Zangezur corridor, if we are using that road, then why not return to Yerevan? The time will come; we will do it. I express my position."

In general, the Azerbaijani president's speeches from yesterday's "park" opening and today's statements are evidence of high-level hatred and enmity towards the entire population of Armenia and Artsakh, based on both ethnic and religious grounds. In them, there is a constant emphasis on the superiority of the Azerbaijani people (morality, intellectual abilities, etc.) over the entire population of Armenia and Artsakh, at the expense of public humiliation of their dignity and blatant distortion of historical facts. These are the foundations of fascism and genocidal policies that underlie Azerbaijani atrocities and brutalities, torture. As the Human Rights Defender of Armenia, I emphasize that no government of the Republic of Armenia at any time has ever directed a state policy of hatred or hostility toward the Azerbaijani people or ordinary people living in Azerbaijan, and does not do so today.

The excerpts from the Azerbaijani president's speeches are currently being translated in the Human Rights Defender's office and will be sent, with appropriate emphasis, to international organizations, including intergovernmental human rights bodies, and will also be used in our analyses and human rights recommendations," said Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan.