BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 8. The international community should not remain indifferent to racism and human rights violations committed by Armenia at the state level, the statement of the Initiative Group of the Parliament of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the return to West Azerbaijan said, Trend reports.
“The conflict initiated by Armenia in 1987 has inflicted unparalleled agony on the Azerbaijani populace. Over one million Azerbaijanis were displaced from their ancestral territories as a result of Armenia's belligerent attitude. The emergence of Azerbaijanis as refugees and internally displaced individuals was not an incidental consequence of the conflict but rather a direct outcome of ethnic cleansing meticulously executed by Armenia.
The basis of these crimes is deeply rooted racism in the political environment of Armenia. Racism in Armenia has been institutionalized as a state policy. This state has carried out total and systematic ethnic cleansing on its territory and on Azerbaijani lands that it held under occupation for thirty years. In addition, Armenia fully destroyed the cultural heritage of Azerbaijanis in these territories, plundered Azerbaijan's natural wealth and public and private property, and purposefully massively polluted Azerbaijani territories with mines.
However, ideology based on racial hatred, radical nationalism, and violent extremism is prone to lead to the commission of such large-scale and brutal crimes,” the statement reads.
Furthermore, it is noted that the video recording of former Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrosyan's speech, dating back to July 23, 1993, has appeared to prove it once again.
“In this speech, Ter-Petrosyan characterized the ethnic cleansing of Azerbaijanis from Armenia and the occupied Azerbaijani territories as a “historic achievement.”
“Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh have solved the problem that the Armenian people could not solve for more than 600 years. Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh have been completely cleansed of foreign nations. I repeat, this was a 600-year problem. The Armenian people will feel the importance of this for at least another 600 years. Imagine if there were 180,000 representatives of a foreign nation in Armenia today, as there were in 1988; we would not have a state today. We would not be able to defend Zangezur, our northeastern region, the coast of Sevan. Even here, several autonomys would have emerged. Remember that in three districts, Azerbaijanis were the majority: Vardenis, Masis, and Amasya. Zangezur had an excessive number of them. Now this problem has been solved,” Ter-Petrosyan states.
This statement, made by Levon Ter-Petrosyan as President and presenting as a state policy the occupation and ethnic cleansing that took place during his rule, unequivocally proves Armenia's responsibility as a state for the mentioned crimes and the systematic and organized commission of these crimes,” the statement stresses.
Additionally, it is noted that regardless of who was in power in Armenia, this policy continued unchanged. Levon Ter-Petrosian's successor, former president and bloody war criminal Robert Kocharyan promoted racist ideas such as the “ethnic and genetic discrepancy” between Azerbaijanis and Armenians.
“Another former president and war criminal Serzh Sargsyan openly boasted of his role in the 1992 massacre of Azerbaijani civilians in Khojaly and adopted the fascist ideology of Nazi General Garegin Njdeh as official state policy. Current Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who once pursued a policy of annexation, saying “Karabakh is Armenia”, continues the racist policies of his predecessors by preventing the return of Azerbaijanis expelled from Armenia.
In the context of the racist and revanchist policy pursued by Armenia at the state level, its current large-scale armament poses a serious threat to peace and security.
In an interview with Azerbaijani media on January 7, 2025, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev clearly outlined the scale of the threat posed by racism, violent extremism, revanchism, and militarism carried out by Armenia at the state level. We fully and unequivocally support President Ilham Aliyev's views on the establishment of peace and stability in the region and the demands addressed to Armenia. We also take this opportunity to express our deep gratitude to the Head of State for his firm support for the peaceful, safe, and dignified return of Western Azerbaijanis to their homeland,” the statement emphasized.
Also, it is noted that the international community, including parliaments, should not remain indifferent to the racism and human rights violations committed by Armenia at the state level, as well as its rapid and full-scale armament.
“Armenia, as a member of the UN and a party to many international human rights conventions, must be held responsible for these actions, and its arming must be prevented.
We urge the international community to condemn the systematic racism and ethnic cleansing policy pursued by Armenia at the state level and demand that the Armenian government immediately stop arming, abandon racist policies, ensure the safe and dignified return of Western Azerbaijanis to their homeland, and start a dialog with the Western Azerbaijan Community for this purpose,” the statement concludes.
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