Statements
31 March 2025, 11:26
Today, the people of Azerbaijan mournfully mark March 31 – the Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis. Azerbaijanis from Western Azerbaijan, who became victims of total ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity committed by Armenia, remember this date with deep mourning. The massacre committed against Azerbaijanis on March 31, 1918 in Baku is a horrific illustration of the large-scale genocide committed against our people in various periods on historical Azerbaijani lands.
As noted in the Decree of the national leader Heydar Aliyev "On the genocide of Azerbaijanis", signed on March 26, 1998, genocide against Azerbaijanis has been carried out for centuries and its main goal was the destruction of Azerbaijanis as an ethnic group with the subsequent seizure of historical Azerbaijani territories.
That Armenian political associations, armed formations, and later state bodies of Armenia, based on ethnic hatred and racist ideology, carried out a systematic policy of genocide against Azerbaijanis, committed massacres in various regions, forcibly expelled Azerbaijanis from their native places and systematically destroyed their cultural heritage.
Acts of genocide against the Azerbaijani people were committed in almost all parts of the historical Azerbaijani territories. In 1918-1920, mass reprisals against the Muslim population were carried out and ethnic cleansing was carried out in Baku, Shamakhi, Guba, Karabakh, Nakhchivan, Lankaran, Yerevan, Zangezur, Goyche, Daralayaz, Surmeli and other regions.
As a result of the acts of genocide, which claimed hundreds of thousands of victims, Azerbaijanis, who previously constituted more than 80 percent of the population in Armenia, became an ethnic minority by 1921. The ethnic cleansing carried out in 1948-1953 and 1987-1991 ended with the complete expulsion of Azerbaijanis from these lands. Today, there is not a single Azerbaijani left in Armenia.
The seizure of 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory by Armenia in 1991-1994, the massacres committed on these lands, the expulsion of 800 thousand Azerbaijanis, the destruction of the cultural heritage of Azerbaijan - all these are components of the policy of genocide.
Unfortunately, instead of recognizing its responsibility and taking the necessary steps to achieve peace, justice and reconciliation, Armenia continues the policy of encouraging ethnic hatred and racism, taking actions that are contrary to peace. Garegin Nzhdeh, Andranik Ozanyan, Drastamat Kanayan, Monte Melkonyan and similar elements who committed such crimes against humanity and terrorist acts are glorified, and the ideology of Nzhdehism, which is a type of Nazism, is propagated at the state level. It is particularly regrettable that the Armenian government not only does not support the ongoing trial in Azerbaijan in connection with war crimes and crimes against humanity, but also tries to hinder it by all means, promoting impunity.
Moreover, by hindering the right of return of Azerbaijanis from Western Azerbaijan, Armenia continues its racist policy and seeks to preserve the mono-ethnic environment formed as a result of the genocide.
We call on the Armenian state to recognize its responsibility for acts of genocide, ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity and war crimes and to take the necessary steps for the sake of reconciliation. Armenia must create conditions for the safe and dignified return of the expelled Azerbaijanis and restore the destroyed Azerbaijani cultural heritage. Armenia must create conditions for the safe and dignified return of the expelled Azerbaijanis and restore the destroyed cultural heritage of Azerbaijan. Armenia must also stop its policy and practice of inciting hatred and discrimination against Azerbaijanis, bring to justice those who committed crimes against humanity, immediately stop their glorification, demolish monuments to military and political figures, terrorists who participated in crimes against Azerbaijanis, and annul decisions to change toponyms.
