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“Our goal is the complete elimination of Armenians. You, Nazis, already eliminated the Jews in the 1930s and 1940s, right? You should be able to understand us.”
2005 remarks of Hajibala Abutalybov, the mayor of Baku, to a municipal delegation from Bavaria, Germany
“I am sure that there will come a time when our compatriots from Western Azerbaijan, their relatives, children and grandchildren will return to our historical land, to Western Azerbaijan [Armenia]…Western Azerbaijan is our historical land, which is confirmed by a number of historical documents, historical maps and our history itself. Work should be done focused and based on a single concept and policy… And the primary objective is our return. Now the Great Return Program for Karabakh is being implemented. Inshallah, there will come a time when we will develop a second Great Return Program.”
December 24, 2022 remarks of President Ilham Aliyev during a meeting with self-proclaimed representatives of so-called “Western Azerbaijan,” an expansionist term for the Republic of Armenia.
Brief Background
Throughout the course of its decades-long authoritarian rule, the Aliyev regime has made anti-Armenian hatred part of Azerbaijani state policy. During the 20th century, Azerbaijan not only played a role in the Armenian Genocide perpetrated during the Turkish Ottoman Empire and then ethnically cleansed Armenians from the Nakhichevan region during the Soviet era, but also began the process of eliminating Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh and Armenia. This policy has included both physical aggression against Armenian civilians and the destruction of their cultural heritage, as well as rhetoric aimed at legitimizing racism, ethnic cleansing, and genocide against Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh, which is well-documented. This has intensified with support from the Erdogan regime in Turkey and jihadist mercenaries imported to aid the effort. This fact sheet includes only a selection of representative, public quotes revealing genocidal intent and the establishment of a racist culture by top leaders.
Statements
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On January 10, 2023, President Aliyev told journalists that 2023 is “the last chance” for Armenia, because “2024 is coming, and then Russia's peacekeeping mission ends in 2025. They need to see a little further than their nose.”
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In a September 19, 2022, Facebook post which he later deleted, Tural Ganjaliyev, a member of the Azerbaijani parliament purporting to represent Stepanakert, wrote: “The Goycha-Zangazur Republic [encompassing the Armenian provinces of Syunik and Gegharkunik] will be a vital element in achieving a just peace and stability in the region. Long Live the Goycha-Zangazur Republic!”
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On September 15, 2022, Turkish parliamentarian Mustafa Destici stated at a press conference in Turkey: “We say to the Armenian administration, make up your mind. I remind you once again that the Turkish nation has the power to erase Armenia from history and geography, and that they stand at the limit of our patience.”
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On August 12, 2022, President Aliyev stated during an interview on Azeri public television that “Armenians living in Karabakh will not have any status, independence or advantages.”
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On June 22, 2022, President Aliyev stated: “If Armenia still clings to its old tactics in the process of demarcation and tries to prolong it, it will regret it. We are closely watching the actions of revanchist forces in Armenia. Let them know that too. My words are written at the top of that mountain: ‘The Iron Fist is in place; let no one forget about that.’”
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On August 16, 2021, President Aliyev made the following remark during an interview with CNN Turk: “Armenia’s new Minister of Defense made very reckless statements that if the Azerbaijani side trespassed Armenia’s border by one centimeter, then they would open fire. In other words, it seems that the Second Karabakh War has not been a lesson for everyone yet. If this is the case, then we are ready to teach them another lesson.”
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On July 22, 2021, President Aliyev stated: “The Azerbaijani people are rightly unhappy to see statements … made in France and America to the effect that the conflict must be resolved. I am again telling them that I, the president of Azerbaijan, have already resolved that issue, period. There is no Nagorno-Karabakh.”
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In an October 4, 2020 televised address, President Aliyev stated: “We are driving them away like dogs! Azerbaijani soldiers drive them away like dogs!"
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In 2020, Nurlan Ibrahimov, the Public Relations Manager for the Qarabag FK Soccer Club, one of the most popular sports teams in Azerbaijan, made the following statement on social media: “We must kill all Armenians – children, women and the elderly. We need to kill them without making a distinction. No regrets. No compassion.”
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On January 29, 2015, President Aliyev tweeted that “Armenia is not even a colony, it is not even worthy of being a servant."
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In 2004, Azerbaijani Defense Minister Safar Abiyev stated that “Within the next 25 years there will be no state of Armenia in the South Caucasus. These people have no right to live in this region. Modern Armenia was built on historical Azerbaijani lands. I think that in 25-30 years its territory will again come under Azerbaijan’s jurisdiction.”