URU, Alm.del - 2024-25 - Bilag 99: Henvendelse af 10. januar 2025 fra Azerbaijans parlament om forholdet mellem Armenien og Azerbaijan

Udenrigsudvalget 2024-25
URU Alm.del Bilag 99
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AZƏRBAYCAN RESPUBLİKASININ MİLLİ MƏCLİSİ

MILLI MAJLIS OF THE REPUBLIC OF AZERBAIJAN

Beynəlxalq Münasibətlər və Parlamentlərarası Əlaqələr Komitəsi

Committee on Foreign and Interparliamentary Relations

№ 1-6/09-1/2-06/2025 dp

“8” January 2025

To the Members of the Denmark-Azerbaijan Parliamentary Friendship Group of the

Parliament of Denmark

Dear Colleagues,

It is with deep concern that we address this letter to draw your attention to the grave

humanitarian and human rights violations that have been committed against the Azerbaijani

people by the Republic of Armenia. As is well-documented, the conflict that Armenia started in

1987 has caused immense suffering to Azerbaijanis. Over one million Azerbaijanis were

forcibly displaced from their homes as a result of Armenia's aggressive policies. Unlike other

conflicts where displacement occurs as an unintended consequence, the displacement of

Azerbaijanis was the result of Armenia’s deliberate policy of ethnic cleansing and territorial

expansion.

The root cause of these atrocities lies in the deeply entrenched racism within Armenia's

political establishment. Racism has been normalized and institutionalized as the state policy in

Armenia. Armenia conducted total and systematic ethnic cleansing in the Armenian territory

and the Azerbaijani lands that were under occupation for nearly three decades. In addition to

expelling Azerbaijanis, Armenia engaged in the widespread destruction of Azerbaijani cultural

heritage, exploitation of natural resources, looting of public and private property, and the

deliberate contamination of Azerbaijani territories with landmines.

Recently, a video recording of a speech delivered on July 23, 1993, by Levon Ter-

Petrosyan, then-President of Armenia, has surfaced. In this speech, President Ter-Petrosyan

described the ethnic cleansing of Azerbaijanis from Armenia and the occupied Azerbaijani

territories as a historic achievement. Without further comment, we present the relevant excerpt

of President Ter-Petrosyan’s statement as it was:

"Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh solved a problem the Armenian people had been unable

to address for 600 years. Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh have been completely cleansed of

other ethnicities. I say again, this was a 600-year-old problem, and its significance will be felt

by the Armenian people for another 600 years. Imagine if today there were those 180,000 non-

Armenians in Armenia – today we would not have a state. We would not be able to protect

Zangezur, safeguard our northeastern regions, or preserve the shores of Lake Sevan. We

URU, Alm.del - 2024-25 - Bilag 99: Henvendelse af 10. januar 2025 fra Azerbaijans parlament om forholdet mellem Armenien og Azerbaijan

would have several new autonomies here. Let us recall that Azerbaijanis were the majority in

three regions: Vardenis, Masis, and Amasia – and they were numerous throughout the

Zangezur zone. This problem has been resolved."

This statement by the then-sitting president during whose rule the occupation and much of

those ethnic cleansing occurred is an extraordinary piece of evidence proving Armenia’s

systematic policy of ethnic cleansing and dangerous ideology of racial hatred that has fueled

its actions. The statement proves the deliberate intent (mens rea) behind the ethnic cleansing

and occupation, the state responsibility of Armenia, and a coordinated plan demonstrating the

systematic and organized nature of those crimes against humanity and breach of peace.

It must be emphasized that, regardless of who has been in power in Armenia, this policy

has continued unabated. Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s successor, former President Robert

Kocharyan, himself a ruthless warlord, propagated outrageous and racist ideas of “ethnic and

genetic incompatibility” between Azerbaijanis and Armenians. Another former president and

warlord Serzh Sargsyan, openly boasted of his role in the massacre of Azerbaijani civilians in

Khojaly in 1992. The current Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, who once pursued annexationist

policies under the slogan “Karabakh is Armenia,” actually continues the racist policy by his

predecessors refusing to enable the return of Azerbaijanis expelled from Armenia.

The international community, including parliaments, should not remain indifferent to such

unprecedented state-level racism and human rights violations. As a member of the United

Nations and a party to numerous international human rights conventions, Armenia must be

held accountable for these actions.

We, therefore, kindly request you to condemn Armenia’s systematic policy of racial

discrimination and ethnic cleansing at the state level, to call on the Armenian government to

abandon its racist policies, to facilitate the safe and dignified return of expelled Azerbaijanis to

their homes in Armenia, and to that end to start dialogue with the Western Azerbaijan

Community – the organization uniting expelled Azerbaijanis from Armenia.

We believe that addressing this issue is essential for justice, stability, and lasting peace in

the region.

Thank you for your attention to this pressing matter.

Sincerely,

Samad SEYIDOV

Chairman of the Committee on Foreign and

Interparliamentary Relations