Armenian National Institute
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March 27, 2024
Report Created by the Genocide Watch Artsakh Team
On September 19, 2023, Azerbaijan began what it called an “anti-terrorist campaign” and started shelling Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh). Azerbaijani forces killed at least 200 people and left over 400 people wounded. Left with little hope for survival if they stayed in Artsakh, over 100,000 ethnic Armenians fled the region to seek safety in Armenia. This episode of forced displacement came after Artsakhtsi Armenians suffered months of starvation under the Azerbaijani blockade of the Lachin corridor.
Why is Azerbaijan referring to its attacks on Artsakh as an “anti-terrorist campaign?” The answer is that Azerbaijani propaganda uses the term “terrorists” to dehumanize all Armenians, including ordinary civilians. According to Freedom House, Azerbaijan is ranked as a “Not Free” society. On a scale of 0-6 points — with 0 being the worst and 6 being the best — Azerbaijan ranks as a 1 in terms of upholding the rights to freedom of expression and press freedom. In 2012, a once-celebrated Azerbaijani author named Akram Aylisli wrote a book titled Stone Dreams. His novel tells the story of an Azerbaijani man who grapples with the violence that his Armenian neighbors face. The contents of Stone Dreams angered the Azerbaijani government because it portrayed Armenians in a more humanizing light. As a result, Aylisli’s books were publicly burned and Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev removed Aylisli’s title as the “People’s Writer.”
Azerbaijani propaganda spreads its influence outside the country. The BBC, for example, broadcasted a film titled Wonders of Azerbaijan that received support and funding by Azerbaijan and British Petroleum (BP). The film downplayed the human rights violations of the Aliyev dictatorship. One Israeli writer even expressed her support for Azerbaijan’s September 2023 shelling campaign, explaining that the country’s actions are justifiable because Azerbaijan has a right to “reclaim” land that belongs to the country. Her account reveals the danger that Azerbaijani propaganda presents for the safety of the Armenian people.
Azerbaijan has violent plans for the future. By 2026, it plans to “re-settle” 140,000 Azerbaijanis into abandoned Armenian homes in Artsakh. Armenian cultural heritage sites located in Artsakh, such as the famous “We are Our Mountains” statue, are slated for destruction. It is imperative for policymakers and human rights leaders to take a stand against the destruction of Armenian life and culture. That starts with learning to separate propaganda from reality.
Falsehood: No one forced Armenians to leave Artsakh. Armenians left of their own accord.
Reality: Armenians in Artsakh left under the threat of genocide.
According to Azerbaijani propaganda, the September 19-20th attacks succeeded in ridding Artsakh of “terrorists.” According to Azerbaijan’s propaganda, the Armenians would now be able to live freely under Azerbaijan.
In reality, Azerbaijani military targeted civilians during their September 19 attack. Azerbaijani soldiers post videos of themselves harassing Armenians, shooting at civilian homes, and mutilating corpses.
The Azerbaijani people are taught from childhood that Armenians are their enemy.
According to the ICC, the war crime of forced displacement includes a coercive environment in which people leave due to threats, not just physical force. The Armenians of Artsakh experienced both forms of persecution.
This violence occurred after a ten month long starvation campaign. According to a Rapid Needs Assessment conducted during the blockade of the Lachin corridor, only 5.2% of Artsakh’s residents planned to leave once the road was opened. The overwhelming majority of Artsakh’s people indicated that they would stay. Azerbaijan’s genocidal threat intimidated the Armenian people into leaving their ancestral homeland.
Falsehood: All Azeri attacks are counter-terror measures.
Reality: Azerbaijan targeted civilians in pre-planned attacks.
Azerbaijani schoolbooks have called Armenians “terrorists” since the early 2000s to create a wide-spread narrative against Armenians. During the 2020 war, Azerbaijan media falsely claimed that Armenia perpetrated environmental terrorism against Azerbaijan, mirroring the claims made by Azerbaijani “environmental activists” in late 2022 that lead to the blockade of the Lachin corridor. Azerbaijan also made claims in 2020 that accused Armenia of targeting children. These claims were repeated in 2023 when Azerbaijan called its attacks “counter-terror” operations.
In 2023, Azerbaijan attacked Armenian children in Sarnaghbuyr. Children must not be military targets under the Geneva Conventions. These war crimes show “genocidal mirroring” in which Azerbaijan commits the very actions that it accuses Armenia of committing.
The Azerbaijani military perpetrates war crimes against ethnic Armenians and POWs with the aid of mercenaries. Azerbaijan has scrubbed its presidential website to delete direct quotes by Aliyev in which he admits to initiating the 2020 war and states that he attacked Artsakh and Armenia because he is “not afraid of anyone.” He admits the 2022 attacks were unprovoked. Aliyev’s own statements disprove Azerbaijan’s claims that its attacks were counter-terror measures.
Falsehood: Armenia has not followed international law. Azerbaijan has.
Reality: Azerbaijan commits war crimes against Armenians civilians.
The ceasefire put into place in 2020 is fragile. Since the 2020 War, both Armenia and Azerbaijan have broken the ceasefire. This includes the use of banned weapons by both Azerbaijan and Armenia in civilian areas. Azerbaijan has committed additional war crimes since 2020, such as the torture of POWS, execution of POWs, mutilating corpses, beheading villagers, vandalism of cultural heritage, and use of white phosphorus. Videos of abuse perpetrated by Azerbaijani military against elderly and disabled civilians have been disseminated on social media and verified. By seizing the Lachin corridor, Azerbaijan crossed into Armenian territory, ignoring peacekeepers' calls to return to their original positions. Azerbaijan also impeded humanitarian aid from entering Artsakh. It violated the 2020 ceasefire agreement by blocking the movement of Artsakh citizens into Armenia. It directly violated Article 6 of the ceasefire agreement, which stated: “The Republic of Azerbaijan shall guarantee the security of persons, vehicles and cargo moving along the Lachin Corridor in both directions.”
Falsehood: Present-day Armenia is Azerbaijani land, according to by Azerbaijani President Aliyev.
Reality: Armenians are indigenous to the Armenian Highlands, which includes Transcaucasia.
Azerbaijani state-run media claims that Armenia, even its capital, Yerevan, is "Western Azerbaijan." This is a pan-Turkic irredentist political campaign. Even when Artsakh and Armenia were under the Soviet Union, their leadership always remained Armenian. In their territories, Armenians have always been the majority ethnic group. For the first time in 5,000 years, there are no more Armenians left in Artsakh.
Western media facilitates the continued Azeri propaganda by framing the expulsions of Armenians from Artsakh as the result of a “territorial dispute.” This narrative falsely legitimizes Azerbaijan’s genocidal aggression. It denies that Armenians in Artsakh were forcibly displaced from their ancestral homes.
This denial also questions the legitimacy of Armenia’s claim to Syunik, and other internationally recognized Armenian regions. Azerbaijan’s attack on Armenia proper is imminent. The denial that Azerbaijan’s takeover of Artsakh was illegitimate provides a green light for Azerbaijan’s military aggression against the weaker state of Armenia. The Armenian Genocide of 1915-1922 also used forcible displacement as a tactic for genocide, in the deportation of Armenians to the Syrian desert in 1915.
Falsehood: Ethnic minorities have equal rights under Azerbaijan.
Reality: Armenophobia is Azerbaijani government policy, according to Genocide Watch and the Lemkin Institute.
Armenians once made up a significant portion of Azerbaijan's population, contributing to the culture of Baku and the industry of Sumgait. The 1979 Soviet census of Azerbaijan reported that 352,410 Armenians lived in Baku.
After the Baku and Sumgait pogroms of 1990, the remaining Armenian population escaped to Russia and Armenia.
Aliyev claims that Armenians are a flourishing minority in Azerbaijan. In reality, the 2009 Azerbaijani census counted only 217 Armenians still living in Azerbaijan. Aliyev has portrayed his country as a multiethnic protector of human rights. According to Azerbaijan’s own statistics, Azerbaijan no longer tolerates minorities. Minorities have no access to human rights under Azerbaijan law. Armenian cultural heritage is subject to systematic destruction.
Armenophobia is rampant in Azerbaijan, through educational brainwashing of children and official dehumanization of Armenians. During the Lachin Corridor blockade, the ICJ and European Court of Human Rights issued binding orders to unblock the Lachin Corridor; Azerbaijan refused to comply with both. A country that upholds the human rights of minorities should at the very least comply with international law.
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