"We condemn the groundless and slanderous statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia on January 15, 2025, claiming that crimes were committed against Armenians in the Azerbaijan SSR. The tone of the statement is also reminiscent of Armenia's rhetoric before the Second Garabagh War," noted in the statement of the Western Azerbaijan Community, APA reports.
"First of all, let us emphasize that the state that committed ethnic cleansing is Armenia. The well-known speech of Levon Ter-Petrosyan as president in 1993, whose years of power coincided with the occupation of Azerbaijani lands and the majority of the policy of ethnic cleansing against Azerbaijanis, once again confirms that ethnic cleansing against Azerbaijanis is Armenia's state policy.
It is also worth recalling that L. Ter-Petrosyan stated in that speech that the migration of Armenians from the Azerbaijan SSR was organized by Armenia itself. The relevant excerpt from L. Ter-Petrosyan's speech is given below:
"If the movement had not started on time, today 500 thousand Armenians would have remained in Azerbaijan. Even if they were not physically destroyed, this would have been the most powerful lever to bring Armenia to its knees. A significant part of them, more than 300 thousand people, found refuge in Armenia. This was also a national problem, a large-scale problem that was solved thanks to our movement."
All this proves that by organizing the migration of Armenians from the Azerbaijani territories, the occupation of which Armenia did not consider possible, it aimed to eliminate the experience of peaceful coexistence of representatives of the two peoples and to create a mono-ethnic state in Armenia.
Instead of making slanderous and hateful statements, the Armenian government should put an end to its racism and mono-ethnic policy, create conditions for the return of Western Azerbaijanis, and restore the multi-ethnic environment there," the statement emphasized.
