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The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention


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Oct 4 2022
Statement on the Western Media Narrative Regarding Azerbaijan’s September 13 Attack on Armenia

October 4, 2022

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention is deeply disturbed by the harmful and often ill-informed media rhetoric used in the coverage of the unilateral unprovoked attack launched against the Republic of Armenia’s sovereign territory by the state of Azerbaijan. Since the beginning of Azerbaijan’s shelling of several eastern Armenian towns on September 13 – in violation of fundamental principles of international and humanitarian law – Western media outlets reporting on the attacks have used terms that downplay, ignore, or make light of Azerbaijani war crimes and the crime of aggression.

Western media outlets regularly utilize the same rhetorical devices that were mobilized in the reporting of Serb attacks on Bosniaks and the Hutu Power attacks on Tutsis in the 1990s – rhetoric which reframed genocidal assaults and plans as ancient hatreds and tribalism.

Given that Azerbaijan’s actions are militarily, strategically, and diplomatically supported by Turkey, a key NATO member, the Western press should show particular interest in ensuring that this conflict is accurately represented.

Much of the present media coverage fails to address the history of the conflict, specifically the complexities of the conflict in the contested territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. Nagorno-Karabakh (“Artsakh” to Armenians) is an ethnic Armenian enclave annexed by force, along with the territory of Nakhichevan, to Azerbaijan at the beginning of the 1920s under Soviet rule. It was formally annexed by Azerbaijan in the 1970s. Although Nagorno-Karabakh, like most of the South Caucasus region, was inhabited by an ethnically mixed population in the 1980s, Armenians have constituted the vast majority of its population for centuries and are considered indigenous to the region. In 1991, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Nagorno-Karabakh authorities held a referendum in which 99% of Artsakh’s population voted for independence from Azerbaijan. Although Nagorno-Karabakh is still currently internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, its majority Armenian population has claimed independence since 1920 and has been steadily advocating for the recognition of its right to self-determination under international law.

In the 1980s, when post-Soviet borders were being contested across the former empire, Azerbaijan violently repressed Artsakhsis who were peacefully advocating for independence. Azerbaijan further launched murderous pogroms against all Amenians living in Azerbaijani cities and towns as part of this repression, which began a process of flight that ended the long historical presence of Armenians in all territory controlled by Azerbaijan outside of Nagorno-Karabakh. In the face of abject brutality, which included a pattern of genocidal atrocities, ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh were convinced that there would be no respect for Armenian life in post-Soviet Azerbaijan. This started a war over Nagorno-Karabakh that has been ongoing – on and off – since the early 1990s. The first Nagorno-Karabakh war ended with an Armenian victory In 1994, after which Artsakh formally established a republican system of government with division of power in the 1990s. During the war in 2020, during which Azerbaijan committed horrific atrocity crimes against Armenian civilians and POWs, Azerbaijan regained much of the territory lost in 1994.

The well-funded Azerbaijani state propaganda campaign, brought to international attention in 2018 with investigative reports of President Ilham Aliev’s “caviar diplomacy” that was a part of the $2.5b “Azerbaijani Laundromat” scheme, continues to present a narrative of Azerbaijani victimization at the hands of racialized Armenian enemies. Much of this narrative is patently false and based on fictitious historical claims. Other aspects of the narrative, such as those around the so-called “Khojaly Genocide” and the “Gugark Massacre,” misleadingly frame and present events in ways meant to conceal Azerbaijan’s intentional stoking of ethnic grievances in the 1980s, its official incitement to violence against Armenians, and its genocidal rhetoric and aims in the region. While Azeris have legitimate grievances, and while this territorial conflict has caused tragic outcomes for Azeris as well as Armenians, there has never been genocidal intent on the part of Armenian statesmen nor has the Armenian state supported any crimes committed by individual Armenians (such as during the Gugark riot or the Khojali war crimes).

The ongoing conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh not only has caused the loss of life, but also has resulted in the systematic displacement of the indigenous Armenian population and the destruction of Armenian cultural heritage by Azeri forces in many areas of Artsakh under Azeri control as well as in other regions, such as Nakhichevan, the western Azerbaijan enclave nestled between Armenia and Turkey, where evidence of the historical Armenian presence (represented by ancient khachkars) has been completely eradicated. This massive cultural violence has been compared to vandalism against historical heritage committed by the Taliban in Afghanistan and ISIS in Syria. Not only do Azerbaijani state officials refuse to recognize the long historical presence of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh while sanctioning the destruction of all traces of this presence, but also they refuse to use the internationally-recognized geographic term “Nagorno-Karabakh,” referring instead to the area only as “Karabakh,” which claims it as an integral part of the eastern Azeri territory of Karabakh. This geographic designation has found itself into Western press reporting, with the consequence of supporting and advancing Azeri expansionist claims.

The reporting on the violence against Armenia stands in stark contrast with the reporting on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. At the outbreak of that war, the Western media was clear about which country was the aggressor. They offered in-depth analyses of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s speeches and other evidence of his attitude towards Ukraine and Ukrainians. While the South Caucasus is smaller and more distant from Europe than Ukraine, this is no excuse for ignoring Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev’s hateful rhetoric, reproducing Azerbaijani propaganda, sowing confusion about causation, and failing to adequately report on the facts on the ground.

The Lemkin Institute has identified a number of trends regarding the misleading, and therefore harmful, language used by media outlets regarding the conflict. The term “clash(es)” has been consistently used by the media since the 2020 war over Nagorno-Karabakh. The term itself cannot offer precise clarity about the details of the conflict, and it is often used as a breaking news “buzzword.” Its frequent use suggests that the conflict is playing itself out around incomprehensible issues that resist factual confirmation. For example, an Al Jazeera article from September 15, titled “Death toll in Azerbaijan-Armenia border clashes rises,” has the following subtitle: “United Nations welcomes ceasefire after 176 soldiers killed in two days of fighting, which each side blames on the other.” While it is true that each side blames the other, only one side invaded a sovereign state without provocation. On September 14, CNN ran the story “Ceasefire is short-lived as Azerbaijan and Armenia resume attacks,” which suggests that the decision to engage militarily was mutual, ignoring the spontaneity of Azerbaijan’s attack on the Republic of Armenia.

Other short-cut descriptors like “tensions'' and “flare up” suggest equal responsibility for the violence and downplay the severity of an unprovoked attack by a strong adversary with an even stronger regional ally. (See: Times of Israel, 9/14/2022, “Death toll reaches 99 in fresh Armenia-Azerbaijan flareup”.) These words, along with balanced-sounding language like “armed conflict” and “hostilities,” incorrectly frames the actions of the aggressor and are used to imply equal power and assume equal responsibility for the attack. Similarly, several high-ranking diplomats called for “both sides [to] show restraint,” a term which is unfortunately most often invoked after a targeted nation or people responds in self-defense. In the case of the attack on September 13, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a statement with this exact call, speaking up only after Armenia’s act of self-defense. As has been seen in so many other instances of genocide, the fallacy of bothsidesism serves only to support the aggressor party and mask its crimes.
Other reporting describes Azerbaijan’s war of aggression against the Republic of Armenia’s sovereign borders as “linked to” the conflict over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh territory, which frames Azerbaijani aggression according to the justifications of the Azeri government. Azerbaijani aggression towards the Republic of Armenia should be analyzed in terms of its own government’s internal rhetoric, which frequently claims that all of present-day Armenia is Azeri land. On this note, there is a concerning number of articles quoting official statements made by the Turkish and Azeri governments that are not fully vetted for potential propaganda and are instead accepted at face value. It is not made clear to readers that Azeri assaults on the Republics of Artsakh and on Armenia are the consequence of an ideology of expansionism shared with and stoked by Turkey, an ideology that the presidents of both countries frequently speak about in public.

Several articles also use childish words that are wholly inappropriate for an investigation into a serious decades-long war characterized by genocidal atrocities committed Azerbaijan and blame Armenia for invoking its own invasion (see, for example, “Armenia sides with Russia in snub to Azerbaijan over border fracas by Newsweek, 9/13/2022). A September 13 article published in Politico (“No good outcomes in latest Armenia-Azerbaijan fighting”) referred to the “decadeslong spat over Nagorno-Karabakh” (our emphasis).
Finally, the Lemkin Institute is concerned by the number of Western media articles which do little to provide background information on Azerbaijan’s one-sided decision to violate the ceasefire agreement that has been in place since the end of the 44-day war in November of 2020. Even ostensibly well-meaning explanation articles ignore the high level of Armenophobic hate speech by Azeri officials, the documented atrocities committed by Azeri soldiers in the 2020 war against Armenian prisoners of war and civilians, the string of connected hate crimes against Armenians in the diaspora, the history of the 1915-1923 genocide against Armenians, Greeks, and Assyrians committed by the Ottoman Empire (which took the lives of at least 1.2 million Armenians), the well-funded and longtime denial of that genocide by Turkey and Azerbaijan, the internal human rights abuses committed by the government of Azerbaijan (which often uses hate speech against Armenians and war with Armenia as a distraction), and the series of broken ceasefire attacks such as this one that have been consistently committed by Azerbaijan with the military and diplomatic support of Turkey.

The Lemkin Institute calls upon Western media outlets to clarify their language and avoid the false neutrality of “balanced reporting” that simply reproduces the propaganda of the aggressor and fuels genocidal actions and rhetoric. The Western media needs to tell the truth and call the war on Armenia what it is: an aggressive war with clearly demonstrated genocidal intent against Armenians. The governments of Turkey and Azerbaijan have been open about their animosity towards the nation, people, and culture of Armenia. If left unchecked, the world will be faced with addressing yet another devastating genocide and the press will have been complicit once again.

https://www.lemkininstitute.com/statements-new-page/statement-on-the-western-media-narrative-regarding-azerbaijan%E2%80%99s-september-13-attack-on-armenia

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Sept 19 2022





Azerbaijan's Ultimate Goal was Never Karabakh, it was Armenia's Capitulation





  • Alex Avaneszadeh, Fletcher Russia and Eurasia Program, Tufts University







    • Sep 19



    • 6 min read







Peace on Azerbaijan’s terms was never a possibility. As part of a family clan that has ruled Azerbaijan since 1993, the regime of President Ilham Aliyev is Azerbaijan, and Azerbaijan is Aliyev.



For the past two decades, Aliyev’s approach to staying in power (besides severe repression) has been the galvanization of racial hatred toward Armenians – inciting ethnic hate speech and glorifying hate crimes.





In an escalation of regional tensions, Aliyev has now expanded his aggression into Armenia proper, setting a new precedent by transforming the Karabakh conflict into an interstate war. With Armenia’s so-called security guarantor – Russia – having its hands tied with Ukraine, the growing power vacuum in the South Caucasus effectively ripened the conditions for an Azerbaijani military offensive against Armenia.



“The Committee is deeply concerned about…incitement to racial hatred and the propagation of racist stereotypes against persons of Armenian national or ethnic origin, including on the Internet and social media, as well as by public figures and governmental officials.” – United Nations Human Rights Committee, CERD Observation Report on Azerbaijan, August 30, 2022


On the night of September 12, Azerbaijani forces began shelling more than half the length of Armenia’s eastern border and interior, throwing Armenia’s teenage soldiers back into the trenches only two years after Aliyev’s war on the Artsakh Republic (Nagorno-Karabakh). 105 Armenian servicemen have since been killed, while civilians are being evacuated from their towns and villages. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan indicated that Azerbaijani troops have advanced into Armenia, occupying 4 square miles. On September 14, a fragile ceasefire was negotiated after France brought the issue to the UN Security Council at the request of Armenia. In a novel shift of U.S. strategic engagement in the region, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, visited Yerevan on September 18 in a show of support for the country, condemning Azerbaijan’s attacks against Armenia. However, with the conflict reaching a new level of aggression, Armenians are preparing to defend themselves from the worst-case scenario: genocide.






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An Azerbaijani postage stamp depicting the chemical fumigation of the Armenian population of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) after the 2020 Karabakh war. [AP Photo]




As an Armenian, it is an understatement to say that what I am feeling is pain, frustration and anger. Many other Armenians have entered a state of numbness, as the feeling of helplessness has kicked in. Our homeland is being mercilessly attacked and annexed, for which our people – time and time again – are unable to escape the wrath of genocidal states and unrelenting dictators.



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.” – Hajibala Abutalybov, Mayor of Baku, to a German delegation visiting Baku, 2005


Since Azerbaijan’s invasion on September 12, videos posted by Azerbaijani soldiers have been circulating on social media, showing Azerbaijani servicemen raping and then mutilating an Armenian servicewoman – one of multiple similar cases documented since Azerbaijan’s offensive.





As this nightmare continues, we ask ourselves and the world: When can the Armenian people experience an era where their existence is not under constant threat and persecution? When will the bombing of our churches cease? When will the desecration of our cemeteries and the violation of our dead come to an end? All of this is still occurring 107 years later after the start of the Armenian Genocide.



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.” Safar Abiyev, Azerbaijani Defense Minister, 2004


What the 2020 Karabakh war and the assault on Armenia have demonstrated is that the annihilation of the Armenian people has always been the end goal, and will remain the goal of the modern Turkish state via its Turkic ally, Azerbaijan. International impunity for their campaign of genocide by attrition must end. That means no more European Union energy security deals with Azerbaijan, no more U.S. annual military aid to Azerbaijan, and finally, holding Turkey accountable for enabling and directly contributing to the utter devastation and suffering experienced in the greater region.





If the West is so opposed to Armenia’s dependence on Russia, then it should stop placating and providing fiscal-military aid to Turkey and Azerbaijan – leaving Armenia virtually no choice but to go running back to Russia’s embrace. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy that the West fails to realize; not to mention the blatant hypocrisy behind reducing energy dependence on Putin’s Russia, to then bankrolling the Armenophobic petro-dictatorship of Azerbaijan.



Armenia is not even a colony, it is not even worthy of being a servant.” – Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan, 2015


The West has proven that it is capable of calling out atrocities, invasion, and even genocide in the context of Russia’s war in Ukraine. However, when the factors surrounding Armenia’s existential crisis do not conveniently align with Euro-American political-economic interests (such as funding the Aliyev state with petro-dollars), then the NATO-EU narrative of solidarity against authoritarianism holds no water. This type of double standard undermines the very principles of democracy and sovereignty that the West claims to uphold during these times. Like Ukraine, the existential crisis facing Armenia is not “controversial,” it is just that Armenia’s security crisis is politically inconvenient for the current Euro-American narrative of anti-authoritarianism. That said, labeling this conflict as “controversial” only continues to greenlight the oppressor and gaslight the victim, ignoring the legacy of power asymmetry that exists between Armenia and the Turkey-Azerbaijan military alliance.





On September 15, Turkish parliamentarian Mustafa Destici stated at a press conference in Turkey that “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.”





Such rhetoric should indicate that it is time to stop minimizing Armenia’s existential crisis to the level of controversy, as if to avoid offending the aggressor. In the Russia-Ukraine war, there are no “both-sideisms” being employed by the media; and political-military support for Ukraine has been decisive in its self-defense. Yet, for Armenia, the neutrality of the international community has been just as fatal as the bombs being dropped on Armenian soil.






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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen standing next to Ilham Aliyev in July 2022 after signing a deal to increase Azeri natural gas exports to Europe. [AP Photo]




Eerily, I write this after having just returned from Armenia on September 2. As part of my capstone thesis, I was at the Armenian National Archives conducting research on the political history of the Soviet Autonomous Oblast of Nagorno-Karabakh – an administrative region that was under the jurisdiction of Soviet Azerbaijan. I was digging through Soviet-era political documents and testimonies from Karabakh Armenians regarding their rights under Soviet Azerbaijan. The sources I uncovered demonstrated that the Azerbaijani SSR deliberately neglected the political, cultural, and socio-economic rights of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh for the sole purpose of depopulating Armenians from the territory. During the USSR’s collapse, Azerbaijani authorities organized large-scale pogroms in retaliation against the Armenian population and their demands for external self-determination.



“We must kill all Armenians – children, women and the elderly. We need to kill them without making a distinction. No regrets. No compassion. – Nurlan Ibrahimov, Qarabag FK Soccer Club Official of Azerbaijan, 2020


In my thesis, I argue that Artsakh’s independence is an existential necessity. Armenian self-determination within Azerbaijan is impossible, and certainly illogical considering that Artsakh’s own system of government is far more democratic than what Armenians would be subject to as citizens of Azerbaijan. Independence is the only remedy to an otherwise catastrophic human rights situation – doctrinally referred to as ‘remedial secession’.





For decades, Azerbaijan has been justifying its aggression on the basis of preserving its territorial integrity under international law. However, the latest offensive against the Republic of Armenia has demonstrated that the Artsakh conflict’s resolution was never strictly about Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, nor international law. It was about Artsakh’s capitulation as a means to a more harrowing end: Armenia’s obliteration.





Monte Melkonian, a California-born Armenian who was martyred in 1993 during the first Karabakh war, hauntingly foreshadowed what is happening now: “If we lose Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh], we will turn the last page of the Armenian peoples’ history.”





In the face of state-sponsored racism and persecution, independence is the last bastion of defense that we have. Turkey and Azerbaijan’s denial of the Armenian Genocide is not simply a stance on history, but is the final stage of genocide. It is playing out in front of our eyes while the media stamps the conflict with false equivalencies and reductionist headlines that read “clashes” and “exchanges of fire” between Armenia and Azerbaijan. By placating Azerbaijan due to their role as a natural gas supplier, the West is effectively sacrificing the Armenian people at the altar of European energy security.


© 2022, The Fletcher School Tufts University



https://sites.tufts.edu/fletcherrussia/azerbaijans-ultimate-goal-was-never-karabakh-it-was-armenias-capitulation/


https://www.lemkininstitute.com/single-post/azerbaijan-s-ultimate-goal-was-never-karabakh-it-was-armenia-s-capitulation


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Oct 7 2022
Red Flag Alert for Genocide - Azerbaijan - Update 3

In light of Azerbaijan’s ongoing war crimes, terrorism, genocidal language, and genocidal aims towards Armenia and Armenians, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention is issuing another red flag alert for Azerbaijan. There are moments in history when genocide can be prevented. This is one of those moments. The world will either act with clarity and strength to protect Armenian life or it will oversee a renewal of genocidal violence by states still driven by the hateful ideology of 1915.

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The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention is issuing another red flag alert for Azerbaijan in light of a recent video recording that surfaced on Telegram on October 2, 2022, in which Azeri soldiers execute at least six unarmed and bound Armenian prisoners of war (POW). The video has been verified by Armenia’s Human Rights Defender, Kristinne Grigoryan. Her office determined that the video was recorded during the recent war of aggression by Azerbaijan against Armenia (specifically on the first day of the war, September 13) and was filmed on Armenian territory. While Azerbaijani officials dispute this verification, the video bears the characteristics of a number of similarly horrific videos and photos – all independently verified – that have been released by Azeris on Telegram since the start of the 2020 war over Nagorno-Karabakh.

In light of Azerbaijan’s ongoing war crimes, terrorism, genocidal language, and genocidal aims towards Armenia and Armenians, the Lemkin Institute strongly opposes all international pressure put on Armenia to cede territory, give up Artsakh, allow access routes through the Syunik province, and/or demilitarize its borders. All global and regional powers that have been pressuring the Armenian state to “pursue peace” with neighbors that are threatening genocide must stop immediately. Instead, the international community must provide support for Armenia to strengthen its military and its borders – including in Artsakh – in order to protect Armenian life, and must strongly condemn Azerbaijan’s actions and genocidal rhetoric.

We call for strict economic sanctions against the Azerbaijani state and its leadership, including a ban on all military aid and the supply of weapons. Countries, such as Azerbaijan’s main arms trade partners Israel, Ukraine, Russia, and Turkey, should also be sanctioned if they continue to supply Azerbaijan with weapons.

The Lemkin Institute calls out, in particular, NATO, NATO members, and the European Union, whose grotesque support for the genocidal state of Azerbaijan under its genocidal president Ilham Aliev as well as for the dictator Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey has contributed greatly to creating the impunity with which these two states now operate. This support is egregious in light of the moral grandstanding related to the Ukraine crisis. If NATO and the EU fail to pressure Turkey and Azerbaijan to leave Armenian territory, return Armenian POWs, disclose information on disappeared persons, recognize the legitimacy of Armenian claims for self-determination in Artsakh, and engage in truly equal negotiations over land in Nagorno-Karabakh, then these powers will continue bear much of the responsibility for any atrocity crimes committed by Azerbaijan. We remind these powers that complicity - aiding and abetting - can trigger responsibility under international criminal law.

The Lemkin Institute further warns the world about Turkish and Azerbaijani propaganda, which is well-funded by both states and which has had a deep and enduring impact on perceptions of Armenia, Armenians, and the South Caucasus conflict since the genocide of 1915. The entire world still lives in the presence of genocidal Armenophobia. It has worked its way into scholarship, journalism, and politics. Some of this influence has been bought outright with money and gifts, but much of it is the consequence of the saturation of the global public sphere by Antiarmenianism and genocide denial. In light of this, the Azerbaijani state’s tactic of “mirroring,” which involves accusing Armenia and Armenians of committing the crimes that it itself has committed or is planning to commit, must be understood and carefully analyzed by anyone seeking to follow developments in the region, to sift out the truth from the lies, and to make informed policy decisions.

There are moments in history when genocide can be prevented. This is one of those moments. The world will either act with clarity and strength to protect Armenian life or it will oversee a renewal of genocidal violence by states still driven by the hateful ideology of 1915.

In such a context, the so-called peace plans and treaty negotiations into which Armenia is being forced by powerful global players are more likely to lead to atrocity crimes against Armenians, including genocide, than to any sort of ‘peace’. The world should be ashamed that the Armenian people find themselves in this situation. It is not too late to act, but time is running out.

https://www.lemkininstitute.com/red-flag-alerts-1/red-flag-alert-for-genocide---azerbaijan---update-3

Previous RED Alerts:

September 19, 2022

https://www.lemkininstitute.com/red-flag-alerts-1/red-flag-alert--for-genocide---azerbaijan-update

August 15, 2022
Dec 3, 2021
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