Since 1918, from the moment it appeared on the world map, Azerbaijan has been committing Armenian genocide, the RA Parliament member, former Ombudsman of Armenia Larisa Alaverdyan stated at a function on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Armenian pogroms in Baku.

“What happened in Azerbaijan in late 1980s early 1990s can only be designated as genocide. I call Azerbaijan a ‘genocide-formed’ state, that is, a state formed due to genocides Azerbaijanis committed against other peoples,” Alaverdyan said. She stressed that, “after fishing off living Armenians, Azerbaijan began to deal with the dead by destroying Armenian cemeteries.” “I would like to remind you that today is the fifth anniversary of the destruction of the Armenian cemetery in Juga, Nakhchevan,” Alaverdyan said. She stressed that Armenia must not be silent about the atrocities Azerbaijanis committed against Armenians and must raise the issue at international agencies. “Our silence allows Azerbaijan to look ‘spotless’ to the international community. But that country has not so far repented of what it did,” Alaverdyan said.

She stressed a consistent policy of making Azerbaijan a mono-ethnic state was implemented in that country. With that end in view, Azerbaijanis regularly destroyed not only Armenians, but also Russians, Ukrainians, Jews, Lezgins, Talyshes and Kurds. “As you can see, Azerbaijanis destroyed other peoples for national, rather than religious, reasons, as they were consistently implementing a Pan-Turkism policy. Azerbaijan committed a crime not only against Armenians, but also against the entire humanity, and we must not remain silent because silence may cause new genocides,” Alaverdyan said.

T.P.