The Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of Azerbaijan has issued a statement on March 31—the “Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis,” the Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) told APA, the latter reports.

The statement refers to the “March-April 1918 events,” which, according to the authors of the statement, allegedly “carved their place in history as massacres of thousands of innocent people due to their ethnicity and religion.”

“International organizations and United Nations member states should take a firm position on the series of crimes of ethnic cleansing and genocide committed by Armenians against Azerbaijanis and recognize the criminal acts of 1918 as genocide,” the Azerbaijani ombudsperson demands.

Most recently, Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan announced that he rejects the agenda of restoring historical justice. He explained his decision with the desire to strengthen peace.

But as it turns out, Azerbaijan is not even thinking about abandoning its rhetoric of war and genocide. The denial of the real Armenian Genocide is opposed by some invented “genocide of Azerbaijanis,” and along with the rejection of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, “recognition of the genocide of Azerbaijanis” is put on the agenda.