Will Aliyev forget the “Khojalu Genocide” and “Gyan” in a mirrored way?

On March 26, during a briefing with journalists after the government session, Nikol Pashinyan, referring to the estimate that in 2023 Azerbaijan carried out ethnic cleansing. mention is. 

“We can say ethnic cleansing, but I consider this word harmful, because we can say ethnic cleansing and get a mirror of ethnic cleansing, then genocide, mirror genocide, everything mirrored, it means to enter the path of conflict. That’s not my concern. And I, as the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, say that I completely refuse, so to speak, the agenda of restoration of historical justice, we must go after the just reality.”

Then he in the same “tone” continued.

“It is enough to feed our people with information about the new genocide. And, in general, the race of these genocides should be stopped. In our region, everyone accuses everyone else of genocides. With talk about genocides, by the way, it’s hard to say which one happened after, we get talk about genocides, with talk about return, we get talk about return.”

In this context, first, let us remind that in 2023 March 16 government session Pashinyan announced at the time.

“Our assessment remains the same: the military-political leadership of Azerbaijan sees preparations for ethnic cleansing and genocide against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. This protocol is largely present in the decision of the International Court of Justice of February 22, where it was clearly stated that the closure of the Lachin Corridor could bring irreversible humanitarian consequences for the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. In this sense, I consider it important and urgent that Armenia takes measures in the direction of launching international mechanisms for the prevention of genocides. We are talking, in particular, about the mechanisms provided for in the UN framework. I have given relevant instructions to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about this.”

And if we consider that on March 26, 2026, Pashinyan was hinting about having intelligence and non-intelligence data, we can assume that what he voiced before the actions of Baku to depopulate Artsakh was not just an assessment, but a clear information and warning.

And in 2023 on September 21, when Azerbaijan had already started the attack against Artsakh, Pashinyan with a message applied to the people, where he first mentioned.

«I saw that there are reports that Azerbaijani troops are in Stepanakert, etc., and so on. There is no such thing: Of course, there are certain communication difficulties and complications, as far as I have heard from our colleagues in Nagorno-Karabakh, there are also certain problems on the roads leading to Martakert and Martuni, but in general the situation is stable.”

This is despite the fact that on September 19, as we mentioned, Azerbaijan launched a large-scale attack against Artsakh, and in 2020. On September 21, gunshots were already heard in the neighborhoods near Stepanakert, the evacuation of women and children had begun. Anyway, in his said message, Pashinyan continued.

“In my speeches of the previous period, I constantly accused Azerbaijan of trying to subject Nagorno Karabakh to ethnic cleansing. In other words, we have been making this accusation against Azerbaijan for a long time. And now I, when I analyze the situation, I get the impression that there are forces who want to carry out the plan to subject Nagorno Karabakh to ethnic cleansing so that Azerbaijan, so to speak, has no reason to be blamed. In other words, let me say: look, Armenia, the Republic of Armenia, the people of Armenia, the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh themselves decided that no Armenians should stay in Nagorno-Karabakh, they decided and left.” he declared.

Let’s put it on the record, now it is Pashinyan himself who is clearing the crime of ethnic cleansing from Azerbaijan.

Already in 2020 of the government of September 28 during the session, when the picture, in practice, was already clear, Pashinyan said.

“The analysis shows that there will be no more Armenians left in Nagorno-Karabakh in the coming days. This is a direct act of ethnic cleansing and depatriation. Statements by various international players condemning the ethnic cleansing taking place in Nagorno-Karabakh are important, but if not followed by concrete actions, these statements will be seen as mere moral statistics for history. so that in the future, different countries will have the opportunity to formally dissociate themselves from this crime, saying, well, we have condemned it. If declarations of condemnation are not followed by adequate political and legal decisions, condemnations become acts of acquiescence.”

Despite the above-mentioned assessments, Pashinyan already calls the people of Artsakh “fugitives” when after some time he did not consider their return to Artsakh realistic, of course, in this case he considered this topic closed in general.

Now Pashinyan is backtracking, in fact, also from his previous assessments that Azerbaijan carried out ethnic cleansing in Artsakh in 2023. Moreover, he considers, in fact, that Aliyev has grounds for a similar accusation of “ethnic cleansing” and “genocide” against Armenia.  The fact that Baku and Aliyev blame Armenia for the “Khojalu Genocide”, the “ethnic cleansing” of Azerbaijanis who lived in Armenia, is not a secret, nor is it news, but when the Armenian leadership gives such “legitimate” grounds and rights, it is something completely different.

By the way, until yesterday Pashinyan was banning “ethnic cleansing” and “genocide” rhetoric in RA, Baku had organized More than seven dozen international tourists from 37 countries visited the memorial complex dedicated to the memory of “Khojalu Genocide victims”, which was opened a month ago, and this without any conditions. And now, when Nikol Pashinyan hints that he still needs to understand the genocides that happened after that, he does not give Aliyev a “victory ticket”, and besides, regarding the events of Khojalu in particular, Aliyev ignores the obvious. the facts and puts the responsibility on the Armenian side.

Pashinyan knows, doesn’t he, that Aliyev blamed Armenia? A memorial was built not only for the “Ganja events” related to the 44-day war that took place during his reign, but also for the victims of the “Ganja events”.: And although today, in the context of the first Artsakh war and the 2020 war, the former military-political leadership of Artsakh was convicted in Baku, but during the trial, in the context of the “Ganja events”, they were given The name of the former military leadership of RA, specific military personnel. Pashinyan, who was in Artsakh in those days, is he sure that after closing the topic of “genocide”, Aliyev will not return to this topic regarding Armenia, because, as we mentioned, the former leaders of Artsakh were convicted in Baku, or is he going to say that he is not aware and blame the military?:

Against the background of Pashinyan’s statements mentioned above, we could not ignore the fact that Vilen Gabrielyan, Pashinyan’s teammate and candidate to become a deputy again, “Gardman-Shirvan-Nakhijevan” Pan-Armenian union is the leader who regularly spoke in 1988-1991. in the Azerbaijan SSR and in 1992 About state-sponsored genocidal actions in the Republic of Azerbaijan (Armenian pogroms in Sumgait, Baku, Kirovabad, forced deportation of Armenians from Northern Karabakh accompanied by pogroms) and noted that they were not subjected to any legal investigation. In addition to this, from time to time he responded to various statements from Baku, referred to the destruction of the Armenian historical and cultural heritage in the occupied Artsakh.

It should be noted here that the organization was quite active in previous years, in 2026. seem to have become passive. We should also ask Vilen Gabrielyan a question here. when their political leader questions the initiator of the Azerbaijani massacres and genocidal actions, doesn’t he have questions related to this, whose family moved from Baku to Armenia, doesn’t it turn out that the Armenians in Baku “did something”, that massacres started, that there was forced displacement, ethnic cleansing? Moreover, Gabrielyan always spoke from the right of return of forcibly displaced people, now Pashinyan considers that issue closed, neutralizes that right, how does he imagine his activity in this field? Maybe here, so to speak, “podvokh”, especially when Vilen Gabrielyan was not against the return of Azerbaijanis to Armenia on various occasions. By the way, the Azerbaijani “Hakkinaz” was published in 2024 had noticed in one of his articles that The creation of the “Gardman-Shirvan-Nakhijevan” union was a “symmetric” response to the creation of the “West Azerbaijan” community, that is, an attempt was made to balance the civil struggle for the right of return. Of course, there is logic here, the problem is that Pashinyan closed the topic of the right of return for the Armenian side, which Aliyev did not do.

About a month ago, 168.am published an article entitled “Aliyev’s dangerous and cunning proposal to Pashinyan”. And next are the next NA elections, after which it is not excluded that Pashinyan, who has put aside the subject of the return of Azerbaijanis, will practically return to it if he receives the next legitimacy…