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The statements of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at the opening of the “park of trophies” in Baku on Tuesday testify to the policy of hatred, enmity and fascism towards the entire population of Armenia and Artsakh, both on ethnic and religious grounds, Armenia’s Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) Arman Tatoyan said.

“They constantly emphasize the advantages of the Azerbaijani people (morality, intellectual abilities, etc.) compared to and toward the entire population of Armenia and Artsakh, the entire Armenian people, at the expense of public humiliation of dignity, and open distortion of historical facts. These are the foundations of fascism and genocidal policies underlying Azerbaijani atrocities, cruelty and torture,” he wrote on Facebook.

“As the human rights defender of Armenia, I emphasize that the government of the Republic of Armenia has never pursued a state policy of hatred or enmity towards the people of Azerbaijan and ordinary people living in Azerbaijan.

“These quotes from the speeches of the president of Azerbaijan are currently being translated by the staff of the Armenian ombudsman and will be sent to international and human rights interstate structures, and they will be utilized in our analysis and human rights proposals,” Tatoyan said, sharing some excerpts from Aliyev’s latest speeches.

Excerpts from the speech in Baku (April 12, 2021):

"We have presented ourselves to the world as a victorious people. Meanwhile, Armenia is a defeated country, a country that is kneeling before us, a country with its head and neck bent, it will always be so. When we see their atrocities, we are horrified. (…) They kept cows and pigs in mosques, disrupted the whole Muslim world, destroyed graves, dug graves, and extracted the golden teeth of buried people. If this is not wild, what is? Wild may still be a soft word. The whole world saw what their main ideological factor was. It is as if they are a small but civilized people with a great civilization, surrounded by wild Muslims. This was said in every corner of Europe. Everywhere in Russia they said, help us or we will be drowned here. Now everyone has seen what its civilization is, what its culture is, what its morality is. He is a barbarian who digs graves, digs, removes the golden teeth of the dead, keeps pigs in the mosque, he has no other name.

"I said that the first Armenian state [meaning the current Armenia] was created on our historical land. One of the first decisions of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan in 1918 was to give Yerevan to Armenia and make it its capital. I condemned it. I said it was a betrayal, an unforgivable betrayal. The Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan has rendered great services to the Azerbaijani people, but we must not hide the history, we must know it. We should know that in 1918-1920 (…) we gave Yerevan to Armenia. Meanwhile, the representatives of Yerevan were objecting at that time. Nobody paid attention to their voice."

"The Armenian army was destroyed on the battlefield (…). The army of ten thousand deserters is a disgrace. They chained their soldiers to military bases to prevent them from escaping. This is barbarism, savagery against one's own soldier."

"The lands could remain under the feet of Armenians forever. (…) We should have put Armenia in a deadlock. We built all the transport, communication and energy routes in such a way that it left Armenia. (…) Armenia fell into a deadlock. This in itself led to the beginning of mass emigration from Armenia. As soon as there is emigration, the market shrinks, and if the market shrinks, no one invests. "One must be crazy to invest in Armenia in those years, especially now."

Excerpts from Tuesday's speech (April 13, 2021):

"A new look at the South Caucasus. Development and Cooperation after the Conflict.” — ADA University (University of the Diplomatic Academy of Azerbaijan, Baku, April 10-13, 2021).

"We want the young generation to know that Zangezur is the historical land of Azerbaijan. Zangezur was given to Armenia in 1920, 101 years ago. Before that, that area was ours. They call Lake Goycha Lake Sevan. Just look at the map of the early 20th century, you will not see Sevan there. The same applies to [sic] Yerevan). They destroyed the historical part of Yerevan. It is an obvious fact that Azerbaijanis, including my ancestors, lived there.

I said we would go back there. I did not say that we would return with tanks. I said we would return. If we return to the Zangezur corridor, if we use that road, then why not return to Yerevan? The time will come, we will do it. I express my position."