Aliyev brands all former Armenian leaders ‘war criminals’ in sweeping attack on Armenia

BAKU — Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has declared that all former leaders of Armenia are “war criminals” who should receive what he called their “deserved punishment,” delivering another sweeping attack on Armenian political figures as part of a speech celebrating Azerbaijan’s military victories and calling for continued ideological and military consolidation.

Speaking at the eighth congress of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party, Aliyev said blame for the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict could not be placed exclusively on Armenia’s previous governments, before branding every former Armenian leader a war criminal. He then turned his criticism toward Armenia’s current authorities, claiming they had advanced territorial demands against Azerbaijan and had sought to “insult” the Azerbaijani people and their dignity. He told Azerbaijanis that such actions “should never be forgotten.”

Aliyev also portrayed Azerbaijan’s military campaigns as part of a continuous effort to achieve what he termed the complete restoration of the country’s territorial integrity. Referring to Azerbaijan’s victory in the 2020 war as “glorious,” he said Baku had continued working on several fronts between the 2020 conflict and the September 2023 Azerbaijani military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh, which ultimately resulted in the exodus of virtually the entire Armenian population of the region. He further identified the continued strengthening of Azerbaijan’s military capacity as one of the country’s principal priorities.

The Azerbaijani president also called for tighter control over the country’s ideological sphere, saying it should remain free of what he described as foreign elements and influences. He said Azerbaijan’s ideological work should be reorganized on a “modern” basis and insisted that the country did not need to create “myths” to sustain its national narrative.

Taken together, the remarks provide another example of the adversarial messaging toward Armenia and Armenians that has repeatedly been identified by European monitoring bodies. The Council of Europe’s European Commission against Racism and Intolerance has warned that the line between Azerbaijani political rhetoric directed at Armenian decision-makers and hate speech targeting Armenians as an ethnic or national group has become “blurred and practically impossible to discern.” It has also documented inflammatory rhetoric by politicians, including at Azerbaijan’s highest political levels.

The International Court of Justice has separately ordered Azerbaijan to take all necessary measures to prevent the incitement and promotion of racial hatred and discrimination against persons of Armenian national or ethnic origin, including by state officials and public institutions.

Aliyev’s latest comments therefore come against a documented record of international concern over official anti-Armenian discourse, highlighting the continued use of hostile state rhetoric even as Baku presents its relations with Armenia as entering a post-conflict period.