Hypocrisy without borders: Mirzoyan's manipulations at the UN Armenian diplomacy as a farce

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, Ararat Mirzoyan, spoke at a session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. This in itself raises a question, as Armenia is a country that, for more than a quarter of a century, held 20% of Azerbaijan’s territory under occupation, committing ethnic cleansing and turning over a million Azerbaijanis into refugees and internally displaced persons. Therefore, the appearance of a representative from official Yerevan at any event where human rights are discussed seems, to put it mildly, inappropriate.

On the other hand, we also remember that in various international organizations, including the UN, the podium was given to Armenia’s second and third presidents, Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan, who were previously leaders of the Karabakh junta and whose hands are stained with the blood of peaceful Azerbaijani civilians. Additionally, Kocharyan is the author of the phrase about the "genetic incompatibility of Armenians and Azerbaijanis," while Sargsyan confessed in an interview with British journalist Thomas de Waal that the Khojaly massacre was committed by Armenians to prove their willingness to kill peaceful Azerbaijani civilians.

And here, the head of Armenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs not only participates in a session of the UN Human Rights Council, but also uses the platform to make blatantly false and provocative statements against Azerbaijan. Mirzoyan once again claimed that Azerbaijan supposedly has territorial claims against Armenia. This is a simplistic and easily refutable lie. Azerbaijan has never made, nor does it make, any territorial claims against Armenia. There are no provisions in Azerbaijan’s legal acts that contain territorial claims against its neighbouring country. Meanwhile, Armenia’s Constitution and legislation still include territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Moreover, Armenia also has territorial claims against Türkiye. But, of course, Mirzoyan fails to mention these obvious facts.

The head of Armenia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs is trying to find a black cat in a dark room, even though it was never there. He is attempting to shift the blame from the guilty party to the innocent one. He is trying to ignore the real issue by inventing a non-existent one. Justice should have involved the international community imposing strict restrictions on Armenia's armament, similar to those imposed on Germany and Japan after World War II. This principle is crucial in the case of Armenia, whose constitutional and legal acts still contain territorial claims against Azerbaijan. After all, one cannot rule out the possibility that, based on these provisions, Armenia’s leadership might attempt to launch an aggression against Azerbaijan in the future.

This is not the case. Instead, amidst the impunity for the crimes committed by Armenia, we hear Mirzoyan’s false and immoral statements from the UN podium, including those targeting the Western Azerbaijan Community. But here too, Mirzoyan missed the mark. The purpose of the community is to ensure the peaceful return of Azerbaijanis to the territories from which they were forcibly expelled in the late 1980s. In this regard, I would like to remind you of an episode from an interview given by the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, to local TV channels in early January this year.

"Particularly considering that the current territory of Armenia essentially includes the historical lands that were predominantly inhabited by Azerbaijanis, today we assert that 300,000 Western Azerbaijanis should return to those regions," emphasized the president.

As we can see, President Aliyev emphasizes the importance of upholding historical justice and respecting the rights of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis. The President of Azerbaijan also pointed out that it would be correct for Armenia's Prime Minister to meet with representatives of the Western Azerbaijan Community.

"To my knowledge, they are even ready to travel to Yerevan. He should meet them, hear their concerns, and listen to them. These people were unjustly expelled from those lands. They have every right to return. If this does not happen, then what kind of European democracy can we speak of? Armenia portrays itself as a country pursuing the path of European democracy. Let them demonstrate this visibly," stated Aliyev.

However, Pashinyan did not respond to this proposal, thus proving the absurdity of Armenia’s claims to be a democratic state. Moreover, we witnessed outright verbal manipulations, speculations, and provocations from Mirzoyan. This, despite the fact that the right to peacefully return to one's historical homeland, which the Western Azerbaijan Community adheres to, is enshrined in international law and does not imply any territorial claims against Armenia.

To be more specific, these principles are enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It is astonishing, but while speaking at the UN Human Rights Council, Mirzoyan essentially tried to deny hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis their legitimate right. His primitive speculations are proof of this.

Furthermore, Armenia must allow UNESCO fact-finding missions to visit the country to monitor the situation regarding the destruction and distortion of the historical and cultural heritage belonging to our people and cooperate in this area.

None of this is being done by Armenia. Meanwhile, the head of its foreign ministry is attempting to exploit the issue of Armenians who illegally lived on the temporarily occupied territories of Azerbaijan for over a quarter of a century. These territories were subjected to barbaric looting, for which there is documentary evidence. For 30 years, Armenia obstructed the sending of UN missions and other international organizations to the temporarily occupied territories of Azerbaijan. It was clear why this happened. And Mirzoyan is fully aware of this, yet he lies. That's his job. By the way, UN missions visited the Karabakh region twice after the anti-terrorist operation of 2023, and their reports confirmed that no acts of ethnic cleansing or violence were recorded.

Moreover, Armenia's promotion of the "Nagorno-Karabakh" narrative on international platforms does not contribute to peace and demonstrates that revanchist sentiments still persist within the Armenian elite. If Armenia truly seeks a lasting and sustainable peace, it should not allow events involving representatives of this fictitious regime to take place on its territory, nor should it make statements on behalf of its "president" and "parliament," raise the "flag" of this regime in various places, or maintain its "offices."

It is also clear that, within the context of the peace process, Armenia must hold accountable those responsible for crimes against humanity in Karabakh, such as Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Robert Kocharyan, Serzh Sargsyan, Seyran Ohanyan, and others. In a civilized country, after the recent admissions by Armenia's first president Ter-Petrosyan regarding ethnic cleansing against Azerbaijanis, a criminal case should have been opened. However, Armenia's law enforcement agencies are ignoring these video materials, pretending that nothing happened. Against this backdrop, Mirzoyan’s attempts to comment on the trial in Baku of former leaders of the Karabakh junta, accused of committing war crimes, is yet another example of hypocrisy. His entire speech at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva is essentially permeated with it. Lies and hypocrisy have never and will never contribute to peace between countries.