Armenia accused of systematic discrimination against Azerbaijanis
Group said Azerbaijanis were targeted solely because of their ethnic identity and faced repeated waves of violence
BAKU, Azerbaijan (MNTV) — The Baku Initiative Group said policies targeting Azerbaijanis who historically lived in what is now Armenia amounted not only to ethnic discrimination but to a broader pattern of systemic practices it described as colonial in nature.
In a statement cited by Trend, the group said Azerbaijanis were targeted solely because of their ethnic identity and faced repeated waves of violence and displacement across the 20th century, including during 1905–1906, 1918 and later periods.
The group alleged that Azerbaijanis were subjected to mass killings, forced displacement and violations of political, economic, social and cultural rights, describing these actions as comparable to abuses historically associated with colonial rule.
According to the statement, policies during the Soviet era, particularly under the Armenian SSR, contributed to the gradual removal of Azerbaijanis from their historical places of residence and the transformation of Armenia into what it characterized as a mono-ethnic state.
It pointed to deportations between 1948 and 1953, during which more than 150,000 Azerbaijanis were expelled, as a key episode. The group said these events led to widespread hardship, family separation and long-term social and health consequences for those affected.
The statement also alleged that alongside displacement, Azerbaijani cultural and historical heritage was systematically erased, including through the renaming of locations and the destruction or appropriation of settlements, cemeteries and religious sites.
The group further claimed that tensions escalated again beginning in the late 1980s, when renewed territorial disputes were followed by the forced displacement of more than 250,000 Azerbaijanis from Armenia. It said attacks on villages and resulting migration effectively ended the Azerbaijani presence there.
According to the statement, these developments were part of a broader policy that also affected other ethnic and religious minorities, whose populations declined over time.
The group additionally referenced the subsequent occupation of approximately 20% of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territory, linking it to the broader trajectory of conflict between the two countries.
While noting that a peace agenda between Armenia and Azerbaijan is currently advancing, the statement expressed concern about what it described as the persistence of hostile rhetoric, including calls it characterized as revanchist and discriminatory.
It said lasting peace would depend on acknowledgement of past grievances, respect for human rights and the restoration of the rights of displaced populations.
The Baku Initiative Group called on international organizations, including United Nations bodies and human rights institutions, to provide what it described as an objective assessment of alleged discrimination and intolerance directed at Azerbaijanis.
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