Armenians need to brace for Azeri response: lawmaker

Last week, almost all former Soviet republics, which regained their independence after the Soviet breakup in 1991, celebrated the 70th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany. This is while Armenia and ethnic Armenians in Azerbaijan’s rebel region of Nagorno-Karabakh marked what they called "liberation” of the town of Shusha.

They did everything to hide the treacherous methods Armenians used to capture the town. The attack on Shusha came hours after the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Iran signed an agreement in Tehran to cease fire and find a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

Armenian bandit formations "liberated” Shusha from its peaceful residents, who were completely driven out of the town. Armenians did the same when they captured the Azerbaijani districts of Lachin, Kalbacar, Agdam, Fuzuli, Cabrayil, Qubadli and Zangilan in following months, forcing more than 600,000 peaceful Azerbaijani residents out of their homes.

In fact, Armenians celebrated the anniversary of ethnic cleansing and genocide that they committed against Azerbaijanis. Many countries of the world turn a blind eye to what occurred just 23 years ago. Instead, they hypocritically shed tears on fabricated accounts of what happened to Armenians 100 years ago.  

A century ago, Armenians in Ottoman Turkey used the same tactics against Turks, seeking to force them out of their homes through intimidation, killings and violence to capture land for their "Great Armenia”.  

They failed to do so thanks to the heroism of the Turkish army and the collapse of the Russian empire. 

Today, Armenians seek to implement their expansionist policies by capturing Azerbaijani lands. Azerbaijan will never accept this, nor will do Turkey or the absolute majority of the international community.

If Armenians do not come to their senses and continue obstructing efforts to find a peaceful resolution of the conflict, they may face what they experienced 100 years ago. Our army reserves the right to treat Armenians the way Armenians treated the Azerbaijani population of Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent Azerbaijani districts. 

NOTE: Rasim Musabayov is a member of Azerbaijan’s parliament.