"We condemn the groundless and slanderous statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia on January 15, 2025, claiming that crimes were committed against Armenians in the Azerbaijan SSR. The tone of the statement is also reminiscent of Armenia's rhetoric before the Second Garabagh War."

These remarks were included in the statement of the Western Azerbaijani Community, as reported by Azernews.

The statement emphasized that "the state that committed ethnic cleansing is Armenia," citing the well-known 1993 speech by Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Armenia's former president. Ter-Petrosyan's presidency coincided with the occupation of Azerbaijani territories and the implementation of policies targeting Azerbaijanis. The speech, according to the community, "confirms that ethnic cleansing against Azerbaijanis is Armenia's state policy."

The statement added: "It is also worth recalling that L. Ter-Petrosyan also stated in that speech that the migration of Armenians from the Azerbaijan SSR was organized by Armenia itself. Below is a relevant excerpt from L. Ter-Petrosyan's speech:

'If the movement had not started on time, today 500 thousand Armenians would have remained in Azerbaijan. Even if they were not physically destroyed, this would have been the most powerful lever to bring Armenia to its knees. A significant part of them, more than 300 thousand people, found refuge in Armenia. This was also a national problem, a large-scale problem that was solved thanks to our movement.'

All this, the Western Azerbaijani Community argues, "proves that by organizing the migration of Armenians from the Azerbaijani territories, the occupation of which it did not consider possible, Armenia aimed to eliminate the experience of peaceful coexistence of representatives of two peoples and to create a mono-ethnic state in Armenia."

The statement concluded: "Instead of making slanderous and hateful statements, the Armenian government should put an end to its racism and mono-ethnic policy, create conditions for the return of Western Azerbaijanis, and restore the multi-ethnic environment there."