Question: This year marks the 30th anniversary of the anti-Armenian pogroms in Baku and the commemorative events held in Armenia caused nervous reactions of the Azerbaijani authorities, particularly voiced by the Foreign Ministry and Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan. How would you comment on that?

Answer: First of all, I would like to emphasize that a number of important commemorative events were held on the 30th anniversary of the Anti-Armenian pogroms in Baku, numerous articles about the barbaric annihilation of the Armenian community in Baku have been and continue to be published in the international media on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the anti-Armenian pogroms in Baku.

Unfortunately, this year as well the authorities of Azerbaijan, explicitly or implicitly continued the policy of justifying the actions of the masterminders of the anti-Armenian massacres in Baku 30 years ago and the perpetrators of those massacres. Moreover, the perpetrators of the massacres against defenseless people were glorified as  «shahids» by Hikmet Hajiyev, the Assistant to the President, while the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan accused Armenians themselves of perpetrating the anti-Armenian massacres in Sumgait.

The Azerbaijani side employs a behavior which is common among perpetrators: that is blaming victims for their crimes and denying any responsibility for public and systematic extermination of unarmed people in peacetime.

This vividly illustrates once again that under no circumstances Azerbaijani authorities can be entrusted with the responsibility of providing security to any part of the Armenian people. Apparently,  under no circumstances Artsakh can become a part of Azerbaijan, and the people of Artsakh cannot be left without secure lines of defense.