Daily Sabah (29 January 2025)

Cavid VELIYEV

When a video of former President of Armenia Levon-Ter Petrosyan confessing to ethnic cleansing against non-Armenians in Armenia and the Karabakh region of the Republic of Azerbaijan at the congress of the terrorist organization "Yerkrapa" in 1993 was revealed 31 years later, it led to serious debate. Yerkpara was founded by Armenia’s first defense minister, Vazgen Sargsyan, following independence in 1991. It consisted of Armenian volunteers. This terrorist organization played an active role in the occupation of Azerbaijan territories and the Khojaly genocide.

The initially released video showed Petrosyan, whom the outside considered a pragmatic and rational head of state, stating at the congress: “Armenia and Karabakh have been fully cleansed of other ethnicities ... it is a 600-year-old problem.” Those whom Petrosyan mentioned as expelled from Armenia and Karabakh were Azerbaijanis who were forced from their historical lands. Indeed, Petrosyan admitted that Azerbaijanis constitute the majority in some regions of Armenia and said: “Remember that Azerbaijanis constituted a majority in three regions. Those were Vardenis, Masis and Amasia. They also constituted a significant majority in the Zangezur region.”

A few days later, the remaining video of the meeting was released. In it, then-Armenian Defense Minister and Yerkpara founder Vazgen Sargsyan said: “I could not disclose what the president said at this meeting. But these things must remain secret here. Otherwise, we will be in an unfair position in front of the world community.” This video surfaced 32 years later, but the outside world misled Sargsyan as it did not react appropriately and necessarily to then-President Petrosyan's confession of ethnic cleansing against Azerbaijanis.

To read the reast of the article, please click: ​https://www.dailysabah.com/opinion/op-ed/armenias-confession-ethnic-cleansing-of-azerbaijanis-and-its-legacy

*Picture: Daily Sabah