Genesis Armenia: To see Artsakh and Armenia without Armenians, stopping at nothing: 105 years later, the goal has not changed

Genesis Armenia think tank/foundation has issued a statement in connection with the anniversary of the Shushi massacre. The full statement is presented below:

“The Azerbaijani plans for the depopulation of Artsakh are a continuation of the systematic actions of the Armenian Genocide. In early 1920 (March 22-26), the Musavat Azerbaijan began implementing a plan to subjugate Artsakh through force. High-ranking officers of the Turkish army, Nuri Pasha and Halil Pasha, along with Kazim Bey and ten accompanying officers, arrived to organize and carry out the preparatory work for the Shushi massacres. The military operations of Azerbaijan were planned by senior Turkish officers. The 10,000-strong Tatar forces and Kurdish armed bandits repositioned their forces and, as in 2023, severed the connection with Syunik, leaving Artsakh surrounded.

Under the pretext of celebrating Novruz Bayram, thousands of Muslims were brought to Shushi from the surrounding regions while simultaneously spreading rumors that an Armenian armed group had entered Shushi. Just as during the genocide, the Turks attempted to create the image that they had suppressed an Armenian uprising before the Shushi massacre. The same narrative is being employed now; the aggression resulting in the occupation of Artsakh is being portrayed as a fight against separatists and armed groups. When Sultanov presented an ultimatum in February 1920, demanding unrestricted access for Tatar forces and Kurdish groups into the regions of Dizak, Varanda, and Jrakan (Jabrayil), the eighth congress of the Armenian community in Artsakh, which took place from Feb. 28 to March 4, 2023, effectively rejected this demand.

On March 11 and 12, Baku also sent 90 wagons loaded with weapons and ammunition to Artsakh. As a result of the massacres carried out from March 22 to 26, 1920, approximately 20,000 Armenians were killed in Shushi, the political, economic, and cultural center of Artsakh. The surviving Armenians were displaced, Shushi was depopulated, and destruction and looting of property and personal belongings occurred. The massacres were carried out by the army of the Republic of Turkey, the Tatars residing in Artsakh—now known as Azerbaijanis—and Kurdish groups.

The 1920 Shushi massacre once again proves that regardless of which parties and political forces are in power in Azerbaijan, the objective remains the same: to see Artsakh and Armenia without Armenians, stopping at nothing.”