Armenia Rejects Azerbaijan’s Fascism Claim: Accuses Them of Provoking Tensions

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has accused Armenia of being a “fascist state” while warning of potential escalations in the region. Aliyev’s remarks followed accusations from Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry that Armenian forces had fired on Azerbaijani positions along the southeastern border on January 5—a claim Armenia’s Defense Ministry dismissed as disinformation in a statement issued Sunday.

Aliyev’s inflammatory rhetoric included a threat, stating on Tuesday, “The] armament of Armenia will lead to new tensions. We don’t want that. We want peace … But independent Armenia is a fascist state at its core. Fascism must be destroyed by [the] Armenian leadership or we will do it ourselves,” according to [local reports.

This escalation of tensions comes after years of intermittent conflict between the two nations, which have been in dispute since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The festering strife reignited in September 2023, when Azerbaijani forces seized control of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. The military takeover triggered an exodus of the region’s entire ethnic Armenian population of approximately 100,000, leading to accusations of ethnic cleansing by various Western NGOs and human rights organizations, including Freedom House.

In response to the current accusations, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan cautioned that Azerbaijan might use disinformation to build a “justification” for renewed aggression. “When] combined with the spread of false information about the violation of the ceasefire by the Armenian army, [this will] form a ‘justification’ for a new escalation in the region,” Pashinyan told [Armenpress on Wednesday.

As diplomatic efforts continue, both the U.S. and the EU have called for peace, pushing for a long-term resolution to the conflict. Pashinyan reiterated his commitment to a peaceful approach, saying, “We will not use the language of aggression, but the language of dialogue. We will continue to focus on demarcation, on agreeing on the text of the peace treaty, [and on an] agreement on humanitarian issues, including the problems of discovering the fate of the missing.”

The decades-long conflict remains a flashpoint in the South Caucasus, as fears of further violence and instability persist despite international mediation efforts.

Reporting contributed by Gabriel Gavin.