Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, when asked during a February 13 interview with France 24 if he would consider granting clemency to former Artsakh military and government officials jailed in Baku, responded by comparing them to WWII Nazis and alleged they committed worse crimes than Third Reich leaders.

“These people committed serious crimes,” Aliyev told the reporter, adding that the judges at the post WWII Nurenburg Trials never thought of granting clemency to the Nazi leaders found guilty of crimes against humanity and, based on the same logic, Azerbaijan will never pardon the former Artsakh officials who were recently sentenced to long jail sentences.

Aliyev even claimed that their trials were “totally transparent”, even though independent media outlets were banned from the courtroom.

Aliyev confirmed that U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance raised the issue of the jailed Armenians during his visit to Baku last week, but that he ruled out any such possibility.

Aliyev reiterated his claims that Armenia displaced hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis over the years, thus any talk about the right of return of Armenians to Karabakh must be reciprocal in nature. Aliyev yet again claimed that Armenians in Karabakh voluntarily left the region and could have stayed.

Aliyev chided French President Macron for siding with the Armenian “separatists” in Karabakh, adding that he believes the time has come to put aside past differences and improve relations with France given the Yerevan-Baku peace deal.

Aliyev stressed that Armenia must change its constitution before any official peace deal with Armenia is signed. Azerbaijan claims Armenia’s constitution includes a reference to its independence declaration that contains a clause calling for the unification of Karabakh and Armenia.

Nevertheless, Aliyev stated that de facto peace with Armenia has been achieved and the normalization process between the two countries has begun.

The Azerbaijani president he believes the TRIPP initiative will soon become a reality.

Photo: Press Service of the President of Azerbaijan