Ten days after a lightning offensive by Azerbaijan, the population of the Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh has almost entirely deserted its territory. More than 100,000 refugees fled to Armenia for fear of reprisals from Azeri soldiers. The authorities of the small republic of Nagorno-Karabakh announced the dissolution of the institutions on January 1, 2024.

Azerbaijani blogger Mahammad Mirzali was arrested and tortured in his country for denouncing political corruption. A refugee in France since 2016, he has suffered several assassination attempts on French soil, and lives under police protection.

LE FIGARO. – President Aliyev promised to respect the rights of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. Despite this, the population fled en masse. Should she trust the head of state’s word?

MAHAMMAD MIRZALI. – Armenians are not crazy. They have seen, like you and me, on social networks, videos where we see Azeri soldiers with knives in their hands, saying they are in a hurry to cut off heads. Aliev talks about protecting the rights of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh and at the same time, he forces them into exile from their homes. If he were really the good president he claims to be, how would he accept the exodus of his population? This is all lies.

You closely follow social networks in your country. How was the lightning victory in Nagorno-Karabakh received in Azerbaijan?

The victory in Nagorno-Karabakh is unanimously celebrated in Azerbaijan. Public television channels welcome the idea that the Azerbaijanis who fled during the first Nagorno-Karabakh war (from 1988 to 1994, editor’s note) are finally returning to their homes in Khankendi (Azeri name given to Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh).

On Telegram channels (often managed by the state via its troll farms), participants in the war shamelessly boast of cutting off heads and practicing corporal punishment on Armenian soldiers or civilians. Already in 2020, many Azeri soldiers returned from the war with a finger, or more often an Armenian ear, to take home as a trophy. Ask the Armenians who have recovered the bodies of their soldiers: many will tell you that an ear is missing. When it’s not the whole head… And we can see these images everywhere, including on government media!

Sometimes these atrocities are carried out in the name of Islam. For example, in some videos we see Azerbaijani soldiers beheading civilians or Armenian soldiers shouting “Allahu Akbar”. These are the same techniques as Daesh in Iraq or Syria. Moreover, in 2020, the Turks called on mercenaries from Syria to fight the Armenians. There is more than one proof of this.

What do you think of intellectuals like the historian Vincent Duclert, who sees in these events the continuity of the Armenian genocide?

This is unfortunately true. Hatred against Armenians has reached its peak in recent years in my country. Despite all the internal problems of poverty, unemployment, President Aliyev only talks about Armenians. Check out his YouTube channel, it’s the only topic! And he instills this hatred even in the youngest. In TV cartoons, the bad guys are always Armenian soldiers. At school, in textbooks, Armenia is called “Western Azerbaijan” and Armenians are referred to as dogs, barbarians who cut off the heads of Azerbaijanis.

All my fellow citizens exiled in European countries and who criticize Aliev are accused of being paid by the Armenians. I myself, since leaving the country in 2016, continue to be presented in state-affiliated media as a blogger bought by Armenia. I would really like to be paid… (laughs). At the beginning of September, they even accused of being in the pay of President Macron! They don’t like the French either, because they see them as the defenders of the Armenians.

Has there been an increase in anti-Armenian hate speech in recent weeks, before the Nagorno-Karabakh attack?

Above all, we have seen repression tighten. The week before the attack, several Azerbaijani journalists and activists were arrested and imprisoned for speaking out against the war. My journalist friend Nurlan Kahramanov was arrested on September 21 and the court sentenced him to 30 days of detention. His lawyer told the press that he had been tortured before his arrest. The Azerbaijani government forces everyone to be in favor of the war. Otherwise, it’s arrest and prison. At the same time, all newspapers and radio stations in the country celebrate Aliyev as an invincible hero. Eight days after the victory in Nagorno-Karabakh, bookstore stands are already filled with a book celebrating the victory, with the president’s photo on the cover! And Aliev multiplies his declarations on Zanghezour (the corridor in the south of Armenia, along the border with Iran, editor’s note). This could be his next goal.