A minefield being cleared by by Azerbaijani forces, in land re-taken during the 44-day war of 2020
The billboard strikes a discordant tone amid the high-end boutiques of Baku’s gentrified downtown: “Don’t believe Armenian lies,” it reads, in English.
In the capital of oil-rich Azerbaijan, the recent 44-day conflict with its much poorer neighbour over Nagorno-Karabakh produced a decisive military victory but also left lingering resentment. While Azerbaijan regained chunks of the breakaway territory and the seven Azerbaijani territories surrounding it, there is a sense that it lost an information war in which Armenians portrayed Azerbaijanis as bloodthirsty aggressors.
The systematic mass murder and ethnic cleansing of about one million Armenians from present-day Turkey around the time of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire – which the United States and 31 other countries recognise as genocide – produced a large Armenian diaspora, which remains engaged on issues concerning their homeland. Celebrities of Armenian heritage, including socialite Kim Kardashian, the playboy influencer Dan Bilzerian, and members of the rock band System of a Down have all vocally supported Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh.
This put Azerbaijan at a disadvantage when it came to presenting its side of its festering conflict over the Armenian-majority region within its borders, according to Farid Shafiyev, the chairman of the Center of Analysis of International relations, a government-funded think tank. “We face discrimination against us as so-called ‘terrible Turks’,” he said.
Azerbaijan is campaigning hard to change this. Foreign journalists who were restricted from covering the conflict on the Azerbaijan side are now offered closely managed tours of the regained territories. On-message officials repeat clear talking points. State carrier Azerbaijan Airlines prints “Karabakh is Azerbaijan” on boarding passes.
Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev is riding a wave of popularity after winning a war against Armenian separatists last year
Credit: Sam Tarling for The Telegraph
In Baku, once a Silk Road trading post and later one of the most cosmopolitan cities of the former Soviet Union, the State Committee on Work with Diaspora of the Republic of Azerbaijan leads the propaganda efforts from gilded offices featuring plaster statues of historical Azeri warriors. “We need to work on the media approach very hard,” said chairman Fuad Muradov during a tour of the building’s radio and television studios, which broadcast to Azerbaijanis abroad.
The campaign is bankrolled by the same Caspian oil and gas wealth that enabled a 10-fold increase in military spending between 2006 to 2016 and funded a Disneyfied restoration of Baku’s medieval old city, the construction of numerous ultramodern curved glass towers, and an undulating events centre designed by the late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid.
Money is also spent campaigning abroad. Last week the committee commissioned a truck to drive through central London for three days carrying an electronic billboard calling for “Justice for Khojaly”.
The Khojaly massacre in February 1992 was the worst mass killing of the first Nagorno-Karabakh war, according to Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, which found that Armenian forces had slaughtered hundreds of Azerbaijan civilians in the town.
Timed to coincide with the 29th anniversary of the massacre, the truck campaign displayed images of the victims and aimed to show an international audience that Azerbaijan had also suffered in the conflict.
During a recent four-hour press conference to commemorate the anniversary of the massacre on, President Ilham Aliyev said the recent war had “avenged” the deaths of the 613 civilians Azerbaijan says were killed in Khojaly.
A memorial in Azerbaijan's capital Baku commemorates the victims of the Khojaly massacre
Credit: Sam Tarling for the Telegraph
Azerbaijan insists that bringing the perpetrators of the Khojaly massacre to justice is vital to a durable peace, something that is unlikely while some Armenian leaders deny it ever happened. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called the massacre "a blatant lie" in 2019.
The mutual enmity and denialism extended to the latest war, where both sides were accused of war crimes by independent monitors.
“During the recent Nagorno-Karabakh fighting, members of the military on both sides have behaved horrendously, displaying a complete disregard for the rules of war,” Amnesty’s Denis Krivosheev said in December, after the group’s Crisis Evidence Lab verified videos showing the decapitation of captives and mistreatment of prisoners.
Azerbaijani officials meanwhile remain reluctant to acknowledge wrong-doing. “Azerbaijan forces respected international humanitarian law in the conduct of the recent hostilities,” said foreign ministry spokeswoman Leyla Abdullayeva. In December, Azerbaijan launched an investigation and arrested four soldiers on charges of war crimes after they were allegedly identified in videos showing the mutilation of corpses and desecration of graves.
The government has refused to release dozens of detained Armenians though, despite the November ceasefire agreement including a commitment to release all prisoners, including those detained after the cessation of hostilities. President Alyiev says Azerbaijan is holding only a “sabotage group” that was deployed in violation of the ceasefire. “These are terrorists,” he said.
With Azerbaijan still focused on information warfare, prospects for a lasting peace seem limited. Reporters Without Borders ranks Azerbaijan near the bottom of its 2020 press freedom index at 168 out of 180 states, which critics say leaves little public space for more conciliatory messaging.
President Aliyev’s tone remains bellicose, even while insisting that Azerbaijan is ready for peace. “Any attempt at revenge by Armenia will be severely punished,” he said. “We will not hesitate for one minute.”
But with Mr Aliyev’s popularity higher than ever following his military victory, now would be the perfect time to expend political capital in difficult peacemaking efforts.
“No one is demanding Armenians and Azerbaijanis start loving each other,” said Olesya Vartanyan, International Crisis Group’s senior analyst for the south Caucasus. “It’s more about establishing some rules and arrangements that will allow some stability on the ground and to allow their people to live in peace.”
Kamal Jafarov, a member of Azerbaijan’s parliament, said a limited peace was attainable. “We are not referring to the absolute and infinite concept of peace,” he said. “This does not require that you love your neighbour… but that you live together in a common tolerance.”
The Flame Towers rise above the historic old city in Baku
challenge this narrative. Foreign journalists who were restricted from covering the conflict on the Azerbaijan side are now offered. On-message officials repeat clear talking points. State carrier Azerbaijan Airlines prints “Karabakh is Azerbaijan” on boarding passes.
The central point of this campaign is a demand for greater recognition and justice for a February 1992 mass killing of Azerbaijni civilians by Armenian forces. The Khojaly massacre was the worst mass killing of the first Nagorno-Karabakh war, according to Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, which found that hundreds of civilians had died in the town.
During a four hour press conference to commemorate the anniversary of the massacre last month, President Ilham Aliyev said the recent war had “avenged” the deaths of the 613 civilians he said were killed in Khojaly 29 years ago.
Azerbaijan insists that bringing the perpetrators of the Khojaly massacre to justice is vital to a durable peace, something that is unlikely while some Armenian leaders deny it ever happened. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called the massacre "a blatant lie" in 2019.
The mutual enmity and denialism continued during the latest war, where both sides were accused of war crimes by independent monitors.
“During the recent Nagorno-Karabakh fighting, members of the military on both sides have behaved horrendously, displaying a complete disregard for the rules of war,” Amnesty’s Denis Krivosheev said in December, after the group’s Crisis Evidence Lab verified videos showing the decapitation of captives and mistreatment of prisoners.
Azerbaijani officials remain reluctant to acknowledge wrong-doing. “Azerbaijan forces respected international humanitarian law in the conduct of the recent hostilities,” said foreign ministry spokeswoman Leyla Abdullayeva. But in December, Azerbaijan and arrested four soldiers on charges of war crimes after they were allegedly identified in videos showing the mutilation of corpses and desecration of graves.
The government has refused to release dozens of detained Armenians though, despite the November ceasefire agreement including a commitment to release all prisoners, including those detained after the cessation of hostilities. President Alyiev says Azerbaijan is holding only a “sabotage group” that was deployed in violation of the ceasefire. “These are terrorists,” he said.
Azerbaijan was previously disadvantaged when it came to presenting its message globally, according to Farid Shafiyev, the chairman of the Center of Analysis of International relations, a government-funded think tank. “We face discrimination against us as so-called ‘terrible Turks’,” he said.
The systematic mass murder and ethnic cleansing of about one million Armenians from present-day Turkey around the time of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire – which the United States and 31 other countries recognise as genocide – produced a large Armenian diaspora, which remains engaged on issues concerning their homeland. Celebrities of Armenian heritage, including socialite , the playboy influencer Dan Bilzerian, and members of the rock band have all vocally supported Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh.
To improve Azerbaijan’s propaganda efforts, the government created the State Committee on work with Diaspora of the Republic of Azerbaijan, which operates from gilded offices in Baku featuring plaster statues of historical Azeri warriors. “We need to work on the media approach very hard,” said chairman Fuad Muradov during a tour of the committee’s radio and television studios.
The committee’s website shows it was behind a recent campaign in London in which trucks carrying electronic billboards displayed messages calling for “Justice for Khojaly”.
With Azerbaijan still focused on information warfare, prospects for a lasting peace seem limited. Reporters Without Borders ranks Azerbaijan near the bottom of its 2020 press freedom index at 168 out of 180 states, which critics say leaves little public space for more conciliatory messaging.
President Aliyev’s tone remains bellicose, even while insisting that Azerbaijan is ready for peace. “Any attempt at revenge by Armenia will be severely punished,” he said. “We will not hesitate for one minute.”
But with his popularity higher than ever following his military victory, now would be the perfect time for him to expend political capital in striking a more conciliatory tone.
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