Azerbaijan Condemns Armenia's Unveiling of Monument to Terrorist Operation 'Nemesis'

The Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan has accused Armenia of promoting terrorism and fueling the propaganda of terrorist acts committed by Armenian terrorist organizations around the world. The ministry’s condemnation came after the Armenian government unveiled a monument to the terrorist operation “Nemesis” in Yerevan this week.

“During the terrorist Nemesis operation targeting the officials of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, as well as the Ottoman Empire, in 1920-1922, along with officials of the Ottoman State, former Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Fatali Khan Khoyski, former Deputy Chairman of the Parliament of Azerbaijan Hasan Bay Aghayev, Former Minister of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan Behbud Khan Javanshir, former Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Nasib Bey Yusifbeyli were killed,” the ministry said on Wednesday in a statement.

Operation Nemesis was a massive assassination plan committed by Armenian terrorist groups to kill Turkish nationals who they believed were among the perpetrators of the fictional “Armenian genocide.” The word “Nemesis” reflects the name of the revenge goddess in Greek mythology. Armenians carried out the bloody operation to avenge the Turks for the events of 1915 in the last period of the Ottoman Empire. The mastermind of the operation was a radical anti-Turkish Armenian terrorist ringleader, Shahan Natali (Hagop der Hagopyan). Natali presented his plan at the 9th Congress of the Armenian ultra-nationalist Dashnaksutyun Party. The target list included 650 individuals, including 41 top targets with Interior Minister Talat Pasha being marked among them.

Operation Nemesis was launched with the aim of committing pre-planned assassinations of all who were on the list. Talat Pasha was killed in Berlin in 1921. After him, Turkish statesmen Jamal Pasha, Jamal Azmi, Bahattin Shakir, Said Halim Pasha, and others were also assassinated.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry recalled that the legacy of Operation Nemesis was also seen in 1970-1980 when ASALA (Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia) and other Armenian terrorist organizations committed more than 235 terrorist acts in 22 countries around the world, killing 31 Turkish diplomats. Furthermore, since the end of the 1980s, Armenia has committed about 30 large-scale terrorist acts against Azerbaijan, including the bombings of public buses and metro trains to massacre the civilian population.

According to the ministry, traces of Armenian terrorism were also seen in the Khojaly genocide against Azerbaijanis through the all-out involvement of ASALA and its sub-branches, Arabo and Aramo terrorist groups. The Khojaly genocide is considered one of the bloodiest massacres committed by Armenia against ethnic Azerbaijanis. Late into the night on February 25, Armenia’s forces, backed by the Infantry Guard Regiment No. 366 from a then-collapsed Soviet army, assaulted the town of Khojaly, located in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. As a result of the attack, the Armenian armed forces killed 613 ethnic Azerbaijanis, including 106 women, 63 children, and 70 elderly people; and took another 1,275 as hostages. Another 150 Azerbaijani nationals went missing, and their fates remain unknown to this day. Those suffering major injuries or having been maimed totaled 487, including 76 children.

“Armenian terrorism, extremism, aggressive separatism, and all forms and manifestations of racial discrimination must be fought decisively without any ambiguity or double standards. Such steps by Armenia seriously question the country’s alleged “sincerity” and “goodwill” in connection with the ongoing normalization negotiations with Azerbaijan and Türkiye,” the Azerbaijani ministry said in its statement.