Hatred against Armenians continues to be promoted in Azerbaijani schools, according to journalist Javid Ahmadov, who shared footage from a school event where children reenacted the capture of an Armenian and forced him to declare “Karabakh is Azerbaijan.” The video was posted on Ahmadov’s X.
“Look at this madness in an Azerbaijani school. This is how young minds are being brainwashed. Schools are used for propaganda, not education,” Ahmadov wrote.
In another post, he addressed the roots of anti-Armenian propaganda, arguing that the Azerbaijani government has long portrayed itself as a victim to mask internal repression and injustice. He said public frustration is redirected toward Armenians to justify corruption and authoritarian rule.
“Families have suffered from police violence and systemic corruption for years, but this ideology blames Armenians for everything: ‘Don’t blame me for stealing. Blame the Armenians,’” he wrote.
Ahmadov stressed that the regime relies on anti-Armenian rhetoric as a key tool for control. Weakening this propaganda would mean losing one of its main ideological levers, he said. The strategy allows the government to maintain internal domination without accountability.
He also recalled past acts of anti-Armenian violence supported by the state. “The government’s hate didn’t start with the Victory Park. It was already clear when Ramil Safarov axed an Armenian officer in his sleep and was welcomed as a hero. The park follows the same logic—helmets of the dead and racist mannequins for children. This is dehumanization,” Ahmadov stated.
In 2004, Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan was murdered in his sleep by Azerbaijani officer Ramil Safarov during a NATO language training program in Budapest. Safarov was sentenced to life in Hungary but was extradited to Azerbaijan in 2012, where he was pardoned by the president, promoted to major, and awarded with an apartment and back pay.
