The Azerbaijan National NGO Forum, an umbrella organization of Azerbaijani NGOs that brings together hundreds of public associations, has issued an Open Letter condemning the call by the US-based Lemkin Institute for the release of Armenian-origin individuals, including Ruben Vardanyan, who are accused of war crimes, APA reports.
Through misinformation campaigns, individuals charged in several accounts with financing terrorism, waging aggressive war and committing crimes against humanity during over 30 years of illegal occupation, are portrayed as “hostages”. This framing ignores documented evidences such as the acts committed by war criminals led to the forced displacement of nearly one million Azerbaijanis and the destruction of hundreds of civilian settlements.
Using holiday sentiment and the New Year mood to soften public judgment does not weaken the legal accountability of war criminals. Moreover, invoking religious distinctions in this context is misleading, as the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan has never been religious in nature. Meanwhile, the Lemkin Institute’s biased positions undermine President Donald J.Trump’s peace efforts between Azerbaijan and Armenia, advanced through the Joint Declaration signed on 8 August 2025 in Washington, threatening the normalization process and emerging economic cooperation between the two South Caucasus countries.
The Institute’s already questionable impartiality and credibility are further weakened by this biased approach, as even Raphael Lemkin’s own family has questioned and publicly criticized the misuse of Lemkin’s name by the Institute.
Over time, this approach has turned into a repeated one-sided and systematic anti-Azerbaijani messaging. Just an example, in October 2024, it published an article opposing Azerbaijan’s hosting of COP29, followed on 10 November 2024 by a social media post stating “Say NO to COP29 in Azerbaijan!”. Why would a genocide-focused organization repeatedly target an environmental summit unrelated to its mandate? Why politicize a climate conference so persistently? These questions are answered by the Institute’s leadership structure, which includes Lyusi Mirzoyan, Administration & Project Manager of Armenian origin, and its consistent alignment with openly anti-Azerbaijan advocacy narratives.
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