A group of Azerbaijani NGO representatives addressed an Open Letter to Zohran Kvame Mamdani, the Mayor of New York City, who made untrue statements on the “X” platform about the alleged Armenian genocide of 1915, as well as Azerbaijan's efforts to restore its territorial integrity and sovereignty in 2020-2023.
Modern.az presents the full text of the appeal:
“We – a group of civil society representatives from Azerbaijan – consider your unrealistic statements on the “X” platform against the alleged Armenian genocide of 1915, including Azerbaijan's efforts to restore its territorial integrity and sovereignty in 2020-2023, unacceptable. Unfortunately, in the spirit of the Biden-Blinken era, you have touched the feelings of millions of people with this political statement, which is inconsistent with your mandate as the Mayor of New York City.
We consider your statements against Azerbaijan and Turkey, based on unilateral information from Armenian lobby groups and a group of Armenian communities in New York, to be contrary to the peace process achieved through the mediation of US President Donald Trump at the Washington Summit on August 8, 2025, and against normalization steps with Armenia. A certain part of the Armenian diaspora living far beyond the region and the borders of Armenia, including the Armenian diaspora in the USA, is trying to hinder these peace efforts. With this statement, you have effectively defended the destructive agenda of revanchist forces.
Perhaps you have been misinformed. Today, the South Caucasus is turning a difficult, bloody historical page and expanding opportunities for peace and secure coexistence. Today there is peace in the region, and we call on you to support peace. A new era is opening in the history of the Azerbaijani and Armenian peoples. We regret that a group of Armenian diaspora circles supports war, not peace, and misleads US politicians.
If the protection of human rights and the commemoration of historical tragedies are truly of great value, then the tragedies brought upon the Azerbaijani people by Armenia, the Khojaly genocide of 1992, the historical, religious, and cultural monuments destroyed by the Armenian armed forces in Karabakh and Eastern Zangazur during the occupation, and urbicide should not be forgotten. Today, peaceful Azerbaijanis are still losing their lives and becoming disabled by mines planted by the Armenian armed forces in Karabakh and Eastern Zangazur. Hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis have had to live for decades deprived of fundamental rights – the right to security, property, and return to their native lands.
We believe that the statements of an influential official like you should not be based on the position of only one side, but rather should cover the realities. Unfortunately, your statement did not mention the fate and long-standing suffering of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijani internally displaced persons. We believe that a broader and more independent review of information will help to better understand the events in the region and to distinguish between the occupier and the occupied.
We can provide you with more extensive information on the subject, and we are also ready to meet with you.
We would very much like New York not to be known only as a city with monuments and memorial plaques to the fictional Armenian genocide. As a mayor who pays special attention to historical tragedies, you can erect a monument or memorial plaque in New York about the Khojaly genocide of 1992, and organize the laying of flowers by Armenian and Azerbaijani communities on this memorial every year on February 26.
We will continue to closely monitor your statements.
Signatures:
1. Khatira Valiyeva - Member of the Board of the National Forum of Non-Governmental Organizations of Azerbaijan, Chairwoman of the Public Association for Support to IDPs of Khankendi
2. Vladimir Timoshenko – Retired Major General, Member of the Presidium of the Organization of War, Labor and Armed Forces Veterans of the Republic of Azerbaijan
3. Novella Jafaroglu – Chairwoman of the Dilara Aliyeva Society for the Protection of Women's Rights of Azerbaijan
4. Saadat Benanyarli - Chairwoman of the Azerbaijani National Section of the International Society for Human Rights
5. Saltanat Gojamanli - Chairwoman of the Public Association for the Protection of Human Rights and Legality
6. Amir Aliyev – Chairman of the Center for the Promotion of Human Rights
7. Alimammad Nuriyev – Head of the “Constitution” Research Foundation
8. Umud Rahimoglu - Head of the International Eurasia Press Fund
9. Saadat Mammadova - Chairwoman of the “Maarifchi Media Center” Public Association
10. Rey Gasimov - Chairman of the Association of Mine Victims in Azerbaijan
11. Hafiz Safikhanov - Head of the Azerbaijan Campaign Against Mines
12. Konul Behbudova – Chairwoman of the “Karabakh Missing Families” Public Association
13. Fariz Khalilli – Chairman of the “Miras” Public Association for Assistance in Studying Cultural Heritage
14. Sevinj Alizade – Chairwoman of the “Zafar” Public Association for Support to Families of Martyrs
15. Tunzala Abdulalimova – Chairwoman of the “Vatan Namina” Public Association for Support to Families of Martyrs
16. Jeyran Hasanova – Chairwoman of the “Support to Mothers of Martyrs” Public Association
17. Vugar Gadirov – Chairman of the Youth Organization for Return and Revival Public Association
18. Khalid Kazimov - Chairman of the Regional Human Rights and Media Center
19. Shalala Humbatova - Chairwoman of the “Makhez” National Heritage Research Public Association
20. Dilgam Ahmad – Chairman of the “Chapar” National Heritage Research Center.”
