I am sure that incumbent president Serzh Sargsyan and former minister Seyran Ohanyan who committed a bloody massacre in the Azerbaijani town of Khojaly in late 20th century they are the successors of the Armenian fascist general Dro and Nzhdeh. Suffice it to remember Serzh Sargsyan`s words that ‘before Khojaly, the Azerbaijanis thought that the Armenians were people who could not raise their hand against the civilian population. We were able to break that stereotype’. And this really demonstrates that Serzh Sargsyan and his entire clan in the government of Armenia are genuine and worthy successors of Dro and Nzhdeh. The bloody act of genocide, which was committed with incredible brutality and barbarism in Khojaly, is one of the horrible tragedies of the late 20th century. Cruel and merciless scenes of that massacre will always remain a never-healing scar in the heart of Azerbaijan.

The history has never forgotten the cruelty of a 20,000-strong Armenian legion as part of the Wehrmacht in the WW II. “The aim of the Armenian legion led by nationalist commander Dro (who personally participated in the annihilation of thousands of Jews) was to persecute and annihilate Jews and others disliked by the German army. At the same time, the Armenian legion organized death marches at concentration camps. In his “Death Tango” book, the late Azerbaijani historian Rovshan Mustafayev provides a lot of evidence of the Armenian units` involvement in genocide of Jews, particularly a report of sonderkommando “Dromedar” about the operation in Western Crimea. “From November 16 to December 15, 1941, some 17,645 Jews were executed. Simferopol, Eupatoria, Alushta, Karasubazar, Kerch, Feodosia and other regions of Western Crimea were cleaned of Jews,” Rovshan Mustafayev notes in his book.

Another situation concerning Jews and Jewish community you can see in Azerbaijan Republic. As an Israeli citizen, I can say proudly that the leadership of Azerbaijan shows a great degree of deference and partnership to the Jewish community. Under the patronage of President Ilham Aliyev, two synagogues and the largest Jewish educational center in the South Caucasus have been built. Plans are in place for the first Azerbaijani Jewish museum, which will be the first Jewish museum in the South Caucasus.

Azerbaijan is the genuine sample of intercultural, interfaith and inter-civilizational dialog