“As the Western Azerbaijan Community, we strongly condemn the program titled “Armenia’s Struggle for Land and Identity in the Caucasus” aired on March 30, 2025, by the public broadcaster of the Federal Republic of Germany, “Deutsche Welle.” This program causes serious concern due to the gross violation of journalistic standards and ethics, dissemination of disinformation, racial discrimination, and incitement of hatred between peoples,” the Western Azerbaijan Community said in a statement.

“First of all, the program distorts historical facts by completely ignoring the suffering of the Azerbaijani people. The history related to the former conflict is presented entirely in line with the narrative of radical Armenian nationalists.

The program ignores the facts of the complete ethnic cleansing of Azerbaijanis from Armenia, Armenia’s occupation of Azerbaijani territories, the displacement of more than 800 000 Azerbaijanis from there, the destruction of nearly 1000 Azerbaijani cities and villages, the contamination of a large part of Azerbaijan’s territories with landmines, and inflicting damage to Azerbaijan exceeding 150 billion US dollars. It also turns a blind eye to important facts such as the killing of over 20 000 Azerbaijanis during the former conflict, the continued disappearance of 4 000 Azerbaijanis, and Armenia’s refusal to allow the safe and dignified return of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis forcibly expelled from Armenia. This is a clear violation of the principle of objectivity and truth in journalism.

The tone of the program is based on religious bias and demonstrates a prejudiced attitude toward Azerbaijanis. What is especially appalling is that images of Azerbaijani refugees are presented as Armenians, thus misleading viewers. This kind of manipulation not only spreads disinformation but also serves to obstruct peace between Armenians and Azerbaijanis. We believe that such deeds, repeatedly committed by certain European media outlets, are deliberately committed to offend the dignity of the Azerbaijani people. Let us recall that the French-German public broadcaster “Arte” has also recently presented images of Azerbaijani refugees as Armenians in the same manner.

As the Western Azerbaijan Community, we believe that this program by “Deutsche Welle” not only tramples on journalism ethics but also damages peace and reconciliation efforts in the region, and aims to obstruct peace. It is unacceptable that an international media organization demonstrates such a one-sided and distorted approach instead of objectivity and responsibility expected of it.

“Deutsche Welle” must remove this program, which is characterized by hatred and racial discrimination, from its public resources and apologize to the Azerbaijani people,” the Community added.

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