On June 24, 2025, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev called Armenia a “war criminal state” in his speech, accusing Yerevan of aggression against civilians and civilian infrastructure during the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Aliyev stressed that Armenian forces destroyed Azerbaijani settlements during the occupation and shelled cities such as Ganja, Barda, Tartar, Aghdam and Mingachevir during the Second Karabakh War in 2020. The statement comes amid ongoing tensions between Baku and Yerevan following Azerbaijan's military operation in September 2023 that ended its control over Nagorno-Karabakh.

According to Aliyev, quoted by Minval on Telegram, Armenia is responsible for the 1992 Khojaly massacre, in which hundreds of Azerbaijani civilians were killed during the First Karabakh War. He also accused Yerevan of destroying “to the ground” Azerbaijani territories during their occupation from 1994 to 2020. “These actions are war crimes for which Armenia must answer,” the Azerbaijani leader said.

The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, which had been going on since the late 1980s, peaked in 2020 during the Second Karabakh War, which lasted 44 days. According to Wikipedia, Azerbaijan regained control of seven surrounding districts and part of Karabakh, culminating in a Russia-brokered ceasefire. In September 2023, Azerbaijan carried out an operation it called “anti-terrorist measures,” which resulted in the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) capitulating and more than 100 Armenians fleeing the region.