Azerbaijan’s Sephardic Jewish community slams Mamdani’s Armenian genocide comments
Mamdani draws ire of Jewish community in Azerbaijan
NY Jewish News
- The Sephardic Jewish Community of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, slammed Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s comments marking the 111th anniversary of the Armenian genocide last week.
- After honoring the Armenians killed in the Ottoman Empire in 1915-16, Mamdani noted on X the more recent clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. In 2023, Azerbaijan took control of the territory and forced more than 100,000 Armenians to flee. Mamdani accused Azerbaijan of “continuing the genocidal campaign that had begun over 100 years prior.”
- Rabbi Zamir Isayev, a prominent leader representing Azerbaijani Sephardic Jews, responded that the community “strongly rejects” Mamdani’s comments. “Attempts to portray the restoration of Azerbaijan’s sovereignty as ‘genocide’ are false, inflammatory, and harmful to peace,” said Isayev. “At a time when Azerbaijan and Armenia are moving toward long-awaited peace, public officials must speak with accuracy, balance, and responsibility — not revive hostility.”
- Mamdani’s predecessor in City Hall, Eric Adams, was accused in a federal indictment of accepting bribes from Turkish officials not to address Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day. (Turkey is the successor to the Ottoman Empire.) The indictment was dropped under pressure from the Trump administration and the allegations were not proven. Adams never made any proclamations to mark the day.
