By Eldar S.,Special to Azerbaijan.US
Baku, August 30, 2025 – When President Ilham Aliyev told Al Arabiya that the Red Army occupied Azerbaijan in 1920, Russian commentators erupted in outrage. State-friendly media called it a provocation, deputies fumed about “rewriting history,” and propagandists rushed to defend the honor of long-dead empires. But behind the noise lies a simple fact: Aliyev said nothing new. He only repeated what has been enshrined in Azerbaijan’s Declaration of Independence and taught in textbooks for more than three decades.
The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR) of 1918–1920 was the first secular democracy in the Muslim world. It lasted just 23 months before the Red Army entered Baku and extinguished its sovereignty. That was occupation — nothing more, nothing less. To pretend otherwise is to deny both the archives and common sense.
Russia’s selective memory
Why then the hysteria in Moscow? Because Aliyev’s words pierced through Russia’s favorite shield: imperial nostalgia. The Kremlin prefers to remember the USSR as a “voluntary union,” not as the sum of nations conquered or coerced into submission. It wants to celebrate military victories while ignoring the colonial practices that built the empire in the first place.
Aliyev’s “history lesson” was a reminder that empires don’t just leave monuments; they leave scars. Just as Britain cannot whitewash the Opium Wars, or Belgium its atrocities in Congo, Russia cannot pretend that the annexation of the South Caucasus was anything but what it was: conquest.
A crisis already underway
To see Aliyev’s remarks as an isolated provocation is to miss the bigger picture. Russia–Azerbaijan relations are already in their deepest crisis in decades. The downing of an Azerbaijani passenger plane by Russian air defenses earlier this year exposed a chasm of mistrust.
Baku expected what it had itself delivered after accidentally shooting down a Russian helicopter in 2020: an immediate apology, presidential-level acknowledgment, and compensation for families. Instead, Moscow resisted, insisting Azerbaijan should share the blame with Ukraine — as if Kyiv’s drones were responsible for Russian misfires. For Aliyev, this was not just an insult but proof of a dangerous mindset: a refusal to accept responsibility.
Consistency, not surprise
Critics in Moscow also forget that Azerbaijan’s position has been consistent. Aliyev reaffirmed support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity from the very first days of the war. Just weeks before signing a cooperation pact in Moscow, he signed a strategic partnership document with Kyiv. There was never a hidden agenda.
Baku has balanced pragmatism with principle: never allowing its territory to be used against Russia, while also never compromising on international law. That balance held for years. The plane crash — and Moscow’s refusal to handle it honestly — broke it.
What lies ahead
Mammadov, the Azerbaijani political analyst who dissected Aliyev’s interview, is blunt: the old model of relations is gone. “Either we move into a managed new normal — pragmatic, with localized crises — or we slide into confrontation with constant risks of escalation,” he warns.
For Moscow, the choice is simple. If it continues to lash out at historical truth and bully its neighbors, it will only accelerate its isolation. If it accepts responsibility and respects Azerbaijan’s independence as more than a formality, there is still room for cooperation.
But one thing will not change: Baku will not whitewash 1920. Occupation is occupation. A century later, the memory of the ADR remains central to Azerbaijan’s identity. Pretending otherwise to spare Russia’s feelings is not an option.
The lesson for Russia
Empires fall when they refuse to face their past. Aliyev’s reminder is not just for Azerbaijanis — it is for Russians too. A mature nation can admit to both its triumphs and its wrongs. Until Moscow learns that, every honest statement from Baku will feel like a provocation.
And that is not Azerbaijan’s problem.
