The Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemned New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani's statement, calling it provocative and a distortion of historical facts. Speaking on the anniversary of the 1915 events, Mamdani linked the killing of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire to modern-day events, accusing Azerbaijan and Turkey of attacking Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020 and "expelling" more than 100,000 people in 2023.
Employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB for Karachay-Cherkessia came to search the house of the parents of the leader of the “Circassian Congress” Kase Kik. Their cell phones were confiscated, the activist wrote on social networks. Investigative actions, as he emphasized, were unauthorized and secret.
Last year, police accused Kase Kika of “discrediting” the Russian army. However, law enforcement officers missed the three-month deadline for bringing to justice.
CPE staff found a video on YouTube entitled “Circassians have no need to shed blood in Ukraine and die in this war.” In the video, Kik called on people to resist the authorities and evade mobilization.
Kase Kik was also arrested and beaten by security forces after he ordered a karaoke song in Ukrainian in a Cherkessk cafe. He spoke out against the Russian president, and the “special operation,” according to him, is a crime, including against Russia itself and its people. Subsequently, the activist emigrated from the Russian Federation.