July 17, 2020 - 12:23 AMT
Serj Tankian calls for a peaceful revolution in Azerbaijan

System Of A Down frontman Serj Tankian believes it's time for Azerbaijan to have a peaceful revolution like the "velvet revolution" in Armenia in 2018.

"This is Ilham Aliyev," he captioned a picture of the Azerbaijani President he posted on Instagram.

"He is the petro-oligarchic President of Azerbaijan. He took over from his Dad Heydar and made his wife Vice President. Azerbaijan is anything but a democracy."

Tankian said the world will never see peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia till the Azeri people themselves have proper leadership and a say in their own destiny.

"It’s time for Azerbaijan to have a peaceful revolution like the Velvet Revolution in Armenia in 2018 so that there could be reasonable leadership and hopefully peace," the artist said.

Tankian's comments came amid renewed violence on the border between the two countries. Since the situation escalated on the border on July 12, Azerbaijan has launched three unsuccessful infiltration attempts. Since the next morning, the Azerbaijani military has been firing on the Armenian positions, also using large caliber grenade launchers and combat drones to target civilian homes in several border settlements. Four servicemen of the Armenian army have been killed, while Azerbaijan has reported 12 deaths.