EU confirms rights of West Azerbaijanis to return to homeland

The European Union (EU) has confirmed the rights of West Azerbaijanis to return to their homeland in an official response to a recent appeal by the West Azerbaijan Community.

In its response, the EU unequivocally reaffirms that it supports the right of all groups to return and notes the importance of this issue as part of the wider peace process, Report informs, citing the Western Azerbaijan Community press service.

"The European Union, which has great weight in the international arena, plays an important role in normalising inter-state relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and promoting peace and stability in the region.

We consider EU support for the right of return of Azerbaijanis to their homeland to be an important step in strengthening international support for this issue. In our view, this official response expresses a growing international recognition of the urgent need to address the plight of Azerbaijanis exiled from Armenia. It also strengthens the position of the community as a reliable partner in achieving a just and sustainable solution to this urgent humanitarian problem.

The Western Azerbaijan Community looks forward to further dialogue and practical cooperation with the EU in this direction. The community remains committed to working closely with the EU to ensure the safe and dignified return of Azerbaijanis to their homes and thus contribute to peace, stability and coexistence in the region in accordance with the norms and principles of international law," the community said.

The community has previously appealed to the presidents of the Council of the European Union and the European Commission to intervene to ensure the right of Azerbaijanis to return to their homes in Armenia, from which they have been forcibly expelled.

Demographic changes

To recap, the historical lands of Azerbaijan on the country’s western edge were originally settled by ethnic Azerbaijanis before they were included in destructive plans developed by the Russian imperial and Soviet authorities. The city of Iravan (modern-day Yerevan) and the Zangazur region was one of the cradles of the Azerbaijani population and culture before their forcible separation from the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR) in 1918 and 1920, respectively.

Iravan had been initially settled by ethnic Azerbaijanis after its establishment by their ancestors. Although Iravan was handed over “willingly” to the newly established Armenian state by the ADR government, historical sources claim it to be organized and implemented forcibly under the pressure of foreign forces.

Zangazur is a historically Azerbaijani region that forms the southern part of modern-day Armenia and a portion of the territory of Azerbaijan.

Demographic changes in the city of Iravan and the Zangazur region took place during the reign of Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union. A massive relocation of Armenians by the Russian Empire to Iravan, Zangazur, and other territories of Azerbaijan started in the wake of the Russian Empire’s victory over Iran in two wars in the 1804-1812 and 1826-1828 war.

As a result of the massacres committed by Armenian armed groups in 1905-1907 and 1914-1921 in Zangazur, about half a million indigenous Azerbaijanis and other Muslim locals were killed. In those years, 115 Muslim villages in Zangazur have been wiped off the face of the earth.

Iravan was ceded to the newly-established Armenian Republic on May 29, 1918. Shortly after the Bolshevik forces subjugated the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic on April 28, 1920, a significant part of the Zangazur region was also ceded to the newly-established Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic on November 30, 1920. The annexation of the territories by Armenia took place under the aegis of the Soviet Empire, which forced the Azerbaijani authorities to make territorial concessions to Armenians. As a result, Nakhchivan became an exclave separated from the Azerbaijani mainland.

The annexation of Iravan took its toll on its indigenous Azerbaijani population and the cultural heritage of Azerbaijanis. According to 1916 data, there were over 373,000 Azerbaijanis living in Iravan, however, only 12,000 Azerbaijanis were registered in census files in 1922.

In 1933, the territory of the Armenian SSR was divided into districts and the name Zangazur was changed to new district names such as Gafan, Gorus, Garakilsa (Sisian), and Mehri.

The final round of the “Armenianization” of Western Azerbaijan took place in 1988 when over 300,000 ethnic Azerbaijanis living in the historical Western Azerbaijan region, or modern-day Armenia, were expelled forcibly from their ancestral lands.

The anti-Azerbaijan sentiments in Armenia were then on the rise accompanied by pogroms and persecution of ethnic Azerbaijanis. The motives for the ethnic conflict were Armenia’s illegal claims for the territories of Azerbaijan, namely the Karabakh region. The deportation of Azerbaijanis later set grounds for Armenia to launch a full-scale military attack on Azerbaijan, leading to the first Karabakh war in 1991-1994 and the occupation of the internationally recognized Azerbaijani lands.