Parliament creates initiative group for return to Western Azerbaijan

An initiative group has been established in the Azerbaijani parliament to facilitate the return to Western Azerbaijan.

The Western Azerbaijan Community has recently reached out to Speaker of the Azerbaijani parliament Sahiba Gafarova, Press and Public Relations Department of the Azerbaijani parliament told Caliber.Az.

In its appeal, the Western Azerbaijan Community emphasised that the creation of this initiative group in parliament would signify a national consensus on the issue and enhance the effectiveness of parliamentary diplomacy in pursuing this goal.

In turn, Gafarova has issued a directive to create the initiative group, led by MP Aziz Alakbarov. 

The group's primary objective will be to support the realization of the right of Azerbaijanis displaced from Western Azerbaijan to return to their ancestral lands.

On October 14, the Western Azerbaijan Community launched the exhibition titled "Western Azerbaijan in Our Cultural Memory" at the Warsaw School of Economics, one of Poland’s most prestigious higher education institutions.

Ulviya Zulfikar, head of the press service of the Western Azerbaijan Community, addressed the audience and recounted the series of deportations that ultimately led to the expulsion of all Azerbaijanis from Armenia. She underlined that Armenia inflicted severe damage on the cultural heritage of Western Azerbaijan, reducing Azerbaijani settlements to ruins and destroying centuries-old monuments. Zulfikar mentioned that more than 300 mosques and hundreds of cemeteries were demolished during this time.

She condemned the destruction of this cultural heritage as a crime against humanity and called on the international community to support the Western Azerbaijan Community’s efforts to achieve justice.

By Naila Huseynova