Western Azerbaijani Community condemns G7 for discrimination in refugee rights call

The Western Azerbaijani Community has issued a statement condemning the Group of Seven (G7) nations for what it perceives as discriminatory treatment towards Azerbaijani refugees from Armenia.

The community's statement comes in response to the recent G7 foreign ministers’ meeting held on April 17-19 in Capri, Italy, where the call for Azerbaijan to ensure the right of return for "refugees" was made, without a corresponding call for Armenia to do the same for exiled Azerbaijanis, AZERTAC reports.

In a statement, the Western Azerbaijani Community emphasized that the omission of a call for Armenia to guarantee the right of return for exiled Azerbaijanis amounts to ethnic and religious discrimination. The community has been vocal in its appeals to all G7 member states and the European Union, urging them to support the right of Azerbaijanis to return to Armenia.

According to the Western Azerbaijani Community, the failure of the G7 countries to address the plight of Azerbaijanis expelled from Armenia not only contradicts the principles of human rights protection but also hampers the process of normalization in Azerbaijan-Armenia relations.

"The Western Azerbaijani Community calls on the G7 states to respect the principle of equality of rights and dignity of all people, regardless of their ethnic and religious origin, not to discriminate against Azerbaijanis expelled from Armenia, and to respect their right to return," the statement noted.