Yerevan still speculating about rights of ethnic Armenians in Karabakh Western Azerbaijan Community’s statement

Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and other officials, speculating in their recent statements about the rights of Armenians living in Azerbaijan, continue to demonstrate their country’s aggressive and hypocritical policy.

The Western Azerbaijan Community made the remarks in a statement issued on June 6, Azertag reports.

The statement recalled that the Armenian leadership expelled hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis who once lived compactly in this country and systematically destroyed their cultural heritage.

The Armenian authorities do not respond to the calls of the Western Azerbaijan Community, the legal representative of these people, to start a dialogue on ensuring their right of return to [their ancestral lands in present-day Armenia], it said.

"Not only does Armenia defiantly refuse to ensure the right of return of the Azerbaijanis expelled by it, under the pretext of protecting the rights of Armenians living in Azerbaijan, but it also demonstrates an approach that contradicts the territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan and violates the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of states. Armenian officials continue to voice their delusional ideas about creating some kind of international mechanism in relation to Armenians living in Azerbaijan.

The refusal of the Armenian government to respond to the call of the Western Azerbaijan Community for dialogue and the attempt to create an international mechanism for separatist elements who reacted negatively to the invitation to dialogue from the Azerbaijani leadership and openly oppose Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, testify to this country’s destructive policy.

The Western Azerbaijan Community demands that the Armenian leadership abandon the policy that contradicts international law and human rights and create conditions for the safe and dignified return of exiled Azerbaijanis to their homes within the framework of international verification and guarantee mechanisms," the statement by the community said.

The Western Azerbaijan Community earlier stated that it was established in 1989 and deals with the protection of the rights of Azerbaijanis, who were expelled from Armenia.

The expelling of Azerbaijanis from the current territory of Armenia, where they once constituted an absolute majority, was completed in 1991. As a result of the ethnic cleansing, no single Azerbaijan is left in Armenia. Azerbaijani historical and cultural heritage, including mosques and graveyards in Armenia, were destroyed on a large scale, and all Azerbaijani toponyms were changed, the community said in its appeal to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in early April 2023.

“Expelling Azerbaijanis from Armenia is an unprecedented injustice given its political, legal, and humanitarian dimensions. We would like this injustice to be redressed. Based on the right to return enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and other important international acts, we aspire to return to our homes in safety and with dignity,” the community said.