10 January 2023

Today, it is no secret that the Western Azerbaijan Community was denied its rights as a community that was deported for many years. Of course, talking about the rights of Western Azerbaijanis in a place where there was a problem with Karabakh might have looked like a premature fire. But today, we have brought this topic to the international arena. My recommendations, i.e., those I gave on 24 December, are being implemented. A special working group has been set up based on all the tasks I set and, at the same time, based on the suggestions from the ground. We have started working on a single concept. Of course, Western Azerbaijanis should return to their ancestral lands; this is their right, and all international conventions recognize this right of theirs. As the state of Azerbaijan, we must do our best to secure this right. Again, I said during the meeting with community representatives there that we wanted to do it peacefully, and I am sure we will achieve that. Because there are no mono-ethnic states in our area, in Eurasia in general, it would be good for Armenia, as they say, to escape this mono-ethnic state stigma. The best and fairest way for this is for Western Azerbaijanis to return to their native lands.

I also said during the meeting with the representatives of the Community that there was almost no life in the villages they had vacated after the deportation. Now there are videos, there are other documents, and there are people who visited those villages. They saw that everything was destroyed and there is no life there. Therefore, their return will not create a problem for the Armenians who occupied their houses, just as they did elsewhere, let us say Karabakh. Their return there does not mean the expulsion of the Armenians living there. Those villages are abandoned, and we will use all the opportunities available. Just as the Karabakh issue once united the entire Azerbaijani people and we achieved our wishes, we should apply the same approach here. Of course, there is a great need for media activities, both inside the country and abroad. I have also expressed my opinion about this. So, a comprehensive program is being prepared.

Let me add that all our programs are implemented in every area. We never come up with initiatives that cannot be realized. Therefore, work is already underway on a program in this domain. I am confident that we will achieve this and restore historical justice.