Western Azerbaijan Community

The Western Azerbaijan Community has issued a statement regarding the claims made by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at a government meeting on August 24 about the alleged non-implementation by Azerbaijan of the provision of the trilateral Statement on the return of refugees and internally displaced persons and Azerbaijan`s intention to carry out ethnic cleansing of Armenians, the Community said in a statement.

The statement says that accusations of ethnic cleansing voiced by Armenia, a country that expelled all Azerbaijanis from its own territory and the territories of Azerbaijan it once occupied in pursuit of its notorious mono-ethnic policy, arouse a sense of disgust. “Armenia has no moral right to talk about humanitarian issues and human rights. Specifically, in relation to the right of return, we note that Armenia did not allow Azerbaijani IDPs to return to their homes for 30 years until the invading Armenian army was defeated and removed from the territory of Azerbaijan in 2020.”

The statement says further that Armenia still does not allow the Azerbaijanis it expelled from its territory the return to their homes. Additionally, Azerbaijani IDPs who were driven out of settlements such as Khankendi, Khojaly, Karkijahan, Meshali, Garadaghli in the Karabakh economic region of Azerbaijan are still unable return to their homes. Azerbaijan, for its part, allowed Armenians to return safely to the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan immediately after the 2020 war and is currently trying to reintegrate them. Also, Armenians live in Azerbaijani territories outside the Karabakh region as fully-fledged citizens of Azerbaijan.

“We would like to emphasize that it is Armenia's obligation arising from international law and the trilateral statement to provide conditions for the safe and dignified return of Azerbaijanis expelled from Armenia to their homes. We demand that the government of Armenia end its policy contradicting international law, respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan in deed, stop sabotaging the efforts of the government of Azerbaijan to reintegrate Armenians living in the Karabakh region, and create conditions for the safe and dignified return of Azerbaijanis expelled from Armenia to their homes,” the statement says.