Narrative of so-called ‘Western Azerbaijan’ is direct territorial demand against Armenia, warns FM Mirzoyan

YEREVAN, JANUARY 8, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan has responded to President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev’s suggestion for the Armenian Prime Minister to “receive the representatives of the “Western Azerbaijan” community”.

Speaking at a press conference, FM Mirzoyan said that the narrative of the so-called “Western Azerbaijan” is a direct territorial demand against Armenia.

“We continue to receive proof from the Azerbaijani side that the Azerbaijani narrative of the so-called “Western Azerbaijan” is a direct territorial demand, or aspiration, or implies the violation of Armenia’s territorial integrity. Even starting from its name. Western Azerbaijan is the western part of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Calling Armenia’s territory as Western Azerbaijan already shows that they have aspirations against Armenia’s territorial integrity,” FM Mirzoyan said. Even the charter documents of that structure contain clear threats against Armenia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, he added.

“This is yet another fake, ambitious and maximalist project of the Azerbaijani authorities, directly sponsored by them, and they aren’t even hiding this,” Mirzoyan said.

Mirzoyan added that Armenia has never concealed the fact that Azerbaijanis used to live in Soviet Armenia, and they left Soviet Armenia parallel with the process of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

“First of all, the overwhelming majority of Azerbaijanis left Armenia in a rather civilized way. I can present numbers, 100 Azerbaijani families were able to sell their apartments, over 12,000 exchanged their apartments with those of Armenians living in Azerbaijan, over 160,000 persons received compensation from the Armenian government. Thus, the rights are also exhausted here,” Mirzoyan said.

As a comparison, Mirzoyan recalled the fate of the over 500,000 Armenians (including the population of Nagorno-Karabakh), who lived in Azerbaijan. “We can recall the Baku pogrom, the Sumgait pogrom, and all the other persecutions. And this is a fact,” Mirzoyan said.

Asked whether there is the issue of the return of Azerbaijanis to Armenia on the agenda, FM Mirzoyan said “There is no such issue on our agenda.”