Aliyev says hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis must "return" to Armenia

PanARMENIAN.Net - Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, disregarding the plight of Armenians who fled Baku and other regions of Azerbaijan, stated that "hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis must return to Western Azerbaijan" and that Armenia should respect what he described as "the right of Azerbaijanis to return to their native lands."

He made these remarks in an address to participants of the International Ombudsman Conference held in Baku, according to Report.az .

Aliyev emphasized that this demand is "one of the main conditions for establishing peace, normalizing neighborly relations, and protecting human rights in the region."

Earlier, Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ani Badalyan responded to similar statements by Aliyev, stating that "there is no 'Western Azerbaijan' within the territory of the Republic of Armenia; Western Azerbaijan refers to the western regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan." She noted that Azerbaijani authorities use the term "Western Azerbaijan" to refer to part of Armenia’s sovereign territory. Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan has previously described the Azerbaijani narrative of "Western Azerbaijan" as a territorial claim against Armenia.