Who and how makes money on the “West Azerbaijan” myth?

Azerbaijani boys have developed a feminine character. they lose their masculinity. Vice President of “West Azerbaijan” community

The scientific-analytical community usually bypasses such political-propaganda structures as the “West Azerbaijan Community” project. It is seen as a tool of propaganda, a means of hybrid warfare, a manifestation of irredentism: too much ideological noise, too little academic integrity. Maybe that’s why it’s convenient.

We are talking about the so-called “public” organization, which supposedly deals with the issues of Azerbaijanis who left Armenia in the late 1980s. The “West Azerbaijan Community” is increasingly resembling a closed club embedded in the political architecture of President Ilham Aliyev’s administration, and essentially performs two main functions.

First, it creates and feeds the myth of “Western Azerbaijan”, that is, a fictional name for Armenia, which is presented as the future territory of “return”. Second, this artificially circulated topic provides a financial resource for project management.

In other words, the project built on falsified historical memory and the slogans of the theme of “return” simultaneously becomes a suitable platform for the enrichment of people with dubious reputation. The leadership consists of former officials, rectors, participants involved in corruption scandals, forgery of diplomas, business, tenders and administrative abuses.

The resolution, of course, is almost perfect. to society – a fabricated myth and a fabricated dream, to the administration – an instrument of hybrid war, to project participants – uncontrolled and unaccountable access to budget funds.

Financial infrastructure. the tip of the iceberg

The leaked documents prove that the activities of the organization are closely and directly connected with the state structures of Azerbaijan. “OC Media” published important data on November 3, 2025. The investigation, published on the basis of leaked internal documents, documents that President Aliyev’s administration coordinates and finances the promotion of the “West Azerbaijan” narrative, and the “West Azerbaijan Community” is a means of publicizing the project.

According to published documents and agreements, more than $65,000 (about 109,000 manats) of state funds were spent on just one international conference (“Ensuring the Safe and Dignified Return of Azerbaijanis Expelled from Armenia: Global Context and Just Solution”, Baku, December 5-6, 2023). Another case of data leakage, about four contracts worth about $56,000 (95,000 manats), became known in 2025.

These data leaks show the enormous resources the project has. If tens of thousands of dollars are spent on individual events, then one can assume how much the total budget will be.

It is important to emphasize that there is no open data containing a list of annual budgets, financial reports and government contracts. The disclosed figures do not reflect the amount of money spent on the entire information campaign. They show only the part that became known thanks to leaks and journalistic investigations.

The origin of the organization and its institutional relaunch

The “West Azerbaijan Community” declared itself the successor of the “Azerbaijani Refugee Society” operating since 1989. On August 3, 2022, the name was changed, a new statute was approved, and the structure received expanded institutional packaging: General Assembly, Directors and Supervisory Boards, Audit Committee, etc.

Head of the Board of Trustees Murvat Hasanli. business and the shadow of criminal mediation

Among the leaders of the “West Azerbaijan” project, businessman Murvat Hasanli stands out due to his connections with “thieves in law and the criminal world”. In 2021, details of a scandal involving a business project involving Hasanli were published in the press. Later, Murvat Hasanli turned to thief in law Nadir Salifov (better known as Lotu Guli in the criminal world) in order to settle business differences with his classmate.

Ahliman Amiraslanov. The “diploma business” of the head of the Council of Elders

The Council of Elders is a deliberative body of “Community” headed by Ahliman Amiraslanov. According to Azerbaijani press publications, during his rectorship, a system of corruption was formed in the Medical University of Azerbaijan, related to entrance exams, exam periods and administrative influence. According to publications, the cost of admission to the medical faculty was up to 100,000 manats, other faculties also had their own “fees”.

This is not sarcasm. The state project “West Azerbaijan” entrusts the role of “elder” to a person whose name has been associated with systemic corruption in the field of education. Apparently, trying to collect money from students is an important skill for a leader in the newly formed patriotic ethic.

Supervisory board. Misir Mardanov and the years of selling fake diplomas

The supervisory board is headed by Misir Mardanov, Minister of Education of Azerbaijan in 1998-2013. As the Azerbaijani expert Etibar Aliyev rightly stated, bribery in the sector covered all levels of the system, from kindergartens to universities. In 2019, the case of dismissal of about 2,500 teachers with fake diplomas from schools made a big noise. It was not for nothing that Mardanov is considered one of the former officials whose name is directly associated with corruption.

Council of intellectuals. diplomas, plagiarism and “masculinity” pedagogy

It is assumed that the Council of Intellectuals was supposed to be the most authoritative part of the project, but the personnel composition makes it look more like an “Azerbaijani museum” of the post-Soviet bureaucracy.

The chairman of the council is Elkhan Huseinov, the former rector of Sumgait State University and the ambassador of Azerbaijan to Turkmenistan. On September 13, 2023, he was released from the post of rector. Why? Public dissatisfaction grew over Huseinov’s activities. he was accused of bribery and corruption, as well as firing longtime university professors and hiring cronies, which created internal tensions at the university. In the end, after many complaints and public debates, he was relieved of his post.

Nizami Jafarov is one of the vice-chairmen of the “Council of Intellectuals” of the “West Azerbaijan” community, doctor of sciences, professor. The representative of “Western Azerbaijan” intelligentsia became an object of ridicule due to plagiarism. In 2018, the debate with academician Kamal Abdullah over the “Evidence Dictionary” was scandalous, during which the case of plagiarism committed by Jafarov was exposed. His literary and political comments were often discussed in the press and public circles.

Vice President Farukh Rustamov, doctor of science, professor, became famous for his sexism master class. The press attributed to him judgments according to which the small number of male teachers in schools leads to “feminization” and the formation of “feminine character” in Azerbaijani boys. According to Rustamov’s sensational statement, the increase in the number of divorces in Azerbaijan is due to the fact that men have not developed masculinity. the boy who grew up surrounded by women from childhood, becoming the head of the family, cannot manage it and, in the end, gets divorced.

This is the profile of the intelligentsia of the “West Azerbaijan” project: the “authoritative” former rector, professor-plagiarist, doctor of sciences, explains social problems by the “feminization” of boys. To be sure, the composition is impressive, especially if the goal is not to study the past, but to educate the present.

Council of Women. family patronage under public mission slogans

The women’s council is headed by deputy, member of the political council of the “New Azerbaijan” party, Malahat Hasanova. Public discussions about his name are related not only to politics, but also to the accusations against the school-lyceum run by his sister. Cases of illegal collection of money from students and unjustified rewards have been recorded. This case is typical of Azerbaijan’s post-Soviet configuration: political status, family ties, educational institutions, informal recruitment and public denial of the problem.

Instead of a conclusion. myth as a tool of business and hybrid warfare

It is clear that the so-called “Western Azerbaijan” did not and could not have any relation to the territory of the current Republic of Armenia, neither as a historical-political reality, nor as a legal category, nor as a legitimate state concept. This is not a forgotten homeland or a hidden truth, but an artificially created myth with reusable political devices.

It is a fact that Azerbaijan understands this better than anyone else. That is why the myth is consistently publicized through websites, conferences, exhibitions and “digital platforms”.

If it does not exist in reality, then it is created by means of administrative resources and finances, if the historical basis is not sufficient, it is falsified by the power of money, if there is no evidence, it is generated through conferences, bribing foreign guests receiving royalties, memos, maps and digital platforms.

This is exactly the paradox. The state, which leaves social problems unresolved for years, finds means and political resources to serve the fictional map, for real people – unemployment, corruption, low quality of education, for myth – paid conferences, expensive hotels, information campaigns, international platforms and “return” NGOs. There is no money for social issues, such as infant and maternity benefits, but there is money for the myth.

Therefore, “Community” should not be considered as a humanitarian organization or as a structure for protecting the rights of “refugees”. The choice of the leadership of the community is not random, but an elaborate model: a closed club of people with mutilated reputations, bribery gurus, sellers of fake diplomas, customers of the criminal world, sexists…

Everything is true. such a structure was hardly made up of pious people.

“Western Azerbaijan” is not a historical concept, but a tool of hybrid war. It distorts the historical memory, creates covert territorial ambitions, tries to mobilize the society around the invented idea of ​​a “lost homeland”.

The problem is not even whether anyone believes in the “Western Azerbaijan” thesis, but it is in whose interest it is to force the Azerbaijani society to pretend that they believe in it.

The “Western Azerbaijan” project exists not in history, law and geography, but in the offices of the Azerbaijani government, where myths are turned into budgets, and budgets are turned into weapons against Armenia.

“GEGHARD” SCIENTIFIC ANALYTICAL FOUNDATION

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