Armenian families flee Artsakh after an attack in 2023 that forced the displacement the population there

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan blamed Armenian Diaspora organizations for Baku’s ongoing claims that most of modern-day Armenia is “Western Azerbaijan,” and demands to settle Azerbaijanis there.

Pashinyan claimed that Azerbaijani leaders continue to raise the so-called “Western Azerbaijan” issue in direct response to efforts by Diaspora organizations that are advocating for the rights of Artsakh Armenians forcibly displaced during Azerbaijan’s violent attack on Artsakh in September 2023.

A group calling itself the Baku Initiative Group hosted a conference in Washington on Wednesday, called “The right of return and self-determination: double standards and selective approaches.”

“The conference participants will discuss the issue of maintaining the recognition of fundamental rights – the right to safe, voluntary, and dignified return to their historical lands – in the focus of attention of international organizations, following the example of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis who were forcibly expelled from their historical lands in Armenia as a result of the policy of ethnic cleansing,” the Baku Initiative Group said in a report.

Last week, the Azerbaijani government organized a “festival-conference” on Azerbaijanis’ “return to Western Azerbaijan” in Nakhichevan. During the event, Azerbaijan’s Education Minister Emin Amrulayev said the so-called “Western Azerbaijan” issue is of “strategic importance” to Baku.

An Azerbaijani lawmaker heading a government-linked group called the Community of Western Azerbaijan said afterwards that it must be on the agenda of Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations.

Pashinyan and other government officials have not reacted to the latest efforts by Baku to advance this historical revisionist stance.

Pashinyan, who has said that the issue of “Western Azerbaijan” was not on the agenda of peace talks with Azerbaijan, has always drawn a parallel with demands for Artsakh Armenians to be guaranteed safe return to their homeland.

Pashinyan lamented to reporters on Thursday that “there is silence about the fact that just ten or a little more days ago, Armenian organizations [in the United States] brought up an issue that essentially concerns … the continuation of the Karabakh movement.”

Ahead of Tuesday, which marked the 1,000th day of captivity for Armenian hostages being held in Baku, Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Frank Pallone and Gus Bilirakis, Caucus Vice-Chair Brad Sherman and representatives Gabe Amo and Jim Costa introduced amendments to the national security legislation demanding the release of Armenian hostages and prisoners of war illegally held by Azerbaijan, the withdrawal of Azerbaijani forces from sovereign Armenian territory, the protection of Artsakh’s cultural and religious heritage, and the safe return of forcibly displaced Armenian refugees to their Artsakh homes.

The Armenian National Committee of America hailed the effort, with its Executive Director, Aram Hamparian, saying “these amendments send a clear message: Congress will not subsidize Azerbaijan’s abuses, aggression, desecration, and occupation with U.S. tax dollars.”

Pashinyan was presumably referring to this effort and the ANCA when he expressed frustration at such advocacy efforts outside Armenia, because as much he has abandoned the Artsakh issue, it angers him that others are advancing the right of Artsakh Armenians.

“I’m saying it very bluntly: as long as the Dashnaktsutyun lobbying and steps in that direction continue in the United States, they will receive [a pushback from Baku] … Now any attempt to continue the Karabakh movement at other levels will bring reciprocal reactions,” said Pashinyan. “Fruthermore, that process can cause us problems,” he added without elaborating.

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