The peace negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan paved the way for another unresolved matter between the two countries to be put on the agenda: the right of return for the people from the Western Azerbaijan Community. “Our case is a fundamental human rights issue, we also have the right to return,” Ulviyya Zulfikar, the community’s spokesperson and head of the Western Azerbaijan TV station, said.

By Arthur Blok
“Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh solved a problem that the Armenian people could not solve for 600 years. Armenia and Artsakh have been fully cleaned of other ethnicities.” This segment of a leaked speech of former Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrosyan in 1993 hit like a bomb in Azerbaijan.

The speech, delivered on July 27, 1993, following the occupation of the Azerbaijani city of Aghdam, was addressed to members of the Yerkrapah paramilitary organisation. It fundamentally altered the narrative, supporting Azerbaijan’s stance and challenging the widely accepted narrative of “mutual” ethnic cleansing, shifting focus to Armenia’s policies during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Ter-Petrosyan emphasised that Armenia would not have achieved independence if the expulsion of Azerbaijanis had not begun in 1988. He highlights that forming Armenian militia units - later the core of the nation’s army provided critical military experience even before Armenia or Azerbaijan declared independence.

The leaked speech of the former Armenian president especially hit home hard for the members of the Western Azerbaijan Community: the territory that is called modern-day Armenia, where native Azerbaijanis used to live side-by-side with their Armenian neighbours. It was part of their ancestral land.

The ethnic cleansing and forceful relocation of civilians goes back hundreds of years between powerbrokers in the Caucasus. To illustrate, in the 19^th century, a war between Russia and Iran resulted in the signing of the Treaty of Gulistan (1813). Armenians were moved to the land native to the Azerbaijanis.

From this time on, there were numerous massacres, deportations and the demolishing of cultural Azerbaijani heritage. This process continued until the beginning of the 20th century; from then on, the Armenians actively participated.  

In the aftermath of the First World War, 1918, Armenian partisans expelled thousands of Azerbaijani Muslims in Zangezur and destroyed their settlements to "re-Christianise" the region. All matters that barely get the deserved attention in the global (mainstream) media.

“My grandfather was deported from that region. His family was killed when he was four years old, and he was deported together with his sister”, Ulviyya Zulfikar said. “This was his trauma.”

The second wave of Azerbaijani deportations was in 1948-53 by decree of Joseph Stalin. More than 150,000 people were deported from mountainous areas to flatlands, many of them died.  Zulfikar: “It was a cruel deportation by train in which Armenian authorities also took part in. They were very active in this process.”

The deportations were part of a greater plan to Christianise the land and become mono ethnic. Armenians continued the same path after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The last expulsion phase was in 1987-1991, when over 300,000 Azerbaijanis living in Armenia were deported and hundreds were killed, and Karabakh was illegally occupied.

Zulfikar: “We used to live in all the territories, including the capital Yerevan, so all present-day Armenia is considered our historically ancestral home. We chose our name not to provoke, but because it is a historical-geographical name.”

After the last deportation during 1987-1990s, Armenia systematically destroyed cultural heritage, erasing the existence of over 300 mosques, and almost 600 cemeteries. Zulfikar: “It is all harrowing for us. The only mosque that still stands right now is the Blue Mosque. It's called the Persian mosque, and it is as if it belonged to another nation.”

The community now represents hundreds of thousands who have left their houses behind. They have the right to return to their homeland. Zulfikar: “If we look at Google Maps, we can see that many of those houses had been destroyed. There is no life in many instances, and nobody's living there. So, we talk about empty places that we can return to.”

Zulfikar emphasised that the community wants to return to these areas peacefully, securely, and with dignity. However, with some security guarantees, the returnees would not have to fear for their lives.

“Our case is a fundamental human rights issue, we also have the right to return. We wrote a letter to the Armenian prime minister in January 2023 calling for dialogue, but we are still waiting for him to answer”, she added.  

The Western Azerbaijan Community sees a future with dialogue, not with violence. Zulfikar: We do not mind having an Armenian passport, as long as we can keep our identity.”

She concluded: “We understand that the return shall be voluntary. In my situation, my grandpa was from Yerevan. I would like to see where he was born. That is my right. It is part of who I am. It is time to fix all the issues in the region once and for all. To create a status quo of peace, which is in all our benefit.”