Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has again called for the right of Azerbaijanis “forcibly displaced from Western Azerbaijan”, which he describes as the mountainous regions in the territory of present-day Armenia, to return to their homeland.

Aliyev, addressing the 3rd international conference on “Cultural Heritage and the Right of Return: Restoring the Cultural Heritage of Azerbaijanis Displaced from Armenia – as a Path to Justice, Reconciliation, and Peace” in Baku today, accused Armenia of destroying “the rich material and intangible cultural heritage of the Azerbaijanis who lived in Western Azerbaijan, including their shrines and cemeteries, in an attempt to erase the traces of the Azerbaijani people from its territory.”

The Azerbaijani leader, in his opening remarks, said such a right of return is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Status of Refugees, and other important international instruments.

Naturally, he made no mention of the forced displacement of Armenians from Artsakh (Karabakh) or of the protection of Armenian cultural heritage there.

“We believe that the peace-loving members of the Western Azerbaijan Community will return to their ancestral lands and that good-neighborly relations will be established between our peoples,” Aliyev said.

The Azerbaijani press reports that one-hundred guests from over sixty countries attended the conference.

EPA File Photo