The American-Armenian lawyer Karnig Kerkonian states that claims suggesting that the defence of the Armenians of Artsakh’s right of return contributed to the emergence of the concept of “Western Azerbaijan” are unfounded. “The ridiculous claim prompted by Yerevan that advocating for the right of return of the people of Artsakh somehow created of fueled Baku’s “Western Azerbaijan” narrative is demonstrably false”, Kerkonian writes on his Facebook page.
According to Kerkonian, Azerbaijani irredentist claims long predate organised advocacy for the return of Armenians from Artsakh. He recalls warning about the dangers of Baku’s “Western Azerbaijan” campaign during the Global Armenian Summit held in Yerevan in October 2022, where he also referenced maps of the so-called “Goycha-Zangezur Republic”.
He notes that the organisation has already opened a representative office in Ankara in 2022 – nearly a year before the mass displacement of Armenians from Artsakh.
Kerkonian stresses that the right of return emerges as a response to the forced displacement of 120,000 Armenians from Artsakh in September 2023: “It was and remains a necessary response to the ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Armenians of Artsakh”.
He further warns that abandoning the defence of the Armenians of Artsakh’s right to return would pose an existential threat on an even greater scale: “If we surrender the principle that ethnically cleansed Armenians have a right to return to their homes, I assure you that we will find ourselves — in our very own lifetimes —advocating for the right of Armenians to return to their homes in Syunik. Azerbaijan’s plan of conquest and settlement of Armenian land is fuelled by Yerevan’s continued appeasement,” the lawyer writes.
Main source: yerkir.am