Agil Alasgar: ‘Our right to return to Western Azerbaijan must be restored’

Azerbaijanis’ right to return to Western Azerbaijan must be restored, said Agil Alasgar, head of the Gizilbash Youth Education Public Union and Yeni Chagh Media Group, Report informs.

Speaking at the OSCE Annual Meeting on Human Rights in Warsaw, Poland, Alasgar emphasized that the rights of people from Western Azerbaijan are being seriously violated by the Armenian authorities.

“Democracy and human rights sound great, as long as there are no double standards. I am here to demand the restoration of the violated rights of more than five hundred thousand Azerbaijanis who were expelled from their historical lands. Our right to return to Western Azerbaijan must be restored,” he stated.

"We spoke for 30 years about our one million internally displaced persons (and refugees), but in the end, we solved it ourselves. Now, we want Armenia to create conditions for five hundred thousand of our citizens from historical Azerbaijani land, present-day Armenia, to visit the graves of their ancestors, at least as tourists," Alasgar stated.

"We do not claim territory from Armenia, although historically these are our lands. We want Armenia to come to peace as soon as possible, so that there will be peace in the Caucasus. Visiting one's ancestral homeland is the most innocent of human rights," he added.

The annual meeting, attended by ambassadors, diplomats, and official representatives from 57 countries, discusses human rights, fundamental freedoms, and conflicts in the OSCE region.