“Azerbaijanis have never pursued separatism. On the contrary, our people have contributed to the statehood of the countries in which they live, and today Azerbaijanis do not cause problems in any country and will not cause problems for any state or people. Therefore, the return of Azerbaijanis to modern-day Armenia should not frighten the Armenian people or state,” Aliyev said in a speech marking the 80th anniversary of the National Academy of Sciences.
Aliyev’s remarks contrast with the official position of the Armenian government repeatedly articulated by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and other senior officials before and after the peace agreements reached between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Washington in August that Yerevan does not pursue the return of Armenians to their historical homes in Nagorno-Karabakh.
More than 100,000 ethnic Armenians fled Nagorno-Karabakh in 2023 following a lightening offensive by Azerbaijan, which completed the seizure of the mostly Armenian-populated region – a process that began with the deadly 44-day war three years earlier.
According to various estimates, between 300,000 and 400,000 ethnic Armenians fled Azerbaijan when the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh erupted in the late 1980s and early 1990s. At the same time, around 170,000 ethnic Azerbaijanis left their homes in Armenia and relocated to Azerbaijan due to escalating ethnic tensions.
Speaking in parliament on September 30, Pashinian warned that even discussing the issue of refugee returns from all sides could jeopardize the peace process between the two countries.
“I consider it dangerous for the peace process, because conflicts, including the Karabakh conflict, seem to have started with the raising of seemingly simple humanitarian issues and then escalated into the long-running conflict we all know,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Azerbaijani leader underscored that Azerbaijanis would be returning to Armenia “not on tanks, but in automobiles.” “Government bodies, public organizations, and, of course, scholars should be working toward this goal,” Aliyev added.
Commenting on the Azerbaijani leader’s statement, Armenian Parliament Speaker Alen Simonian said on Monday that while it did not align with the logic of the current process, it implied no aggression and was rather intended for Aliyev’s domestic audience.
"If someone were to fall into historical searches, some might end up finding their homeland in Altai," Simonian quipped, alluding to the widely held theory that Turkic-speaking peoples originated in what is now the Altai Krai of Russia.
The key ally of Prime Minister Pashinian also dismissed concerns about Azerbaijan’s aggressive designs. “I don’t see anything in his remarks about conquering. On the contrary, he speaks of returning in automobiles, not tanks. I interpret this as him saying that this issue will not be resolved through war.”
Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikian refrained from directly commenting on Aliyev’s remarks but pointed to a significant shift in Azerbaijan’s rhetoric following the Washington agreements, a change that he said was also visible along the border. “When we speak of factual peace, it’s not something invented, it’s a reality,” Papikian stated.
In his remarks, Aliyev also described Azerbaijan’s victory in the 2020 war as “brilliant, complete, and absolute” and again accused Armenia and its diaspora of “distorting our history for years.”
“This propaganda continues. And we must confront it with our scientific truths,” Aliyev said, repeating Baku’s narrative about historical names of place in modern-day Armenia.
“Early 20th-century Russian imperial maps clearly show that almost all place names in the area — all regions of present-day Armenia — are of Azerbaijani origin. Lake Sevan does not exist – there is Goycha. We did not create these maps, they were made by Tsarist Russia, which brought Armenians from Iran and Eastern Anatolia and resettled them in Karabakh to change the [region’s] ethnic composition. These maps reflect historical truth. We must study and disseminate them,” Aliyev said.
Armenian government officials have repeatedly rejected similar claims made by the Azerbaijani president in the past.
In his speech, Aliyev also asserted that Azerbaijan has a centuries-long history of statehood and instructed scholars “to increase scientific work that explores and glorifies Azerbaijan’s history.”