"We Should Talk About the Return of Armenians to Baku and Sumgait" - Simonian's Response to Aliyev

RA National Assembly President Alen Simonian considers the statements from Baku claiming that "Western Azerbaijanis" should return to their "historical homeland," meaning Armenia, to be absurd. Simonian expressed his views during a briefing with reporters while commenting on Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's statements.

According to him, in a situation where hatred toward Armenians is instilled in Azerbaijanis from school, it is unclear where they are supposed to return to. He stated, "In this case, we should talk about the return of Armenians to Baku and Sumgait. Not only there; we know that there have been large cities throughout the region where many Armenians lived. No matter how much the Azerbaijani president tries to talk about the return of Azerbaijanis, he must always mention one thing: Azerbaijanis who left Armenia during the war were not subjected to massacres or killings. Those events occurred in Sumgait, Baku, and other cities. Aliyev's statement is absurd," Simonian noted.

The Speaker of the National Assembly assured that he is personally ready to live in Armenia with all nationalities, but he questions whether those nationalities are ready to live in Armenia. Simonian suggests that Aliyev made those remarks to create some sort of reflection for an internal audience and the external audience. According to him, this was also done in response to the issue of Artsakh. The politician is not confident that such attempts will be successful.