Azerbaijan Calls Armenia 'Western Azerbaijan', a Framework for Preparing a New War: Pashinyan

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated during his speech at the 6th Peace Conference in Paris that he is there to discuss peace. 'I did not come to speak about war at this peace forum. I came to talk about peace, even though Azerbaijan has started calling the Republic of Armenia 'Western Azerbaijan' after implementing the minimum of its ethnic cleansing plan against Armenians,' said Pashinyan.

The Prime Minister noted that the so-called 'Western Azerbaijan' framework is being promoted in Azerbaijani schools, universities, and media, which is a concept preparing for a new war against Armenia. 'And all this is happening despite the fact that we seem to be close to signing a peace agreement with Azerbaijan, and despite the circumstances that these issues raise serious questions about Azerbaijan's sincerity,' the Armenian Prime Minister emphasized.

At the same time, Pashinyan highlighted Armenia's hope to sign a peace agreement with Azerbaijan. 'But this does not undermine our commitment to the peace agenda, and we hope to sign a peace agreement with Azerbaijan in the coming months based on the agreed principles reached during negotiations in Brussels,' he added.

The Armenian Prime Minister also spoke about ethnic cleansing, noting that more than 500,000 Armenians no longer have the opportunity to live in their homeland, having been displaced from Azerbaijan and becoming refugees due to ethnic cleansing. 'About 300,000 of them were forcibly displaced from Azerbaijan since the early 1990s due to the mass murders in Sumgait, Baku, and the hostility towards Armenians. Since then, unfortunately, hostility has become state policy in Azerbaijan,' said the Prime Minister.