Who is the “ideological and political muse” of the concept of “Western Azerbaijan”?

We should be frank and admit that Nikol Pashinyan managed to surrender Artsakh so painlessly for himself and his personal government due to the fact that anti-Artsakh propaganda has been carried out in Armenia since the 1990s. A number of circles were especially active in this matter after they lost power in 1998. It was because of this propaganda that a significant part of Armenian society did not understand that Artsakh was not a burden but a gift. It was a shield that pushed the Azerbaijani military infrastructure away from a significant part of the Armenian borders by hundreds of kilometers.

The existence of a second Armenian statehood in Artsakh did not allow Azerbaijan and Turkey to concentrate all their military, political, and diplomatic potential for the dissolution of Armenia. However, Artsakh was betrayed in the fall of 2022, with Armenia becoming the main target of Ankara and Baku’s actions. The vivid evidence of this is the Azerbaijani narrative about the so-called “Western Azerbaijan,” that is, the narrative about the Azerbaijani quasi-state, which should exist on the territories of the modern Republic of Armenia.

So, on the eve, it became known that the so-called “Community of Western Azerbaijan” may initiate the creation of a government of “Western Azerbaijan.” This comes as official Baku has expressed dissatisfaction with statements made by the leadership of Artsakh about the need to ensure the return of the Armenians of Artsakh to their historical homeland under international security guarantees.

Let’s leave aside the fact that almost a year after the fall of Artsakh, its authorities have not realized that there is no such “international community” that can guarantee the return of Armenians to Artsakh—apparently, over the past year, the authorities of Artsakh have not even studied the map and the political realities of the Eurasian region as a whole—and note that the above-mentioned statement of the “community” is a direct threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Armenia. The threat that arose as a result of a chain of events: the recognition of Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan, as a result of which more than 100 thousand Armenians were actually held captive together with Artsakh, the refusal of Armenia to help Artsakh during the blockade of the Lachin corridor, the refusal of the Armenian Armed Forces to come to the aid of the Artsakh Defense Army during the days of ethnic cleansing in 2023, and the displacement of Armenians from Artsakh, including due to the panic spread by Pashinyan’s supporters in Artsakh.

As a result, the Armenians left their homeland, and in order to completely close the issue of Artsakh today, Baku is blackmailing Nikol Pashinyan with statements about the creation of a “government of Western Azerbaijan in exile” if the Armenians do not stop fighting for their rights, do not stop fighting against the injustice established by force of arms.
Past experience has shown that even if Baku’s demands are met, Azerbaijan will not stop, and at some point the issue of “return” of Azerbaijanis with an advanced level of freedom of self-organization and self-governance will be put before official Yerevan in a tough form.

The weakness of official Yerevan only whets Baku’s appetite. It is the leadership of the Republic of Armenia, with its obviously losing position, that is the muse, political, and ideological basis for the development of the concept of “Western Azerbaijan”.

There is one more important detail in the current situation, which should be clearly marked: the situation that took place in Jermuk in 2022 gives Baku an excuse to think that it is possible to occupy more territories of the Republic of Armenia and remain unpunished.

And who says that the next stage after the occupation cannot be the establishment of occupation administrations in these territories? Who says that seeing no reaction to the occupation, Azerbaijan cannot prepare in advance and declare about the forthcoming establishment of the “government of Western Azerbaijan in exile”?

Think about it….