Facebook posts on grain in Yerevan amid Baku`s `Western Azerbaijan`  narrative - ex-official 

ArmInfo.  While Baku organizes state-funded discussions entitled "Return to Western Azerbaijan," publishes books, maps, and documentaries presenting Armenian territory as "historical Azerbaijani land," authorities in Yerevan  are busy posting on Facebook about grain as a "victory for peace."  This was stated by political figure and former head of the State  Revenue Committee of Armenia, David Ananyan.

"While Azerbaijan is approving a program for the "return of  Azerbaijanis" to Armenia at the state level, Armenian authorities are  trying to convince people that if you doubt the peace treaty, you  want war. As a result, those who talk about peace become the real  sponsors of war through their silence and inaction," Ananyan wrote on  social media. The politician notes that today Azerbaijan is funding  51 projects dedicated to the "return of Western Azerbaijan" from the  state budget, organizing international conferences in Morocco and  Brussels, and publishing maps where Lake Sevan is called Goycha and  Zangezur is called a corridor.

"All of this is politically orchestrated propaganda, the purpose of  which is to prove that Armenia is merely a "temporary territory." And  at this very moment, when Baku is gradually building its historical  revenge, the Armenian authorities continue to preach peace, but not  in the language of dignity, but in the language of obedience. They  are afraid to even respond, afraid to violate "good neighborliness,"  the price of which could be the existence of the state," Ananyan  believes.

He is convinced that this is no longer diplomatic coercion. This is  fear on the level of national self- destruction. When the government  remains silent about its country's territorial claims, it is no  longer a political calculation, but a moral capitulation, the  politician notes.

Peace must have a foundation: a nation, dignity, and statehood.  Without them, it is no longer peace. It is simply a conscious defeat,  leading to a miserable existence or, even worse, to the nonexistence  they try to present as the future," concludes David Ananyan.

Recall that recently, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, speaking at  the Academy of Sciences, instructed scientists to substantiate the  "right of return," declaring that the "most opportune" moment had  come for this, while Azerbaijan was at the peak of its strength. The  Baku leader, in his characteristic manner of "interpreting" history,  reiterated that Armenians were allegedly resettled to Karabakh by  Tsarist Russia from Iran and Anatolia, and that most toponyms in  Armenia, including Lake Sevan (which he called "Goycha"), are of  "Azerbaijani origin," and that this is confirmed by "maps of the  Russian Empire." Speaking about the "return" of Azerbaijanis, Aliyev  reiterated his thesis that this shouldn't frighten Armenia, as it  should happen "by car, not by tank," but emphasized that the primary  responsibility for implementing this idea lies with the state. The  Azerbaijani President directly called on academic circles to  intensify their efforts to ensure that the return of Azerbaijanis to  Armenia "sounds completely logical and fair" to the international  community. This narrative has been promoted for many years by Baku  through the "Western Azerbaijan Community" (formerly the "Union of  Refugees"), which has been promoting the "return" agenda to the  territory of the Republic of Armenia since 2022.

Yerevan, in response to media requests, has commented on these  statements several times, but at the prime ministerial level, it has  merely stated that the map referenced shows "Armenia" in place of  "Armenia," and that Azerbaijan doesn't exist. At the same time, Prime  Minister Nikol Pashinyan saw an internal connection between  statements in Azerbaijan about Armenian Vardenis, calling it  "Basargechar", and Artsakh in Armenia.