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Executive Director: NGO activity in direction of "Return to Western Azerbaijan" never been on current scale

11 June 2025 10:41 (UTC +04:00)

The activity of NGOs in the direction of the "Return to Western Azerbaijan" has never been at its current scale, said Aygun Aliyeva, Executive Director of the Agency for State Support to Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) of the Republic of Azerbaijan during a briefing on the projects being implemented in the direction of "Return to Western Azerbaijan," APA reports.

According to her, for the past 3 years, the topic of "Return to Western Azerbaijan" has been one of the priority directions in the Agency’s grant competitions. During this period, 54 initiatives by 50 NGOs have been supported in connection with the relevant provisions of “The Concept of Return – The concept of ensuring the peaceful, safe and dignified return of Azerbaijanis expelled from nowadays Armenia.” During the reporting period, Azerbaijani NGOs have raised this issue on international platforms – at various meetings of the UN and OSCE, as well as in foreign countries, initiated public discussions, and successfully organized side events.

"In general, these events have covered countries such as the USA, Belgium, Spain, Romania, Poland, Türkiye, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan. Civil society institutions of Azerbaijan rightly consider this issue as a new target of the national idea after the liberation of Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur, and are mobilizing their capacities to turn this nationwide aspiration into reality," she said.

A. Aliyeva noted that in the Agency's 2025 grant competition, 51 more NGO projects under the direction "Return to Western Azerbaijan: tangible-cultural heritage and rights" have been supported. Their implementation has already begun. Throughout the year, dozens of conferences, exhibitions, and various events on this topic will be held with international organizations, and in European and Turkic world regions.

During the briefing, the Head of Department at the Agency for State Support to NGOs, Elnur Baghirli, stated that the “Public Union for the Protection and Promotion of Applied Art Samples” will organize an exhibition in Uzbekistan on the topic of Western Azerbaijan. In addition, a documentary film on the topic “The Migration of Western Azerbaijanis to Kars” is being prepared within the framework of NGO projects. The Azerbaijan Literature Foundation will also present a new literary work as part of the project “Western Azerbaijan in Literature.”

“In 2023, 25 NGO projects were approved. Projects from 30 NGO organizations were supported within the framework of a grant competition. Over the course of two years, 15 books were published, more than 200 articles were written, 6 different websites were created, 24 television programs were produced, 6 scientific-practical conferences, 2 scientific-international conferences, and 2 photo exhibitions were organized. Additionally, over the past two years, 50 NGOs held events in Türkiye, the USA, the Netherlands, Romania, and Poland, bringing Azerbaijan’s just cause to the attention of the international community,” he said.