Armenia opposition figure criticizes government over Azerbaijani claims

An Armenian opposition politician has accused the government in Yerevan of failing to respond firmly to comments made by a senior Azerbaijani official about the return of "displaced Azerbaijanis" to Armenia.

In a video posted on Facebook on Friday, Tigran Abrahamyan, a member of the Strong Armenia party, said that instead of rebuking the remarks, the authorities had acted "in the exact opposite way."

His comments came after Hikmet Hajiyev, a top foreign policy adviser to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, claimed that around 300,000 Azerbaijanis were forced to leave Armenia in the 1990s and now aspire to "return to their historical lands."

Abrahamyan warned that the issue of resettling Azerbaijanis has become part of the political agenda in Baku and is also being enabled by Armenia’s current leadership. "The question of bringing 300,000 Azerbaijanis to Armenia is on the agenda in Azerbaijan. Unfortunately, it is also on the agenda in Armenia thanks to the current authorities," he said.