Armenian expert slams 'Western Azerbaijan' gathering in Nakhchivan as historical revisionism

Iran specialist Vardan Voskanyan has strongly criticized a conference held in Nakhchivan promoting the concept of a “return” to so-called “Western Azerbaijan”, describing the event as an exercise in historical revisionism marked by inflammatory rhetoric.

In a social media post on Saturday, Voskanyan said the gathering organized by Azerbaijani authorities in Ordubad resembled a lavish but intellectually shallow “collective-farm assembly”, arguing that the participants’ rhetoric reflected a lack of historical and scholarly rigor.

Despite that assessment, Voskanyan argued that the rhetoric on display was particularly provocative.

“The level of audacity exceeded any expectation,” he wrote.

Voskanyan reserved particular criticism for Azerbaijani lawmaker Aziz Alakbarov, who is involved in initiatives related to the so-called “Western Azerbaijan” agenda. According to Voskanyan, Alakbarov publicly demanded that Armenia facilitate the “return” of Azerbaijanis to territories within present-day Armenia.

“It's a great shame that we, the descendants of an ancient Armenian civilization, have allowed people like this to become so brazen,” he wrote.

Voskanyan further asserted that the event took place in the historic Armenian town of Vortvat, a name he said had been altered to Ordubad by the Azerbaijani authorities. To support his argument, Voskanyan cited an early 20th-century issue of the Armenian newspaper Mshak, which used the Armenian-language form “Vortvat” when referring to the city.