On November 3, 2025, the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, delivered a lengthy programmatic speech on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan. One of the central themes of the speech was the "historical past" of the territory of the Republic of Armenia and the question of its historical belonging (https://t.me/caliber_az_official/55242).

The theses voiced in the President of Azerbaijan's speech are not new and have been presented on various occasions to different audiences. What merits particular attention here is that the ideas expressed in the Academy were, to a greater extent, a direct order addressed to the scientific community.

According to the President of Azerbaijan, the Armenian population currently living within the territory of the Republic of Armenia is not indigenous and has been residing there only since the 19th century, as a result of a deliberate policy of the Russian Empire. With this point, he is directly implying that the historical and cultural heritage of the territory of the Republic of Armenia does not belong to Armenians, and that Armenians have no historical rights to these lands. From the Azerbaijani side's perspective, it follows that Armenians have no historical right to a homeland.

In the speech, it was stated that the historical homeland of Azerbaijanis is larger than the present territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan, from which it was concluded that Azerbaijanis have the right to return to their "historical lands." The Azerbaijani side is justifying its new ambitions with the concepts of historical right and historical past. This thesis has been developed primarily to promote the so-called idea of "Western Azerbaijan" to both domestic and international audiences.

It is essential to note that before 2020, when emphasizing notions of historical homeland, historical right, and historical past, the President of Azerbaijan used such theses to justify their claims and rights over the territory of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). Until the 44-day war of 2020, the military-political leadership of Azerbaijan had scarcely addressed the territory's historical past; that task was carried out primarily by individual historians and propagandists. The situation changed after the 44-day war of 2020 and the ethnic cleansing in Artsakh in 2023. It was precisely during this period that, at the highest level of the state, the idea of "Western Azerbaijan" — the supposed return of Azerbaijanis to their "historical homeland, lands, territories" — began to be promoted. In these years, the public organization called the "Community of Western Azerbaijan" was created and became active, directly sponsored and financed by the state. Its events have not gone unnoticed by Ilham Aliyev himself.

In the President of Azerbaijan's speech, special attention should be paid to the passage in which he orders that the ongoing work be doubled and provides justification for this. The order is directed at scholars and representatives of public organizations (specifically, which ones). As justification for doubling the work, it is stated: "More scholarly works and popular materials must be produced, so that these realities will also spread beyond Azerbaijan. This will also serve our return to Armenia, so that it will be logical and just."

The following vital point was that this policy and these steps must be undertaken and pursued consistently by the state. It was emphasized that he personally follows the steps being taken in this direction. It was stated that a harsh response must be given to the "falsification and distortion of the history of Azerbaijan." This instruction is aimed at the Armenian side. Notably, the Armenian diaspora was declared the main culprit.

In the speech, the facts regarding place names and the ethnic composition of the population in the current territory of the Republic of Armenia during the Russian Empire were presented in a one-sided, non-objective manner. Referring to certain imperial Russian documents and maps is presented as a sign of "objectivity" and, at the same time, as an "objective" justification of historical claims. It should be stressed that the documents, records, travel notes, maps, and reports of the Russian Empire are accessible, published, and easily verifiable. These documents discuss in detail the region's history, the ethnic composition of the population, population movements, the settlement of one or another ethnic group in a given area, and the past and present of numerous localities. Detailed explanations are provided for the information cited. The Armenian historical and cultural ties to and past of these territories have never been denied or concealed, and this applies even to areas that had a Tatar population in the 19th century. The monuments are also described, which are predominantly Armenian Christian. Often, alongside the Tatar name of a given locality, its indigenous Armenian name is also indicated. The same pattern is found in the wide range of European documents concerning these territories.

Thus, the President of Azerbaijan's speech represents an ideologically developed and strategically clarified policy that has its own underlying objectives, for the achievement of which specific tasks are being set and carried out. With the 44-day war of 2020 and the military operations of September 19, 2023, culminating in the depopulation of Artsakh of Armenians, Azerbaijan has achieved one objective. The next objective is its designs against the Republic of Armenia, whose "theoretical" weapon is the thesis of Western Azerbaijan.

The thesis that Armenians are a people without history, without culture, and without a homeland is being presented, justified, and elaborated by the head of state himself. He is not improvising these ideas on the spot, but instead applying a meticulously developed propaganda ideology, whose supreme goal is to erase, appropriate, rename, and reattribute Armenian cultural heritage — and to push one step further the issue of a supposedly "lawful return."