Capitol Hill forum seeks international recognition of Azerbaijani return rights

The conference held on Capitol Hill under the title "The Right of Return and Self-Determination: Double Standards and Selective Approaches" reflects a broader effort to internationalise the issue of the displacement of Azerbaijanis from present-day Armenia and to frame it within the language of human rights and international law. Organized by the Baku Initiative Group, the event was presented not simply as a political gathering, but as an attempt to draw attention to a long-neglected humanitarian question. It is about the fate, rights, and historical memory of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis who were forced to leave their homes.

At the heart of the conference was the argument that the suffering of displaced Azerbaijanis has not received the same degree of international recognition as comparable cases elsewhere. This claim is politically significant because it challenges what participants described as a selective approach in global human rights discourse. By holding the event in Washington, D.C., in a venue associated with the U.S. Congress, organisers sought to give the issue symbolic legitimacy and place it before an international policy audience. In that sense, the conference was not only about historical grievance, but also about contesting narratives and influencing future diplomatic and legal discussions.

Speakers emphasised the importance of ensuring international attention remains focused on what they described as the fundamental right of displaced people to return to their ancestral lands in a safe, voluntary and dignified manner. Participants cited the case of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis who they said were forcibly displaced from territories in present-day Armenia as a result of policies of ethnic cleansing.

They also called for a legal assessment under international law of the systematic destruction, desecration, and appropriation of Azerbaijani cultural, religious, and historical heritage remaining in Armenia, including place names, mosques, cemeteries, shrines, and other monuments, as well as for these violations to be investigated and documented on-site by international organisations. It should be noted that more than 2,000 place names of Azerbaijani origin were changed.

The adoption of an appeal to members of the U.S. Congress at the conclusion of the event signals an effort to transform moral argument into political engagement. The document’s emphasis on consistent standards, non-discrimination, restoration of rights, and protection of heritage suggests a deliberate attempt to align the cause of Western Azerbaijanis with universally accepted principles.

The document calls for international support for the right of Western Azerbaijanis to return safely, voluntarily, and with dignity to their native lands, as well as for the restoration of their property rights and the protection of their cultural heritage.

From a legal perspective, the invocation of the 1951 Geneva Convention highlights the importance of established international frameworks in addressing displacement. While the Convention affirms the protection of refugees and their rights, the practical implementation of return often depends on political agreements, security conditions, and bilateral negotiations. In protracted conflicts, legal principles alone are often insufficient without accompanying political resolution mechanisms.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, a large-scale displacement of Azerbaijanis from Armenia took place amid escalating political tensions. As a result of what is described as a systematic ethnic policy implemented between 1988 and 1992, approximately 250,000 Azerbaijanis were forcibly expelled from their homes in Armenia.

The last and most tragic in scale and methods, the deportation of Azerbaijanis from Armenia was carried out in 1987–1991. Unlike the 1948–1953 deportation, it coincided in time with the beginning of Armenia’s territorial claims against Azerbaijan, and therefore was marked by particular harshness. The hopelessness of the situation for Azerbaijanis was linked to the fact that the deportation was carried out with the direct involvement of the administrative and law enforcement bodies of Armenia, which attempted to justify their unlawful actions by the "historical belonging of these lands to Armenians," on which Azerbaijanis lived.

The majority of Azerbaijani refugees from Armenia were villagers who were forced to leave their native lands - pastures, fields, orchards, and meadows, where their fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers had worked for centuries.

Ultimately, the significance of the conference lies in its attempt to reframe the displacement of Azerbaijanis from Armenia as an unresolved international human rights issue rather than a closed historical chapter. Its message was that the right of return, protection of cultural heritage, and restoration of property and cultural rights. That shift alone marks an important development in the broader struggle over memory, justice, and rights in the South Caucasus.